Leslie (name changed to protect his identity) was the kind of director that any Board would be delighted to have join. He came prepared for every meeting. He took up jobs that fit with his specific skills and experience as an accountant. He worked well with the staff and other directors. Other directors, that is, except for one - the Board Chairman. No matter what he did the Chairman never acknowledged his efforts and often said publicly and with surprising meanness that Leslie should have done the work differently. Leslie put up with this for many months, sure that if he just tried harder things would change. The straw to break the proverbial camel’s back happened when the Chairman refused Leslie’s request to add an agenda item to the Board meeting. The outcome was that Leslie joined several others before him and left the Board. This association is suffering a Bully on the Board.
Psychologists define bullying as a negative power relationship carried on by one individual or a group of individuals towards another person. Bullying does not necessarily need to be brutal or involve physical violence. Rumours, threats, hurtful words are also a type of bullying. The fact is that bullying occurs everywhere to all kinds of people where a culture of respect and kindness is missing. In situations where ‘no one is watching’ or ‘no one will stand out and stand up”, bullying is most prevalent. The notion that bullying only happens to a few people on poorly supervised schoolyards or in abusive family situations does not hold true any longer. Bullying is found where there are people with a propensity to be abusive, where ever there are victims who will allow bullying and where ever there are situations within which bullying is condoned.
Both family violence and bullying find their roots in societal attitudes and environmental conditioning. Both reflect the complexity of changing learned attitudes and behaviours and our collective reluctance to confront the issues when they arise. Both forms of violence are unacceptable and destructive to social structures. They are driven by the psychological dynamics of power and control.
One social structure which is as closed a unit as schools and families is a Board of Directors. There are subtle similarities in all bullying situations, from the hurt of the victim to the affects on the bully and the bystanders. This shouldn’t be too surprising, after all we don’t change our personalities, the basic ways we interact with people when we come on a Board – why wouldn’t there be bullies on Boards the same as in any other group of people?
There are three reasons that Boards are a great place for bullies to fester: it’s a closed unit; the rules of the Board are often implicit rather than explicit and power is part of the attraction. Each one of these reasons can lead to three bullying patterns: personal, positional and situational.
PersonalIt is interesting to note that the people who have a tendency to bully are also those who are leaders – those same leaders that we want and need on our Boards. The qualities of initiative, strong personality and perseverance can be found in both a bully and in a strong leader. Leaders often ignore the feelings of other people as they concentrate on the tasks. This ability to objectify the activity is a good thing for leaders but can lend itself to ‘depersonalizing’ the needs of the person. More often than we admit, people come to Boards in order to satisfy some lack in their work or personal life. For these directors, a Board can be a source of personal satisfaction that is attained through the power they hold. In workplace situations, the bully chooses a strong person to bully compared to other situations where the bullied is a weak person.
PositionalPositions like those of offices of Chairperson, Treasurer and even Secretary can lend themselves to being abusive. Since the officers in an organization are often the keepers of information, this can provide a source of power and this power can be abused. Holding onto information that belongs to all the directors can be a form of bullying. The Treasurer who withholds the details about financial transactions; the Secretary who refuses to include or exclude certain information in the record of the meetings and the Chairperson who holds tight to the agenda are all examples of officers who are abusing their positions and may bully others who would question their control.
SituationalBoards are a special kind of community where individuals find their places according to explicit or implicit set of rules. All organizations and their Boards have a culture through which their actions and behaviours are acted out. Each Board will have a culture that is customized to what it needs to do and how. Most often a Board culture is open and healthy but sometimes it is not. When a board culture turns toxic, the environment can foster bullying. Sometimes there is such a long tradition of poor Director relations, that only an observer or a new director can see the problems.
As in other potentially abusive situations, the problems and solutions belong to all of us. All Directors need to watch their Boards for the following:
If we are want to bully-proof our Boards, we need to Ensure:
It is awful to think that the schoolyard memories of bullying are still alive for some Directors like Leslie. Maybe we should apply the remedy that is suggested to children who are bullied: face the bully with “Head up, shoulders back, hands at your side, big voice” rather than letting Directors, staff and other volunteers leave when faced with a bully.
Work hard at not having any bullying at your Board table. Good Boards need the Leslies and sure don’t need the bullies. Bullying hurts too many people and ultimately the whole association.
Carol Humphries, Ideal Consulting Ltd., is passionate about lifelong learning, particularly for Boards who use learning for success. She is the creator of Good Governance™ and Great Policies™ which she helps a variety of Boards to implement.
Postscript
The good news is that bullying is being given a lot of attention these days. In Canada, as in some other countries such as Norway and England, several horrific cases of Canadian children who have died or have been seriously hurt by bullying have led to a recognition of the seriousness of bullying problems for both bullies and their victims. Currently in Canada, there is a groundswell of activity at local, regional and national levels to prevent bullying and victimization in all situations including the workplace.
This article may be used with advance permission and recognition of the author.
Psychologists define bullying as a negative power relationship carried on by one individual or a group of individuals towards another person. Bullying does not necessarily need to be brutal or involve physical violence. Rumours, threats, hurtful words are also a type of bullying. The fact is that bullying occurs everywhere to all kinds of people where a culture of respect and kindness is missing. In situations where ‘no one is watching’ or ‘no one will stand out and stand up”, bullying is most prevalent. The notion that bullying only happens to a few people on poorly supervised schoolyards or in abusive family situations does not hold true any longer. Bullying is found where there are people with a propensity to be abusive, where ever there are victims who will allow bullying and where ever there are situations within which bullying is condoned.
Both family violence and bullying find their roots in societal attitudes and environmental conditioning. Both reflect the complexity of changing learned attitudes and behaviours and our collective reluctance to confront the issues when they arise. Both forms of violence are unacceptable and destructive to social structures. They are driven by the psychological dynamics of power and control.
One social structure which is as closed a unit as schools and families is a Board of Directors. There are subtle similarities in all bullying situations, from the hurt of the victim to the affects on the bully and the bystanders. This shouldn’t be too surprising, after all we don’t change our personalities, the basic ways we interact with people when we come on a Board – why wouldn’t there be bullies on Boards the same as in any other group of people?
There are three reasons that Boards are a great place for bullies to fester: it’s a closed unit; the rules of the Board are often implicit rather than explicit and power is part of the attraction. Each one of these reasons can lead to three bullying patterns: personal, positional and situational.
PersonalIt is interesting to note that the people who have a tendency to bully are also those who are leaders – those same leaders that we want and need on our Boards. The qualities of initiative, strong personality and perseverance can be found in both a bully and in a strong leader. Leaders often ignore the feelings of other people as they concentrate on the tasks. This ability to objectify the activity is a good thing for leaders but can lend itself to ‘depersonalizing’ the needs of the person. More often than we admit, people come to Boards in order to satisfy some lack in their work or personal life. For these directors, a Board can be a source of personal satisfaction that is attained through the power they hold. In workplace situations, the bully chooses a strong person to bully compared to other situations where the bullied is a weak person.
PositionalPositions like those of offices of Chairperson, Treasurer and even Secretary can lend themselves to being abusive. Since the officers in an organization are often the keepers of information, this can provide a source of power and this power can be abused. Holding onto information that belongs to all the directors can be a form of bullying. The Treasurer who withholds the details about financial transactions; the Secretary who refuses to include or exclude certain information in the record of the meetings and the Chairperson who holds tight to the agenda are all examples of officers who are abusing their positions and may bully others who would question their control.
SituationalBoards are a special kind of community where individuals find their places according to explicit or implicit set of rules. All organizations and their Boards have a culture through which their actions and behaviours are acted out. Each Board will have a culture that is customized to what it needs to do and how. Most often a Board culture is open and healthy but sometimes it is not. When a board culture turns toxic, the environment can foster bullying. Sometimes there is such a long tradition of poor Director relations, that only an observer or a new director can see the problems.
As in other potentially abusive situations, the problems and solutions belong to all of us. All Directors need to watch their Boards for the following:
- How information is kept and shared and by whom.
- An unhealthy Board culture that condones abusive power and control.
- Bringing Directors onto a Board who will not match with the culture.
If we are want to bully-proof our Boards, we need to Ensure:
- Open information sharing with well-written and complete policies including job descriptions and codes of conduct for the Board, the Directors and for the officers.
- An honest, objective and regular audit of your Board’s interactions and operations.
- A solid nomination and election process with an assessment by the Board of who would fit your Board culture and who would not.
It is awful to think that the schoolyard memories of bullying are still alive for some Directors like Leslie. Maybe we should apply the remedy that is suggested to children who are bullied: face the bully with “Head up, shoulders back, hands at your side, big voice” rather than letting Directors, staff and other volunteers leave when faced with a bully.
Work hard at not having any bullying at your Board table. Good Boards need the Leslies and sure don’t need the bullies. Bullying hurts too many people and ultimately the whole association.
Carol Humphries, Ideal Consulting Ltd., is passionate about lifelong learning, particularly for Boards who use learning for success. She is the creator of Good Governance™ and Great Policies™ which she helps a variety of Boards to implement.
Postscript
The good news is that bullying is being given a lot of attention these days. In Canada, as in some other countries such as Norway and England, several horrific cases of Canadian children who have died or have been seriously hurt by bullying have led to a recognition of the seriousness of bullying problems for both bullies and their victims. Currently in Canada, there is a groundswell of activity at local, regional and national levels to prevent bullying and victimization in all situations including the workplace.
This article may be used with advance permission and recognition of the author.
RSS Feed
