Dominic Raab - Bullying / Robustness / Abrasiveness - People Management

Bullying - An ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical, social and/or psychological harm intentionally. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening.

Bullying isn't - single episodes of social rejection or dislike, single acts of nastiness or spite, random acts of aggression or intimidation, mutual arguments, disagreements or fights.

There is a difference between management & leadership. A manager controls a group or individual in order to achieve a specified objective. A leader  influences, motivates, and enables others to contribute to the organization's success, setting the tone and the culture for that particular organization. The question is what is the best way to achieve good performance from people working for you & what example should a leader set?

The problem with Dominic Raab is that he seems to feel that positive ways of leading a team don't work as well as negative ones. He is undoubtedly an able man. He is a Grammar school boy who studied Law at Oxbridge. He has held ministerial posts in Justice, the Foreign Office, Housing, Brexit & been Deputy Prime Minister. So is obviously valued by the Conservatives.

He faced 8 formal complaints by at least 24 civil servants in 3 Whitehall departments going back to 2021, which led to the Tolley enquiry. We don't know how many informal complaints there have been, but it isn't unreasonable to imagine that this is part of a pattern of behaviour & there were probably more unofficial complaints.

Having seen much of the coverage of this sorry affair I have reflected on my professional life as a headteacher. I know how difficult it can be to deal with bullying effectively in schools. I also know that there are effective ways of getting good performance from a team. 

1. Be Transparent.
2. Set Clear Expectations. Define your goals and intended outcomes
3. Praise Recognize and Reward Good Work.
4. Don't Micromanage. Provide autonomy to your employees
5. Encourage Diversity.
6. Make work enjoyable
   
7. Create A Positive Company Culture. Facilitate open, ongoing communication and collaboration
8. Identify your employees' needs.
9. Optimize your workflows and processes.
10. Provide open access to organizational knowledge.

I will work hard for a boss who knows his / her job, works hard, respects those who work with him/her, praises achievement & provides development & training where it is needed. I won't work anything like as well for someone I don't respect & who treats me badly.

That is the lesson Dominic Raab & his like need to learn - Priti Patel, John Bercow, Gavin Williamson, Liam Byrne, Christina Rees. A Unite survey found that 25% of parliamentary staff working for MP's had experienced or witnessed bullying in the offices of MPs, while a GMB survey found 20% of 68 respondents reported having personally experienced behaviour that may constitute bullying and /or harassment from their MP employer. 

It could possibly be that these people are wimps who can't take the heat in the kitchen. It could be that staff are "activists" rising up against their masters in a "passive aggressive" way as Raab said. But actually the bottom line is that if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck & quacks like a duck then the chances are it is a duck!