OR Manager - January 2018 - 17

Leadership
Continued from page 15
To address bullying effectively, leaders
need to, as Tetzlaff says, " muster
the will and master the skill. "
The willingness to take action can be
easily derailed, particularly if the bully is
clinically competent.
" The bully may be a superb worker,
so the manager overlooks the behavior, "
Berry says.
That's not the only problem. " We
have a laundry list of traps in our brain
that prevent us from acting, " Tetzlaff
says. These traps include assuming
that action won't make any difference,
or there won't be support from medical
or nursing administration, or not witnessing
the behavior first hand.
Another trap is apprehension about
the open position that will result when
a bully leaves, but Clark calls on managers
to be courageous.
She shares the example of a nurse
manager of a large, busy emergency
department. The manager decided to
" clean house " of negative and intimidating
nurses and temporarily replace them
with agency nurses until she hired a
dedicated nursing team with a firm commitment
to creating a safe patient care
environment. Now she's leading a highperforming
unit.
So how does a leader muster the
will? Tetzlaff provides these tips:
* Tell yourself the benefits of taking
action, including saving time and
maintaining your credibility with
peers and staff. For example, it's
more time-consuming to manage the
disruption from a bully's behavior
than to address it.
* Do it more often. Having difficult
conversations more often makes it a
bit easier to hold them.
* Be prepared. Know your organization's
policies, plan the intervention,
and practice the conversation.
* Find a mentor. A mentor can help
you practice and debrief afterward to
help improve your approach.
www.ormanager.com
5
How to manage a bully who may be
harassing staff, leaders (or both) will be
discussed in Part 2 of this series. ✥
Cynthia Saver, MS, RN, is president of
CLS Development, Inc, Columbia, Maryland,
which provides editorial services to
healthcare publications.
References
American Nurses Association. ANA
position statement on incivility, bullying,
and workplace violence. July 22,
2015. http://www.nursingworld.org/
MainMenuCategories/Workplace
Safety/Healthy-Nurse/bullyingworkplaceviolence/Incivility-Bullying-andWorkplace-Violence.html.
Bell
J. California offers guidance on educating
employees about workplace
bullying. Society for Human Resource
Management. 2016. https://
www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/
legal-and-compliance/state-and-localupdates/pages/california-offersguidance-on-educating-employeesabout-workplace-bullying.aspx.
Berry
P A, Gillespie G L, Fisher B S,
et al. Psychological distress and
workplace bullying among registered
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Ciocco
M. Fast Facts on Combating
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Clark C M, Kenski D. Promoting civility
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Cobb E P. Workplace Bullying and Harassment:
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OR
Manager | January 2018 17

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ http://www.nursingworld.org/ http://www.hrdailyadvisor.blr https://www.chapters.theiia http://https:// http://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/ http://https:// http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/workplacevi http://http:// http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMe https://www.joint http://www.commission.org/assets/1/23/ https://www.reneethompson http://www.speaks.com/wp-content/ http://www.ormanager.com

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