Lateral violence exists on a spectrum, from seemingly ordinary behaviour such as gossiping or criticism, to intimidation, racism and outright physical intimidation or harm. Lateral violence cannot thrive when employers, co-workers, and team-members become ethically and legally responsible. We do not accept bullying in our schools or other workplaces so why do we accept it or turn a blind eye within our teams? The concern is that lateral violence is happening or fostered at various levels and going on where we have learned to oppress one another and has become normal. Often, lateral violence is a mind-set based on fear rather than respect. The goal of the presentation is to empower individuals to recognize lateral violence and intervene, through conflict resolution and to avoid unhealthy coping strategies. Having the conversation is what matters . . . it shows that everyone shares the responsibility for behaviour that affects our teams and our communities; we need to show our students healthy communication and role models so they will be able to model behaviours to lead us into the future in a balanced and health way forward.

1. AW SIS 2016Ȃ
AWÂSIS Education Conference
Acceptance of Difference
awasis.com
Safety in the Workplace: From LateralViolence
to Lateral Kindness
Greg Riehl RN BScN MA

2. Outline
• What is lateral violence?
• What causes lateral violence?
• What are the effects of lateral violence
• Who gets targeted
• Types of bullies
• Hierarchy
• Mobbing
• Cultural competence and culture
• Zero tolerance policies
• Functional versus dysfunctional conflict

3. Objectives
1. Identify terms used to describe negative coworker
behavior
2. Describe an experience with negative coworker
behavior
3. Discuss strategies to manage negative coworker
behavior

4. Why am I here?
• I ask myself this every day, and I also ask those who I am
working with from time to time

5. Why Don’tWe Stop Bullying?
“It’s not a problem in our school”
“Everybody does it – just get used to it”
“If I say anything, I’ll be the next victim”
“We have policies but they aren’t enforced”
“She sets herself up for getting picked on”

6. What are the characteristics of
a bully?

7. What are the characteristics of
a victim?

8. What are the characteristics of
a bystander?

9. What is an upstander?
• An “upstander” is someone who recognizes when
something is wrong and acts to make it right.
• When an upstander sees or hears about someone being
bullied, they speak up.
• Being an upstander is being a hero: we are standing up
for what is right and doing our best to help support and
protect someone who is being hurt.

11. Stories
• I will use some of my experiences working in health, in
the north, and as a nurse, often an outsider, working in
different situations.
• You are a part of the story.

12. Objectives
 To broaden the understanding of the Platinum Rule.
 To describe how to apply the Platinum Rule.
 Compare the Golden and Platinum Rules.
 To explore cultural aspects of nursing care.
 To identify the unique challenges faced by care providers
working with diverse clients.

14. We Don’t SeeThings AsThey Are,
We SeeThem As We Are
• “It has been well said that we do not see things as they are, but as we are
ourselves. Every man looks through the eyes of his prejudices, of his
preconceived notions. Hence, it is the most difficult thing in the world to
broaden a man so that he will realize truth as other men see it.”

15. I try to be skeptical (question things) and not cynical (dismiss ideas &
find fault with them)

16. Hierarchy
• The more vertical an organization is in its hierarchy, the
more complicated communication becomes.
• We are hired into a certain job, or role, but no where does
it tell us of all the lateral violence that exists, or what to
do about it.

17. Communication is about listening
• My job description does not say, Greg, you will have to
listen to a lot of your co workers bitching and complaining
about each other, they will want you to fix their conflicts,
and will want you to keep it a secret and tell no one.
• This will happen on a very regular basis, consider this
‘duties as assigned’

18. LateralViolence
“Exists on a spectrum, from seemingly ordinary
behaviour such as gossiping or criticism, to
intimidation, racism and outright physical
intimidation or harm.”
Linda Rabyj, 2005

19. LateralViolence
LateralViolence (LV), also called Horizontal
violence, [bullying], incivility, and disruptive
behaviours, creates an unpleasant work
environment and has harmful effects on individual
nurses, patient safety, and health care
organizations.
Johnson, 2009 & Dimarino, 2011

20. Hurt people hurt people
When another person makes you suffer, it is because he
suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling
over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.
Tich Naht Hanh

21. Hurt people hurt people
Hurt people hurt people.That’s how pain patterns get passed on,
generation after generation after generation.
Break the chain today.
Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with compassion, cruelty with
kindness.
Greet grimaces with smiles.
When you forget about the fault, there is nothing to forgive.
Love is the weapon of the future
Yehuda berg

22. Who gets targeted?
Anyone who is different from the group norm on any major
characteristic
• Experience
• Education
• Race/ethnicity
• Gender
Targeted person’s gender
• 79% Female
• 21% Male

23. He said, She said• Men and women communicate differently
• Indirect communication
• Direct communication
• Asynchronous communication – text, email, voicemail
• Cyber LateralViolence
• CAPS LOCK
• We punish people for not being about to communicate
properly as opposed to helping them learn new skills..

24. Who is Doing the Bullying?
2009 survey byWorkplace Bullying Institute:
- Main perpetrator’s gender
• 65% Female
• 35% Male
2009WBI survey sited in NewYorkTimes:
- Men target men and women equally
-Women target women 70% of the time

25. Why does this happen in the myWorkplace?
• Isolated from the public and other staff
• High-stress environment
• Limited autonomy in practice
• High-paced environment
• Lack of experienced staff
• Cliques or closely bonded groups
• Hierarchical climate
• Gender imbalance
• Attitudes to training
• Non acceptance of difference

26. Why?
In my profession, nurses practice in a historically patriarchal
environment.
• Oppression leads to low-self esteem.
• Nurses exert power over one another through lateral violence.
Lateral violence is perpetuated through the culture of nursing (new
nurses, curriculum, etc).
• “Nurses eat their own”
• “See one do one teach one”
• The Bronze Rule…
We now work with four different generations in the workforce,
adding to the complexities of effective communication.

27. Who is doing it?
Co-worker-on-coworker aggression
• Directed toward individuals at same power level
• Intended to cause psychological pain
• Does not include physical aggression
Intergroup/hierarchy conflict
• Shift to shift/class to class/group to group…
• Cliques within a workgroup
• Department to department
• We are a team but some people are more important than the others??
• Crabs in a bucket – Fear of success

28. Risk and Rewards
• We often face a risk acting, and we also face a risk when
we do not act.
• It’s difficult to know what to make of a teacher who
crosses the line from basic discipline to regularly
berating, intimidating, humiliating.

29. David and Goliath

30. Three types of BULLIES
Sydney based clinical psychologist and workplace bullying
specialist Keryl Egan has formulated three workplace bully
profiles:
1.Accidental bully
2.Narcissistic bully
3.Serial bully

31. Accidental bully
This person is task orientated and just wants to get things
done, tends to panic when things are not getting done, and
goes into a rage about it.This person is basically decent,
they don’t really think about the impact of what’s
happening or what they have done.
They are responding to stress and it is believed that they
can be coached out of this behavior.

32. Narcissistic Bully
They are grandiose and have dreams of breath taking
achievement.They feel they deserve power and position.
They can fly into a rage when reality confronts them.This
person is very destructive and manipulative, they don’t set
out in a callous way to annihilate any person – it is purely an
expression of their superiority.

33. Serial Bully
Has a sociopathic and psychopathic personality.This type of bully is intentional,
systematic and organized and is often relentless.They usually get things done in
terms of self-interest.
They employ subtle techniques that are difficult to detect or prove. Coaching is often
ineffective.
They exhibit the following:
•Grandiose, but charming
•Authoritative, aggressive and dominating
•Fearless and shameless
•Devoid of empathy or remorse
•Manipulative and deceptive
•Impulsive, chaotic or stimulus seeking
•Master of imitation or mimicry

34. Conflict It’s not all Bad
Functional Conflict is considered positive, as it can increase
performance, support change, and identify weaknesses or
areas that need to be supported.
Dysfunctional Conflict is harmful to people and the
organization.This type of confrontation does nothing to
support goals or objectives.

35. In Conflict who are you: Victim, Villain, Hero or
Resolutionary?
In conflict, each person
feels hit first.
The size of the villain
determines the size of the
hero.
“Without goliath, David is
just some punk, throwing
rocks.”
Billy Crystal, My Giant

36. Victims
• Are you a victim of the victim syndrome?
• http://sites.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=50114

37. WorkplaceViolence & Harassment
Experts identify two primary categories of
lateral violence.
Overt(direct)
Covert (passive)

39. 10 Most Common Forms of LateralViolence in
1. Non-verbal innuendo,
2. Verbal affront,
3. Undermining activities,
4. Withholding information,
5. Sabotage,
Griffin. 2004

40. 10 Most Common Forms of LateralViolence in
6. Infighting,
7. Scapegoating,
8. Backstabbing,
9. Failure to respect privacy, and
10.Broken confidences.
Griffin. 2004

41. Mobbing
A group of coworkers gang up on another
• Often with the intent to force them to leave the work group
Five phases of Mobbing
1. Conflict
2.Aggressive acts
3.Management/Faculty Involvement
4.Branding as Difficult or Mentally ill
5.Expulsion

43. Impact is on all staff
•Physical
•Psychological
•Social

44. Impacts on NewTeam Members
• New team members are extremely susceptible to
LateralViolence and experience more negative impacts
than experienced team members.
Prevention Strategies are needed
• Top down and bottom up approaches
• Mentoring and investigation systems
• Role Models
• Education
• Empowerment

45. We All need to ask ourselves:
• “Did I participate in bullying?”
• “Did I support this kind of behavior in others?”
• “Did I intervene if and when I observed it?”
“We must work to uncover and reverse atrocities, one person, one
company, and one law at a time”
BullyproofYourself atWork, G & R Namie

46. Who else is involved?
Other Students? Parents? Friends?
Teachers? Heros?

47. Cyber bullying
• Exclusion, Flaming
• Exposure, Sexting
• Email threats and Dissemination
• Harassment
• Phishing
• Password theft lockout
• Bash Boards, Griefing
• Chicanery
• Pseudonyms
• Impersonation
• Denigration
• Email/cell phone image and video
dissemination
• Pornography and marketing list
inclusion
• Cyber Stalking
• Website creation may include
Voting/polling booths
• Happy Slapping

48. What to do?
• Awareness
• Education
• Dialogue
• Zero tolerance policy
• Be confident
• Develop effective coping
mechanisms
• Confront the situation
• Rehearsal
• Enact policy and procedure
• Code of conduct
• Don’t accept it!

49. ZeroTolerance
• Zero tolerance policies – the APA has a resolution calling
for schools to modify this approach, as it ‘can actually
increase bad behaviour and also lead to higher drop-out
rates’

50. Safe place
• Where is the safe place in your organization?

51. Bronze silver gold platinum rules
The culture ofWestern medicine places diagnosis as a
central goal
Aboriginal medicine, see diagnosis as less central and pay
more attention to finding a safe environment in which the
patient may recover.
For conditions such as mental disorders, this latter
approach may prove more effective than struggling to
attach a label to the disorder.

52. Bronze rule
Do unto others as they have done unto you

53. Silver
What you do not want done to yourself, do not do
to others

54. Gold
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

55. Platinum
Do unto others as they want done unto them

56. THE PLATINUM RULE.
TREAT OTHERS
HOW THEY WANT TO BE
TREATED

57. Tips for Creating a HealthyWork
Environment by Kathleen Bartholomew
• Never be a “silent witness”. Never stand by and listen while others are gossiping,
criticizing or talking badly about someone else
• Be a team player. If you see someone in need of help, offer assistance.The
greatest safety net cast is to catch mistakes and this is only as strong as your
relationships
• Speak your truth – always say what’s on your mind. Start the conversation by
sharing your perception of what happened and then what you need
• Always stay client focused and problem solving focused (personally I want a win-
win)
• Address issues directly. Ask the manager or your mentor to help role model
difficult conversations with you

59. Lateral Silence
• It is part of the culture – the Culture of Silence
• Everybody knows about it
• Everybody does it
• No body talks about it

60. Our Culture needs to change
• We do not accept bullying in our schools or other
workplaces so why is it ok in the workplace?

61. Why Don’tWe Stop LateralViolence?
“It’s not a problem in our work area”
“Everybody does it – just get used to it”
“If I say anything, I’ll be the next target”
“We have policies but they aren’t enforced”
“She sets herself up for getting picked on”

62. Bullies andVictims or just people?
• Bullies are evil, victims are innocent? Really???
• Who decides?
• What if there are no bullies?
• What would you do?
• What would teachers or parents do?

63. Lateral Kindness
• Please be kind to each other
• Respectful and responsible relationships, there are no
apps for that.
• Be Grateful
• Be Great!

64. There is hope and reality
• Effective anti-bullying practices must include a
statement of exactly what constitutes bullying.
• We need to work with everyone, bullies, victims,
targets, and bystanders…

65. You only live once?
False.
You live every minute of every day.
You only die once.

66. Discussion, questions,
comments!!!
Thank you for your participation

67. Contact information
Greg Riehl RN BScN MA
Aboriginal Nursing Student Advisor
Aboriginal Nursing Student Achievement Program
Saskatchewan Polytechnic
Regina Campus
Email: greg.riehl@saskpolytech.ca
Email: gregriehl@sasktel.net
@griehl

68. References available on request
slideshareFind this Presentation on

69. How do we deal with the stress?
• 75% talk to family, friends, colleagues
• 50% experience a desire to resign
• 49% lose interest in job, disengage
• 23% use more sick time
• 35% use formal channels
 23% HR representative
 12% Union or professional organization representative

70. What can you do?
• Dialogue is ultimately far more effective than pointing
fingers
• Cognitive RehearsalTechniques
• Health care professionals across the spectrum working
together more effectively and patients receiving better
care.

71. DESC COMMUNICATION MODEL
Describe – the behavior
Explain – the effect the behavior has on you,
coworkers, patient care
State – the desired outcome
Consequences – what will happen if the behavior
continues?

72. Rehearsal
Research has demonstrated the benefit of rehearsal for new
employees.
I.e.
When a staff member makes a facial gesture (raising an
eyebrow) the participant was instructed to say “I see
from your facial expression that there may be something
you wanted to say to me. It’s ok to speak directly to me”.
Griffin, 2004

73. Teamwork and Communication
• Involve everyone in solving problems related to these
issues.
• Develop a set of “RIGHTS” for everyone.
• Effective anti-bullying practices must include a statement
of exactly what constitutes bullying.
• Communication needs to be a part of culture.

74. Statement of Commitment to Co-workers
As your co-worker with a shared goal of providing excellent service to people
and families, I commit the following:
I will accept responsibility for establishing and maintaining healthy
interpersonal relationships with you and every member of this staff.
I will talk to you promptly if I am having a problem with you. The only
time I will discuss it with another person is when I need advice or help
in deciding how to communicate with you appropriately.
I will establish & maintain a relationship of functional trust with you and
every member of this staff. My relationships with each of you
will be equally respectful, regardless of job titles or levels of educational preparation.
I will not engage in the '3B's (bickering, back-biting and bitching) &
will ask you not to as well.
I will not complain about another team member & ask you not to as well.
If I hear you doing so, I will ask you to talk to that person.
I will accept you as you are today, forgiving past problems,
& ask you to do the same with me.
I will be committed to finding solutions to problems rather than
complaining about them or blaming someone, & ask you to do the same.
I will affirm your contribution to quality service.
I will remember that neither of us is perfect, & that human errors
are opportunities not for shame or guilt, but for forgiveness and growth.
(Adapted from Marie Manthey, President of Creative Nursing Management in Caroline Flint's Midwifery Teams and Caseloads 1993; p. 138)