Let’s face it. In stressful situations, we are not always on our best behavior.The unpredictability of healthcare, dealing with crisis after crisis with limited resources can convert Glenda the Good Witch into the Wicked Witch from the East – occasionally.
What’s the difference between someone who is just having a bad day and a bully?
Let’s say you get “testy” with your co-worker during a crisis, if you’re NOT a bully, you recognize your behavior as inappropriate, disrespectful and unprofessional; and you APOLOGIZE. A bully justified her actions, makes excuses or worse, believes she has the right to treat others poorly just because.
I define bullying in this way: It’s the repeated patterns of destructive behavior with the conscious or unconscious attempt to do harm. Now that’s a bully!
If you find yourself working with someone who frequently flies off the handle, gets reactive in a crisis or lashes out at others when under stress pay attention to how she behaves after the event. Does she apologize? If not and she repeats the same pattern of bad behavior, she may be a bully.
Think about yourself and how you react in stressful situations. Do you ever get “testy” with your co-workers? If you do, recognize and apologize. There can be a fine line between a bully and someone who just had a bad day. Make sure you’re not falling into the bullying definition.
Remember to be kind to one another, to be respectful, and to apologize if you’ve behaved unprofessionally. Every day you wake up gives you a clean slate to start anew.
Thank you for reading. Please do your part to stop bullying behavior. Bullying has no place in a profession that is supposed to be caring and compassionate!
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