Target Action Plan Video

Action Steps for Targets to Take

There is much more to do than simply quit.

Though if you make your health top priority, leaving may be the healthiest choice.

Errors in Traditional Advice

Target must confront
the bully

Wrong. If you could have, you would have. It’s in your nature to think of what to say an hour later. Bullies get the drop on targets using the power of surprise at unpredictable times. Bushwhacking.

Why? The bully’s boss either orders the bully to torment you, likes their aggression, looks the other way while knowing exactly what is being done to you, or is afraid of them, too. In any case that person will not stop the bully on your behalf.

Complain to
the bully’s boss

Complain to HR

Worst mistake ever. HR doesn’t tell you that they are a management support function. No one in HR has the clout to affect behavior of higher level managers. HR is not your friend. Alert them last.

Good advice with some limits. For incidents, note date, time, location, who was present as witness (either eyewitness or “earwitness”). If no direct witness, who saw your state immediately after incident? In future incidents, it would help if you asked people: (1) if they heard what happened, and (2) has it ever happened to you? This breaks the silence in a way that does not scare away coworkers.

Document everything

Don’t Wait to Act

Your paralysis is natural. The goal of humiliating you is to foster personal shame. Shame, an overwhelming sense of worthlessness, makes action difficult. Do not beat yourself up.
Stop wishing bullies will voluntarily change and feel remorse over the harm they have caused. They will not. More important, they will not change to please you.
Waiting on an investigation to conclude, whether by HR or a law firm, postpones the inevitability of choices you have to make. It can take months during which you can do so much to heal and move to the next stage of your life. With reasonable certainty, we can say you will be disappointed, demoralized and feel betrayed when it is finished.

Rationale for Taking Action

To externalize the source of your problems. It’s the bully and the abusive work environment that rewards and sustains cruelty. Self-blame internalizes it. You did nothing to provoke or invite the misery heaped on you.

Emotional abuse causes emotional injuries. Destructive emotions cloud decision making. Our activity list can help minimize negative emotions. Further, it improves your credibility. People are frightened by displays of negative emotions.

Expert Advice for the Target Experiencing Workplace Bullying in Real-Time

You Don’t Want to Make a Bad Situation Worse.

If you’re like most people targeted by a workplace bully, you’re competent, trustworthy, good at your job, and able to play well with others. And it’s natural for you to be trusting of your employer, Human Resources, company policy, and the organizational ladder there.

It’s likely that’s your first problem. You’re not seeing your world at work for how it is; you’re seeing it as you want it to be.

Ask anyone who has worked in a toxic environment long enough, and they’ll give you the real dope on HR: they’re not there for you. They’re there for Management. And they will do everything in their power to protect Management from whomever Management paints out to be a problem. Even you.

You may find it hard to believe because it’s contrary to how you approach these things. So you look elsewhere for guidance, this blog article or that podcast citing solutions for situations involving workplace bullying.

Almost without exception, the “common wisdom” floating out there does targets like yourself much more harm than good, convincing you that your adversaries are your allies, and that landmines to avoid – like asking HR for help – are potential paths of safety and rescue.

Talk about adding insult to injury.

Return to the Index of Target Tutorials

I Know What You Need to Know to Navigate This.

I’ve spent over a quarter-century training people of all professions in navigating these minefields, helping them diminish the additional fallout from the bullying they were experiencing, aiding them to see possible pathways out of the mess they’re in.

And now I’ve made it available and accessible for anyone experiencing the hardship of workplace bullying.

My Targets’ Action Plan consists of two important resources:

A video in which I address all of the major fallacies and concerns re working with HR, Management, etc. (Running time: 54 minutes)
A study guide that guides you through pivotal questions and considerations to help you avoid the landmines awaiting you. (It will take around an hour to complete.)

Workplace bullying takes many shapes and sizes, but the common threads between experiences have been well-documented and researched. With my help, you can stop from making a bad situation worse, and you can begin to see better what opportunities lie before you.

The plan costs only $14.99

Purchase Targets’ Action Plan

Book a Live, Interactive Strategy Session with Dr. Gary Namie

Drs. Ruth and Gary Namie began WBI spending months on the phones with bullied individuals. They stopped counting at 12,000 sessions.

A 90-minute sessions costs $500 (USD)

With WBI beginning its 27th year of operation in 2024, Dr. Gary Namie is offering again to coach individuals targeted by workplace bullying and to offer his personal perspective on life and career strategies for those afflicted.

This time, callers will benefit from the unrivaled, pioneering experience in the field he helped create — as international thought leader, researcher, educator, expert witness in legal cases, author, consultant to organizations and unions, campaigner for legislative change, and famously as former professor – a “recovering academic.”