I've been watching the storm blown up by the weekend's No 10 bullying story with puzzled fascination. Sometimes I wonder whether I'm reading the same story as the commentators.
I'm really not interested in the party political angle to all this. But two things do bother me.
Firstly, UK law enshrines the right of all employees to be treated with dignity and respect at work. I really don't buy the suggestion that it's excusable to shout, scream and throw things under stress, or that people who don't like being subjected to such behaviour are wimps and cry babies.
Yes, of course leaders do suffer stress at work, and don't always deal with it well. I've been there myself - we're all human. But isn't the old adage 'treat others as you'd want them to treat you' is a good baseline to check ourselves out from? How can we expect to gain trust, respect and co-operation if people habitually feel afraid in our presence?
That brings me on to my second point. If you're providing a confidential service to vulnerable, frightened people, you DON'T breach confidentiality under any circumstances. If an individual gives you explicit consent to take up their issue directly, that's different.
For me it's really important that people who are targeted by bullies learn how to recover their balance and find ways to feel OK about themselves despite being on the receiving end of less than dignifying behaviour.
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