Battered Woman Syndrome

Whether in the office, at home, in an organization, or just in the public, there is a symptom of stress that can affect everyone in the immediate area. You need to be aware of it and have some ideas about how to effectively handle it.

Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) has been denounced in courts as not a legitimate excuse for retaliatory acts of violence, self defense, or other acts of violence. It is coming to be known under a different terminology (adult physical abuse is one term) and no longer attempts to have a single term serve the many dynamics that can present when the sufferer reacts to a motivating incident.

The reason you want to be aware of this condition in your role as a hiring manager or recruiter is because instances of bullying can also be considered a form of abuse and very possibly cause a reaction in someone who has survived an abusive relationship and is re-establishing their life.

The condition is real. The sufferer may have succeeded in masking the condition until and even held theirself in denial about it until a precipitating moment. But after a period of successive beratings, torments, insults, and even physical assaults, the person on the receiving end will no longer be able to tolerate the treatment in silence nor brush it off.

There will come a day when the insults to self are too much -- more than the ordinary person can and should tolerate. Or there will be a bump that sends them flying through the air a few inches and releases a flashback of a similar incident that involved flying several feet. A name-calling session will reach saturation point and no more tolerance. The reaction will ensue and seem disproportionate to what others saw. Unfortunately, others do not see the psychological scar tissue that's been building for years and not tolerating the new attacks.

The best way to avoid having some form of BWS erupt in your office is to:

• Maintain a respectful decorum with every person from the lowest part of the hierarchy to the most powerful.
  
• Be certain that everyone in the organization is focused on one vision -- the livelihood of the organization.
  
• Also make certain your safety protocols address the needs and special circumstances of your organization.

Following these three disciplines will not guarantee the most wholesome environment. But generally following these practices will provide the first steps to addressing the many needs and priorities associated with what was formerly called battered woman syndrome.

Open to Suggestions

It isn't too often that a company will be receptive to unsolicited suggestions for improvement. But one of the FedEx Kinko's (now known as FedEx Office) facilities was ripe for change and accepted the assistance.

The site came to my attention as a customer. Morale was extremely low. Employees carped and complained about nearly everything. Gossip was running at a regular clip and all downhill. It was around October or November when things simply tanked.

The employees spoke openly among themselves and in front of customers about the poor management styles and the even worse training that were imposed on them. They recounted horror stories. The tales were reminiscent of others told in other places; I always thought they were manufactured for the sake of the publication in which I read them. These were real.

There came a day when the gossip reached a high point. The complaints were coming from three or four who were clustered in an area. Although their voices were modulated, the content of what was being said was more than understandable. People were being publicly belittled and chastised. Training and explanation were luxuries that seldom occurred.

I finally reached a point when I could no longer be silent. There was one complaint in particular that was being repeated by nearly all of the workers in the store. I took one of the employees aside and confirmed what I'd heard as a complaint. She was the one who recounted the story most recently. She had been belittled in front of customers and fellow employees. I recommended to her that if it occurred again that she ask the supervisor to please not say such things to her in public. Follow up that statement with a request that they set aside a time to talk privately in order to discuss the issues at hand. The employee acknowledged the advice and we parted. The subject was not raised between us again.

Usually issues regarding morale will linger until the subordinate can't stand the situation any longer and just leaves. This case was different. Withing a month, the gossip clusters dissipated. Open remarks about the lack of ability on the part of management also abated. A new air of professionalism took over all shifts.

At the beginning of this month, the supervisor brought two of his team members into an area where I was working. He wanted to have a brief coaching with them. What he did was compliment them on the work they had done and give them kudos for the way things were handled. He finished his words by adding a summation, "Good job, guys." And then he hi-fived them both.

The branch is still operating at a much higher level of morale and professionalism. The communication seems to be better. The verbal skills of the workers seems to have gotten better; there are fewer grammatical errors. In fact, the workers seem to be happy and enjoy what they're doing more.

This appears to have been a case where the supervisor did not have a need to push his point down everyone's throat. He had no mission to prove he was always right and a driving need to bully anyone and everyone in sight. He was open to that initial volley of talking this over privately rather than berate the worker on the spot in public.

The growth in turning this into a more professional office setting continues. I can only say this proved to be one of those times when the right message sank in and got implemented in the right way.

The Economy Is Here

It was officially announced around 1:30 PM my time. We are in an economic recession. We have been in it for at least the past year. According to the KNX 1070 website nugget:

It's official. The US is in a recession and has been since December. The price of oil slides below 50 dollars a barrel. Stocks sell off, giving back about half of last week's gains. Analysis from Jon Najarian, CNBS contributor and founder of optionmonster.com, John Kilduff, VP at MF Global, Dr. Irwin Kellner, chief economist at Marketwatch.

What a revelation! That is essentially the same news (and information) I've been providing you for the past three years.

Backing up this realization is the economic forecast (still to be completely published) I made of the Employment Industry for this year. Pieces of that forecast managed to make it to the light of the Internet in February at sites such as HR.com, Associated Content.com, OnRec.com, Entrances Forum, and a few other places. The full forecast can be found on the Executive Recruiting Entrances in the Articles section. Watch for the links to go live on this four-part discussion. (Yes, blantant advertising and self promotion.)

KNX 1070 radio news is my sole source of entertainment these days. Therefore, it is also my sole source of audio news. The way they handled why there's been such American oblivion during this time was journalistically professional. They provided snippets of President Bush's statements to the nation over the course of selected time periods throughout these past 12 (to 15) months. At each juncture, Bush says we are doing fine and are not in an economic recession. The nation is economically sound and there is no reason to fear.

Can anyone recall the press conference Bush gave in March 2007? Bush made a statement about the strength of the nation as well as the ability of Americans to avail theirselves of going anywhere they wanted. One of the reporters interrupted the President to ask whether he was aware that gasoline was then nearly $3 per gallon. The President was not aware. In fact, he demanded to know who had put out such information as it simply was not true. Gasoline, on average, was about $2.50 per gallon. This past March Bush was still not willing to admit that gasoline prices were over $3 per gallon and prohibitive to those who are unemployed and seeking work. It was too costly to go to work!

This makes a strong statement about the type and style of leadership under which this nation has struggeled and strived for the past eight years. What's troubling is that as a nation, no one took steps to more than urge our national top employee to take a more cautious and informed look at the situation. No one insisted on better measures to pull things into safer waters. And finally, no one during any of these eight long and arduous years ever took steps to remove the leader who was methodically taking us to the last two inches of the edge of the precipice on which we hang.

It is now time for us to review history. We need to examine the many programs developed by the despised president of the 1930s and replicate some of the infusion methods used then. It is time to look at the person standing before you who wants to work, not the race, gender, sexual preference, neighborhood. Yes, it's definitely prudent to take into consideration education and intelligence. They should be considered in a fair and prudent manner, not with the historic bias that has led us in the past. As I said, it's more than time to look at the person standing before us and consider how many of the tasks that need to be performed, how many of the decisions that need knowledge, experience, and prudence can be performed by that person at an economic price -- that returns value and well being.

But then this reasoning is putting the cart before the horse. I've managed to move from the fact that the weather is a 10-hour hail storm to talking about how to rebuild our house. Time to sit down and catch my breath and thoughts for a moment.

But take heart, my dear readers. It was definitely not your imagination. We are truely in a recession (at best) but we've been in an economic depression for at least one year.

Perspectives on the Incident

Over the past several weeks to two months, it's been my privilege to watch the various reactions as people rush to judgment without investigating. It's amazing what people will do when they hear only one side of an issue and do not hold up to contrast the other person's side of the story and then compare those to what onlookers saw, heard, experienced, and felt. What's also interesting is what comes out when there is no investigation, when there is little investigation, and when there is documented protocol on how to handle things.

No Investigation

What a horrid state of affairs this begets. There's the "victim's" version of what happened. There's the "actor's" version of what they did. Mind you, either of these two roles in many instances can be reversed with regard to the identity of the very same two people. It just depends on who you're talking with first and at what point in time.

Let this situation go on with no investigation and what results is usually called "a mess." There are the hurt feelings of the one who could have been damaged (or was). The shock they endured from either having their privacy invaded or from an actual blow cannot be undone and the redress they seek and do not receive only makes things worse.

Let word of this incident get out (plus the fact that it's gone without resolution) and you've got one humdinger of a gossip mill. The tensions and ill will can mushroom from the gossip alone.

It's imperative that the incident be thoroughly investigated in order to crush the rumor mill and keep the healthy office morale that existed – or else determine what to do now to improve it.

Too Little Investigation

There can be an investigation. Unfortunately, some of these peremptory examinations are biased because the examiner knows one of the parties and is biased toward them in one way or another. The danger is when the examination is conducted without regard to pre-existing relationships. Make certain the potential conflict of interest is minimal to non-existent.

There is a tendency to try to find the most favorable reasoning for the actions of the actor. Very little due diligence is given with regard to the victim's version of what happened. In fact, the victim will be found at fault and very little research into the matter will be attempted.

There’s very little attempt to see the situation from a blank slate nor to reason through some of the explanation in order to see the holes. There is no checklist to remind the investigator of matters that should be check, photographs (or recordings) that should be taken, nor other forms of evidence that should be collected and preserved. Did anyone keep a journal or look for memos and emails that led up to the situation? Also remember the accounts of witnesses who were involved in the situation either marginally or were directly at the scene when something occurred.

Also remember to record whether the witness(es) have some type of pre-existing relationship with either of the parties. When the statements of your witnesses all seem to follow precisely the same theme, consider what the witnesses have in common.

What usually happens in this scenario is that the victim is found at fault. No one follows up with them and they are left in the dark with regard to whether the investigation is ongoing, completed, or whether new questions have been raised and need to be resolved in order to get closer to the truth of what happened.

This can prove to be costly in the long run. The actor will continue on their merry way, feeling completely vindicated and justified in repeating what they've done. They have the impression that they have license to act in the same manner with anyone to the same degree (or more). They have no remorse for their actions because it was not made manifest that they were the source of the wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the victim is growing increasingly irate because their issues have not been addressed (nor will they ever be). In their estimation, they're being ignored and lessened as both a person and an employee of the company. They will hear only one side of the matter if anything was investigated and begin to wonder when exactly they began losing their mind in regard to seeing black and white because the "wanting" facts of the investigation are so inaccurate and slanted.

The company loses twice on this situation. It loses credibility with those who saw the situation for what it was and realize there was no thorough investigation. It also loses credibility with the victim who will ultimately decide to go to another firm. We will not consider the quality of work product nor goodwill that is lost.

Using Standard Protocol

An up-to-the-minute HR department has the tools it needs to make a thorough investigation. The examiner needs to be astute and thoughtful in regard to human nature (sometimes even psychology) as well as the laws that affect workplace security and safety. It is important to have a checklist of matters that should be discussed and investigated. This checklist has the desirability of leaving nothing to memory as far as what to ask of whom, what still needs to be investigated, as well as periodic (important) reminders of what is being investigated and the significance of what the parties are telling you as you work through the investigation.

This may have been a long-term situation that hit a boiling point. Did either of the parties keep some type of log of their interactions or a paper trail of them? If so, make certain to collect a copy of that log. An ideal situation is when both parties kept such a log or responded to the emails so that there is a record of both voices. Why is it ideal? Over and above the obvious, the log will show the communication styles of both parties. It will also show nuances of speech that can be misinterpreted and where misinterpretations were made, by which party, and when.

Remember the Follow-Up and Closure

There’s nothing quite like having someone square their shoulders to finally make a complaint about a situation and then find they’re getting zero feedback in regard to the progress of the investigation or whether anything at all is being done. It leaves them in a void. With the taint of the old fashioned version of HR (management’s henchman in nice clothing and honey coated voices) is still implanted in the minds of even those in their 30s. It will be quite understandable that when they are living and working in the cone of silence, there will be a sense that everyone in the office is annoyed with their work performance and complaining about it behind their back.

How much isn’t too much? Allow the person filing the complaint to know that the investigation is ongoing. Some additional information has come to light that still needs to be investigated to determine whether it is relevant to the situation and to what degree. If there’s need for additional information from the person who filed the complaint, they will be contacted.

Also provide the person with information about who to contact if they have questions about their performance review. Trust me, they’re wondering and their anxieties are causing their once productive and fertile mind to leap baseball fields with notions of what’s happening.

You may now be wondering where you can find resources to lead you through the clear path to success on this topic. Well, it just happens that I can provide a few for you (and I’d be more than willing to provide a presentation for your company).

Resources:

Violence in the Workplace (General) - This policy statement article requires membership to the Business & Legal Reports site. I know the content you can expect from this site. It will pay off several times because of the range of information available through them.

Violence Prevention Checklist - From HR Tools, this will require registration with the site in order to access this excellent list of things to consider for workplace violence and many methods to prevent it.

Workplace Violence Checklist - Although it doesn’t directly address the topic of investigating some type of assault, this checklist from Louisiana State University is quite useful.

HRTools.com - Produced by Knowledge Point, this press release provides access to some of the resources available on workplace violence, its impact in various terms, and information on how to handle and prevent it. You should check the other resources available on the HR.com site.

A Clearly Written, Accurate Report

Communications are extremely important among us. When they're verbal, our listening skills are tested to the nth degree. Our recall of what was said, the meaning of the terms used, and the order of any instructions given all have significance.

If the communication is written, it has even more enduring life and reference. Using the wrong term to identify someone or something could lead to a lot of misunderstanding, make follow-up actions go the wrong way, and even damage reputations for a very long time.

For those of you who are astrology aficianados, you already know that Mercury is in retrograde. Just to fill you in (in case you're not an astrology nut), when Mercury is in retrograde, communications are extremely poor. Contracts entered into at this time will be done improperly and need to be redone. Telephone tag is the name of the game. Electronic devices will malfunction. And communication life will be in chaos until Mercury goes direct -- about six weeks later.

With this in mind, imagine how interesting it was for me to find an official report written by a government employee. There seemed to be a sincere effort to bring truth and justice to those involved, but when the report was read with an active reader's mind, some major questions kept coming up and the credibility of the one giving the report was tolled. Here's an example:

"The vict and the susp were engaged in a verbal dispute."

I talked with someone at the scene. What was reported was that the victim was engaged in a conversation with a visitor and telling anecdotes about things that had happened at the residence over time. One anecdote involved the suspect. The suspect became annoyed at the revelation of the grossness of their behavior and made a threat. The victim challenged the suspect to follow through on the threat.

"The vict then began to strike the vict approx 10 times with her fists to victs face."

This sentence makes any reader want to know why the "victim" began striking herself and especially why so many times. Well, there are masochists and people who will do whatever is necessary in order to obtain pain killer medication. Perhaps that was the reason the victim was striking herself in the face so many times. According to the person who witnessed the incident, it was the suspect who began shouting threats; she was not being threatened. It was the suspect who began the verbal altercation. Instead of walking away from the challenge to live up to her boasts, the suspect decided to use brute force hit the victim.

"The vict fell down and the susp continued to punch and kick the vict."

At least there's helpfulness at this site. Wasn't it nice that even though the victim finally knocked herself down from pummeling herself, the suspect was willing to continue the beating, as well as kicking her. That is true generosity.

Well, it looks like things turned from being self flagellation to a multiple personality free-for-all. If that's the case, don't go to the place where this incident occurred. You won't know which personality you're dealing with nor which will be present. Not only that, if it's the masochistic one (or the multiple one), they're liable to pull you into the frey.

Unfortunately, this report was not written with care and little attention to accuracy. As you may gather, neither of the parties were in a position to proofread what was written and ask for corrections to the narrative. If the victim is looking for redress and credibility, her ability to get either are squelched. It isn't terribly clear who was assaulting whom. Except for the labels, it sounds as though only one person was attacked and a bystander was the one who perpetuated the it.

Mercury is in retrograde for six weeks. It went into this phase on September 17. Until it goes direct, double check your written reports, be careful of using run-on sentences, and strive to be as clear and accurate as is possible. Remember, your report will govern how others respond.

Outsourcing Considerations

Sometimes one small thing is the reason a great function will fail. Some of us remember the Challenger's fatal take-off. The ship, all of its crew and cargo were lost on the lift-off pad because of one loose screw. And the screw was left loose because there was no double check and no one thought it was that big of a deal. But it's the small things that are the fly in the pudding.

A fellow commuter was having more than the usual difficulties this weekend because his Transit Access Pass ("TAP") card wouldn't be accepted. He'd just loaded it with sufficient funds to last through Monday. Still, the card was repeatedly rejected on the last bus he attempted to ride. He had to debark and was determined to test the card on another bus.

However, while waiting for the next bus, he made several calls, one to the company that produces the TAP cards and then to Metropolitan Transit Authority ("MTA") Customer Service.

What the commuter learned was MTA outsources production and maintenance of the TAP system to a vendor. That vendor does not have Customer Support on weekends nor during evening hours but MTA passengers commute at those times as well as during normal business hours. Since it was the weekend, the commuter had no one to turn to at the vendor’s office in order to gain information, support, and solutions. He called MTA's Customer Support as an alternative.

It was admirable how well the man handled each phone call. He asked critical thinking questions of each person with whom he spoke and then asked logical follow-up questions to ensure he had all of the correct information. But MTA did not have good news for him. Their Customer Support is not associated with the vendor and could not step into the vendor's shoes in order to remedy the customer's problem with the card.

This was proving to be a very frustrating situation for the customer. He needed assistance, he required instructions on how to remedy his state of affairs, and there was no one available during these "off hours" who could competently provide that support.

While MTA may have outsourced their TAP program and maintenance to this vendor for a really great up-front price, the costs of having MTA Customer Support explain to passengers that there is no support available during evenings and weekends for TAP need to be factored back into the cost equation. Another cost that needs to be factored back in is the cost of lost revenues from false rejections. And that in turn requires factoring in the cost of lost customers and goodwill. In the long run, this outsourced service could be extremely costly.

This shows us that even though we're busily thinking about the most cost effective way of doing business and saving dollars that can ultimately be passed on to customers in the form of lower prices, we also need to take into consideration when our customers will be using the product or service and whether they will be able to get support when they need it – not at the vendor's convenience.

You may want to add that to your checklist of questions:

"Do you have customer support for this product/service?"

"Is the support 24/7? If not, when is it available?"

Glorious Exits

Tim Russert died this past Friday. In spite of his hard work and the fact that he'd just commenced his 58th year of life, he looked pretty good. His death did not have the impact on me that some other journalists' had. But his tributes and memorials collect the same stories as his predecessors about being in the trenches, collecting the story that could not have been were it not for his/her conviction, the gripping interviews, attention to high journalistic standards, and so on.

I admired Tim Russert's skills as a journalist, TV moderator, speaker, and all the other attributes that went with his talents. But for the breadth of experience and talents, for the constant push toward a higher standard and the setting of new goals, for his desire to expand and increase the desire to know on the part of the information-consuming public, I still admire people such as Peter Jennings, and the legions of other journalist legends such as Walter Cronkite, Frank Reynolds, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, to name a few.

Knowing his ailment as intimately as I do, it is quite easy to identify with the footage his brain recorded in those last minutes, the thoughts and concerns about what he was doing and how to keep the flow of the work product moving to fruition. I know these things because Russert and I had the same standards. No matter what else, the product needs to be delivered. No matter what's happening, the public deserves to be as informed and educated as possible so that they are not making blind decisions.

Russert was also a journalist who stood his ground when he felt he was right about a particular slant. How well I remember the email that was sent to both his station (KNBC) as well as one of his competitors (KABC) that threatened to no longer watch his show if he continued to plunge viewers into yet another hour of Clinton horror reportage rather than cover the multifoliate issues impacting the U.S. domestic and foreign policy, and more. Russert chose to continue the Clinton coverage while his competitors re-integrated the political news of many perspectives back into their Sunday programming. It was his right to make the decision and it showed that he was a journalist who did not bend to pressure for the sake of pressure.

But the thing that most makes me want to stand and salute this excellent journalist is the one that many will take for granted. He died in one of the most glorious ways possible. He died while fully engaged in his greatest passion -- doing his work. How many of us will be able to say we died with a smile on our face because we were doing what we enjoyed most -- our work? That is definitely a glorious exit.