Transcript
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Welcome to the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. In a world where knowledge has become a commodity, this podcast is designed to give you something more access to the experience of a successful CEO who has already walked the path. So join your host, Martin Moore, who will unlock and bring to life your own leadership experiences and accelerate your journey to leadership excellence.
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Welcome to Moments with Marty, your short, sharp shot of leadership insight to help you to stay on track between our weekly episodes of the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. Work related mental health issues are on the rise. This increase is fuelled, at least in part, by an entitlement culture and this culture is holding many companies captive. We hear a lot these days about work related anxiety, which can easily lead to claims of bullying and harassment. But we rarely hear about the impacts that this has on leaders like you, who bear the brunt of people's problems, be they work related or otherwise. There's been an explosion in workers compensation claims for stress related causes, costing companies all over the world countless billions of dollars in premium increases. In New South Wales, for example, psychological injuries now make up almost 40% of the value of all workplace injury claims. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of these claims are made as immediately following some performance feedback from their leader. Hmm. Whilst there are no doubt many genuine cases of anxiety mental health disorders, I suspect that very few are the direct result of a workplace event. Most would be classified by an insurer as a pre existing condition. Let's face it, claiming a psychological injury does seem like a convenient way out for someone who doesn't want to do the job they're being paid to do. Workplace relations laws in many countries are swinging increasingly in favour of employees and as a result, companies are becoming more and more risk averse. The burden of proof in any workplace dispute has shifted from the accuser to the accused. Any person who makes an allegation of bullying against their boss, no matter how spurious, is taken at their word and afforded enormous protection. It's the manager who has to prove his innocence, rather than their accuser having to prove their case against him. This in itself makes the playing field much harder for a leader who's trying to improve team performance. But even worse, it plays right into the hands of the small but powerful minority who engage in upward bullying. Working under the smokescreen of risk averse HR policies, malicious employees pressure their manager to bend to their will, to remove any performance pressure and to turn a blind eye to their bad behaviour. This was absolutely rife in some of the asset intensive businesses that I worked in at CS Energy, for example. Some Union organisers were even brazen enough to say out loud, marty Moore doesn't run this company, we do. It was worst in the regional operations where lower level supervisors and superintendents were bullied and harassed by their team. And just because they were trying to set a minimum standard of performance and professionalism. And when this happened, there would be reverse bullying allegations against the manager. Often because they were living in small communities. These managers wives would be ostracised and harassed at the local supermarket, their kids would be bullied at school, their cars would be vandalised. In some cases they had to move house multiple times. You can't make this shit up. But at least I was the CEO so I could provide some air cover for those leaders who chose to put themselves on the front line. Now obviously this example is on the more extreme end of the upwards bullying spectrum, but even when one of your people threatens to play the mental health card, you're actually being bullied from below. Whenever this happens, it's important to hold the line. But you can't do that without support from above. And if HR tells you that your only option is to suck it up and go easy on someone who's clearly milking the system, then you have to ask yourself one very important question. Is this the place for me? Leading is hard enough without having the company tie both your hands behind your back. For more depth on this insight, make sure you take 15 minutes to listen to episode 345 of the no Bullshit Leadership podcast, Upwards Bullying. We'll leave a link in the show notes. I really hope you enjoyed this moment and that it gives you that extra little spark to be a no Bullshit leader.