Premier, you weren’t bullied
WHEN LEADERS LABEL A SINGLE ACT OF UNPLEASANTNESS OR FORCEFULNESS AS BULLYING THEY TRIVIALISE THE PROBLEM AND UNDERMINE BIDS TO WIPE IT OUT
QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was bullied by Prime Minister Scott Morrison when he intervened in the case of a woman unable to attend her father’s funeral in the Sunshine State.
Palaszczuk’s choice of words is in line with an unfortunate trend to erroneously use the term “bullying” to describe a range of undesirable or unwanted interactions.
When leaders label single interactions of unpleasantness, unkindness or forcefulness as “bullying”, they trivialise the serious nature of bullying and undermine the efforts of many schools and workplaces to try to help others understand what bullying is, how to deal with it and how to prevent it.
Bullying is tragically real, with devastating consequences – but the term also has a very specific meaning. It is far more than being mean to someone and is something no one should have to endure.
When bullying takes place, it needs to be addressed immediately and effectively. In schools, it will almost always require a teacher, counsellor or school leader to intervene. In the workplace, a manager or human resources representative will be required.
In more extreme cases, law enforcement might need to become involved.
While definitions of bullying vary enormously, most refer to a series of three characteristics — an unequal power dynamic (think: physical strength, popularity, access to information); an undesirable behaviour, whether it be covert or overt; and a prolonged period of time during which the actions take place.
There also needs to be an intention to cause harm.
These themes can manifest themselves across different types of bullying including physical, verbal or written, social or relational (for example, spreading rumours or excluding someone) and cyber bullying.
Bullying is rarely associated with one-off or isolated incidents of an individual expressing negative thoughts and feelings towards another, excluding someone from a social function, good-natured teasing or conflicts like a heated disagreement.
Bullying and mean or rude behaviour most likely sit on opposite ends of the continuum – and some negative behaviours most likely sit in between.
We should never underestimate the distress associated with any negative behaviours taking place in the schoolyard or workplace even if they, technically, are not acts of bullying.
But whenever we fail to discriminate between bullying and regular forms of negative behaviour, we trivialise serious cases of abuse.
Schools and workplaces want bullying to be taken more seriously. We therefore need our leaders to choose their words more carefully.