A Different View on Bullying with Janice Harper | VictorSchueller.com

I welcomed Dr. Janice Harper back on to my radio show this week, and it was such an intriguing conversation.  If you’re not familiar with who Janice is, here’s the lowdown on who she is and how I came to know her…

Back in the fall of 2011 I came across an article on the Huffington Post’s website, titled, “Moving From Combat to Compassion in the Workplace,” written by Janice  It was about workplace bullying, and she had a unique take on the subject of workplace bullying.  Doing some more digging, I found another article she wrote, titled, “Top Ten Reasons to Rethink Anti-Bullying Hysteria,” and then I knew I just had to reach out to her to see if there was something I could do for her to help spread her message and viewpoint.

The next thing I knew, she was on my radio show (click here to hear the interview), and she delivered an awesome interview.  It turns out that Janice was an excellent and well-respected educator at a university.  When she began her tenure process, she found herself in the middle of a sexual harassment inquiry regarding another colleague at the university.  The next thing she knows she is denied tenure, and she is accused by some students of building a hydrogen bomb.  Even though eventually the FBI decided that she was not a threat, and that the accusations were false, the damage was done and she was out of a job at the university.

Because of her experiences, she started to talk about workplace bullying and mobbing, and she was asked by the Huffington Post and Psychology Today to be a contributor.  Her articles on the subject of bullying and mobbing are not in line with the “traditional” anti-bullying stance, and she has drawn tremendous scrutiny for her position on the subject.  Nonetheless, I personally align much more closely with her perspective on the subject than the “traditional” viewpoint.

Recently, Janice released her new book, titled Mobbed!  Instead of focusing on the abusive aspects of bullying, she focuses on helping her readers understand the dynamics of people and how they can find themselves the victims of a mobbing.

One of the most fascinating takeaways from our talk together is that once a person is identified as a victim, even those people who were friends, peers, or colleagues can turn on them.  All it takes are a few words from a supervisor that paint the victim in a less-than-flattering light, a reassurance from the supervisor that they are safe, and the damage is done.  The colleague now engages in “small betrayals,” and starts gossiping, spreading rumors, and making comments to others about the victim.  They feel guilty about doing so, and so they mentally need to find justification for doing what they are doing.

I pointed out that the “traditional” bullying literature will get you to a certain point, but if you read what Janice has to say about how mobbing evolves very quickly, the action of “blowing the whistle” or lodging a formal complaint will not only get the wheels of the mobbing turning, but the victim will find themselves isolated and segregated from others.  This victim will sound more and more “crazy,” and the grounds for termination will be ever more so ripe.  Janice agreed.  She suggested that people need to get an understanding of the mechanisms of mobbing so that they know what they are up against once they find themselves a targeted “victim.”  This is where Janice has received much scrutiny.  Instead of people realizing that the “understanding” pertains to knowing how mobbing and bullying “works,” they think she means that people should “be understanding” of those who some may label a bully.  Bullying is very serious, and it requires a very careful approach.

If you think that you may be the target of bullying, you really need to listen to both of my interviews with Janice.  I think you’ll find Janice’s story to be amazing, and I think you’ll find that she has a lot to offer you as far as help.  Make sure you also pick up a copy of her book, which is 200-plus pages of solid, research-backed information that will help you get a grasp on what is going on in these abusive situations and what you can do about it.

Janice and I have even thrown around the idea of putting together a program for people who want a better understanding of what to do in the face of bullying, and we may be making it happen in the spring of 2014.  Keep your eyes posted for more information in the months ahead!

No matter how you slice it, bullying is a serious problem with no easy solutions.  I think Janice, however, offers up some real and solid advice for dealing with these delicate situations.  She paid the price and learned hard lessons.  She can help us all avoid traveling down that same road.  Check her out!