April 20, 2011	Volume 11, Issue 16
Recommend this issue to a friend Join the Friends of Point Lookout HTML to link to this article…	Archive: By Topic    By Date Links to Related Articles Sign Up for A Tip A Day!
Create a perpetual bookmark to the current issue
| Follow @RickBrenner	Random Article

---

How Workplace Bullies Use OODA:
Part II

by Rick Brenner

Workplace bullies who succeed in carrying on their activities over a long period of time are intuitive users of Boyd's OODA model. Here's Part II of an exploration of how bullies use the model.

Last time, we began our exploration of how workplace bullies use the OODA Model by noticing that most bullies are very intuitive about it. And we gained some insight into how bullies select targets, and how targets can respond. Let's now consider how bullies use the OODA model for shaping the dynamics of the environment in which they work.

Controlling tempo

Bullies understand that a high tempo of attacks can overwhelm targets. By getting inside their targets' OODA loops, they reduce the effort required to maintain the advantage. Since workplace bullies also understand that targets who feel hopeless are more likely to quit their jobs, bullies relent when they sense that their targets are near their breaking points.

Targets often report a feeling of being "on a roller coaster" of emotion, as they experience this alternation of intensity levels of bullying. The variation of intensity itself wears on targets. Some cease all efforts to resist, resigning themselves to just finding a way to endure. Bystanders are often intimidated, too, as they witness the bully's power to destroy targets.

Targets who understand and expect this alternation of intensity levels are better able to maintain emotional control. They won't relax as much during low-intensity phases, and they won't lose all hope during high-intensity phases. They also understand that their bullies use the targets' own responses to gauge what level of intensity would be most effective.

Environmental shaping

From the bully's perspective, environmental shaping requires paying attention to the activities of many people. First, there are the targets themselves. But there are also bystanders, supervisors, and miscellaneous officials.

Because From the bully's perspective,
environmental shaping requires
paying attention to the
activities of many peoplebystanders might report the workplace bully's activities to officials, bullies seek to intimidate bystanders, or better, to convert them into compliant allies. Since supervisors can also be threats, bullies either mollify them with bribes of performance, or threaten them directly or indirectly. They often employ deception to confuse the supervisor, and they carefully monitor the supervisor's state of mind. They must also monitor, deceive or control other organizational officials, who tend to be less trouble since they're usually more distant.

Since the environment surrounding the bully can be very complex, the bully tries to simplify the situation by limiting the number of players involved, or by deceiving them about the nature of the bullying activity. Undermining the bully's deceptions is therefore a profitable strategy for targets, because it adds complexity to the overall problem the bully must solve.

These observations suggest that to confound the bully, targets can also use OODA. By being less predictable, and by overloading the bully's ability to shape the environment, targets can get inside the bully's OODA Loop. We'll examine ways to accomplish these goals next time. First in this series   Top    Next Issue

---

Are you being targeted by a workplace bully? Do you know what to do to end the bullying? Workplace bullying is so widespread that a 2010 survey indicated that 35% of workers have experienced bullying firsthand, and that bullying is about four times more prevalent than all other forms of illegal harassment combined. Yet, there are few laws to protect workers from bullies, and bullying is not a crime in most jurisdictions. 101 Tips for Targets of Workplace Bullies is filled with the insights targets of bullying need to find a way to survive, and then to finally end the bullying. Now available at Apple's iTunes store! Just USD 9.99, Order Now!

Would you like to see your comments posted here? Send me your comments by email, or by Web form. Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

More articles on Workplace Politics:

Managing Pressure: Milestones and Deliveries

Pressed repeatedly for "status" reports, you might guess that they don't want status — they want progress. Things can get so nutty that responding to the status requests gets in the way of doing the job. How does this happen and what can you do about it? Here's Part III of a set of tactics and strategies for dealing with pressure.

Dismissive Gestures: Part I

Humans are nothing if not inventive. In the modern organization, where verbal insults are deprecated, we've developed hundreds of ways to insult each other silently (or nearly so). Here's part one of a catalog of non-verbal insults.

Ethical Influence: Part II

When we influence others as they're making tough decisions, it's easy to enter a gray area. How can we be certain that our influence isn't manipulation? How can we influence others ethically?

Responding to Threats: Part I

Threats are one form of communication common to many organizational cultures, especially as pressure mounts. Understanding the varieties of threats can be helpful in determining a response that fits for you.

How Targets of Bullies Can Use OODA: Part II

To make the bullying stop, many targets of bullies try to defend themselves. But defense alone is not sufficient — someone must make the bully stop. That's why counterattack is much more likely to work.

See also Workplace Politics and Conflict Management for more related articles.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact me for details at rbrenner@ChacoCanyon.com or (617) 491-6289, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, USD 11.95)
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag Their Tails (PDF, USD 11.95)
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, USD 11.95)
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, USD 11.95)
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, USD 11.95)
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, USD 19.99)

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Public seminars

The Race to the South Pole: Ten Lessons for Project Managers

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough, but to project managers, the story is fascinating. Lessons abound. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

• Northern Quest Casino, 100 N Hayford Rd, Airway Heights, WA 99001: June 11, Professional Development Day, Inland Northwest Chapter of the Project Management Institute.
   

The Race to the South Pole: The Power of Agile Development

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough. Lessons abound. Among the more important lessons are those that demonstrate the power of the agile approach to project management and product development. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

• Download to
  your calendarThe Yard, 1211 South Mammoth Road, Manchester, NH 03109: June 15, Seminar, New Hampshire Chapter of the Project Management Institute.