Poison people — who’s obstructing safety in your workplace? Part 1

This is the first article in a 3-part series prepared by Andrew Douglas, the principal of Douglas Workplace and Litigation Lawyers. It explores people's various workplace cultures and attitudes that become obstructions to safety. The series will help to identify the characteristics of these people and, more importantly, how to point them back towards a safety-oriented outlook.

Part 1 — Who are 'poison people'?

Also: Part 2 — Identifying poison people and keeping a culture of safety?
          Part 3 — How do we manage poison people?

“We’re putting the band together… he’s on a mission from God.” Elwood Blues — The Blues Brothers (1980)

“I am bringing you better help than ever came from a soldier, because it is the help of the King of Heaven. It does not come through love for me, but from God himself…” Joan of Arc to the commander of the French Armies, 1429.

What do military history and popular culture tell us about corporate values and the capacity to introduce change? Perhaps more than we expect.

In the iconic Blues Brothers movie, Jake Blues left prison, was proselytised by the Rev James Brown and, despite the best efforts of Carrie Fisher, John Candy and a phalanx of itinerant policemen, musicians and bar owners, managed to save an orphanage, escaping death and arrest along the way. He was on a mission from God and, with his brother Elwood, managed to energise, persuade, harass and ultimately motivate a group of musicians to achieve the unachievable.

Late in the 100-year-war, 17-year-old Joan of Arc turned the tide of embarrassing French defeats at the hands of the English. Her singular belief in a divine mission permitted her to successfully charge fortified English positions, her soldiers moved by the strength of her goal and courage in military action. She was eventually captured by the English and burnt at the stake as a heretic, but her legacy was a braver French army that drove the English out of France years later.

What do Jake Blues and Joan of Arc have in common? Very little at first glance, but on closer inspection, there is a common thread that’s found in the fabric of modern corporate life. They had in common a purpose and set of values that they communicated to their followers to achieve the unexpected. What they lacked was a more complex game plan to protect their comrades and maintain their purpose in a workable way in the future. Joan’s triumph eventually led to her death. Jake ended up back in prison. What really caused their demise was their failure to engage all stakeholders in their causes and effect lasting change.

This paper is about effecting that change and learning from people like Jake and Joan. It will look at strategies which enable difficult employees to change and grow within the business (without destroying them), build a culture of respect, create safety in every person’s working life and delivering productivity, quality and innovation to that business. Importantly, by anchoring that strategy to the promotion of core values in the business, we aim for long-term improvement in the culture of the business and avoid the fate which befell Jake and Joan.

The approach advocated here relies on learning about dealing with three common personalities who undermine and destroy the fabric of the working compact between a business, its managers and employees. As every OHS manager knows, obstructionism from individuals with their own agenda is one of the greatest impediments that OHS initiatives face. Whether it comes to the identification of risk, or the implementation of new measures at an operational level, toxic employees have much potential to derail change.

The three individuals we are examining are: ‘Mr Munchausen’, ‘Mr Resentful’ and ‘Mr Bully’ (no specific gender is inferred — ‘Mister’ is simply convenient).

Mr Munchausen

Mr Munchausen is an employee who has a knack for manufacturing ills in the business. He doesn’t hesitate to involve himself in the problem and, through extensive discussions with and engagement of relevant employees, he miraculously administers the saving therapies to cure the problem. Because this character gets so much satisfaction from solving problems and wants to be seen as indispensable, he may manufacture or exaggerate difficulties to create opportunities for his involvement. This involvement, however, can generate disharmony, division and isolation within the business. He provides distraction and dislocation and ultimately succeeds in fixing a problem that never existed. He then trumpets that success and gains acclaim.

Ironically, when he goes on holidays none of the problems remain evident. Interestingly, Mr Munchausen prefers his own solutions to anyone else’s, whether they be OHS related or otherwise. The phenomenon of ‘Munchausen in the workplace’ was identified by US-based management professor Nathan Bennett. It is the workplace equivalent of the psychiatric condition ‘Munchausen by proxy’, where someone fabricates or induces an illness in someone else, so as to gain power and control over the victim as well as attention or sympathy from others.

Mr Resentful

Mr Resentful is an employee who, through personal and work experiences, has become deeply unhappy in his life and in work. He resents his present circumstances and engages other people with his anger, raising complaints and gossiping maliciously about management decisions. Curiously, he continues to work hard and is productive. However, he inevitably portrays himself as misunderstood, a victim of others, not respected and taken advantage of.

Mr Resentful is frequently jealous when other employees’ accomplishments are recognised and feels hard done by when passed over for promotion or recognition. Unsurprisingly, Mr Resentful rarely keeps these sentiments to himself. You can also be sure that he does not regard change positively, is distrustful of management initiatives and will not welcome the implementation of OHS-driven improvements.

Mr Bully

Mr Bully is an employee whose disposition is intimidating, who engages with other people to isolate, hurt and humiliate those who are weaker and more vulnerable and who often uses mateship, humour and assumed authority to mete out his punishment. If left unchecked, this character’s behaviour can pose a real risk to the welfare of his co-workers and even expose the employer to legal liability in respect of the employees who are unable to handle his conduct. His influence can also hamper identification of risk in the workplace and obstruct OHS innovation.

In next month’s Safety Solutions eNewsletter, we will discuss how the characteristics of each of these obstructers can be identified and how to prevent them from hampering a culture of safety in the workplace, followed by recommendations on addressing them in the July eNewsletter.