When bullying occurs, it is
because of toxic cultures that create unhealthy drives and unmet needs. From
the corporate leader to the employee, and even to the school bully or popular cliques, bullying-type behavior is a response to
perceived unmet needs and threats. For example, corporate leaders and employees may feel insecure about company stability, performance, education and
development demands, being fired, safety, benefits, or just making enough to
support the family. Some of the fears students face are failing, gaining
independence successfully, finding the right career and major, being
responsible for self-care, falling in love, making friends, or just being lost in
the system.
It is not enough to ask leaders,
employees, or students to befriend bullies or victims of bullying and, all of a sudden, play nice and be kind toward one another. Primal responses
to fear and abandonment can lead to bullying-type behaviors. These primal, fear-based instincts become drives for humans to return to equilibrium, or homeostasis, during or after stressful events or pressures. Leaders, employees, and students
often respond to this stress with unhealthy and sometimes unconscious internal drives
to dominate and divide. The unmet
needs of individuals, organizations, and cultural groups must be addressed first so that instinctive impulses or sympathetic nervous system arousal do not trigger an automatic fight-or-flight response. The question is,
do you know the unmet needs of your leaders, employees, or students?
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