We frequently have occasion to help doctors evaluate whether an employee is actually right for the practice. When we do this, the most troublesome staff members are the office bullies. While our preference as consultants is to always retrain and maintain staff, a bully is very difficult to retrain. Frequently the doctor had spoken with the bully a number of times and the behavior has not improved….it just moves to a more hidden level. In other cases, the doctor feels he can ignore her behavior based on her perceived value to the practice.
Office bullies have been around forever and they succeed by cowering the rest of the staff….and sometimes even the doctor…. and by hiding their tactics. Bullying takes many forms in a practice, and as in any other environment, it’s destructive and counterproductive.
In most practices, the bully uses the accuse and deny tactic on everyone. She tells the doctor the offended person was actually the offender and then treats that particular person so badly that they just give her a wide berth. She creates a revolving door of staff….with only the bully staying in place. By bringing in a good consultant, doctors create an opportunity to make productive changes. Staff members view a good consultant as someone in whom they can confide….in hopes she/he can do something about a bully in their midst. In some practices they come to us as a group on a day the overbearing staff member is out. They are generally freighted about both her reaction and their jobs, as they have seen others complain about her and be forced to move on because of her reaction. In most practices, they came to us one at a time and are much more hesitant to tell us everything, just mentioned the lack of morale and high levels of anxiety in the office.
These situations can have an excellent result in one office and a not so excellent result in another. The doctor who listens to what his staff is saying and asks the bully to move on, now has a pleasant work environment and tremendously loyal staff. The doc who feels the bully is too valuable….and we do challenge that perception….still has her on board, but is trying desperately to keep his practice staffed. Morale is low and he blames that on everything except her behavior and, in all fairness, his lack of strong leadership. We know it can be extremely difficult to let someone go who seems to hold all the cards and is the only one who knows everything about her job. However, not doing so perpetuates an office with a lack of morale and constant staff changes. If you have a bully in your practice, you need to be the one to stand up for the rest of your employees. Be clear the behavior will not be tolerated and if it doesn’t change, make the change in staffing that will move the practice to a higher level of open communication and lack of fear. As a practice owner, you have the ability and responsibility to close the revolving door and maintain a happy team, but only your action can make this happen.
