BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
MBABANE – Tackling bullying at work!
Dr. Ngao Motsei will launch a book titled ‘Building Psychologically Safe Spaces: Safeguarding Your Workspace Against at the Mountain View Hotel on Friday.’
The launch is expected to start at 5:30pm and will be hosted by the Leadership Growth Forum (LGF), a non-profit forum that offers exposure to global thought leadership and a wide range of key leadership resources to empower aspiring leaders to advance their careers and live up to their full potential.
Worth noting is that the LGF is the same forum that hosted the Inaugural Ambrose Dlamini Memorial Lecture, South Africa’s former Public Protector Professor Thuli Madonsela, and other globally celebrated household names. Coming forward to the LGF following the reveal of Dr. Motsei’s book launch event, which will address work bullying, Emaswati anonymously came out to share their experiences.
“I had started a new job, which was an exciting time for me, but it turned upside down when I became a target for a colleague while others watched on and even said she had done the same to others. It was supposedly normal and would pass. No one called her out, and because God has a great sense of humour, at that time there were many vacancies popping up, which I qualify for. A former colleague once told me everyone at work has an employee number, so no one can drive everyone out, which kept me going because therapy, gym, church, or groove only provided grief for a few hours. Everything would unravel when I walked into the office and my new exciting job turned into a nightmare. Fortunately, my manager had a solid support system and would remind me that the end game was to distract me from my work, so I looked incompetent and used that against me. I also have a psychologist who is a total sounding board, so the honest conversations with these two people got me back on track,” narrated one survivor.
Another survivor narrated, stating that as a trainee in one company, there was comfort in the first few weeks while executing duties. “ I got along just fine with my colleagues, my immediate supervisor, and the head of my department. This was until my supervisor started noticing and sharing an opinion about my appearance and such, while speaking disrespectfully to other employees she was supervising, and eventually myself. The toxicity quickly began to affect my performance, and there was no one to report this to because my supervisor was doing this alongside the head of our department. I would cry every morning before getting to work. I caught my break when I was moved to a different department, and that experience taught me to toughen up and focus on the work I am hired to do. I also learned to extend kindness to others at work because I experienced the opposite first-hand,” narrated another corporate bullying survivor.
LGF Public Liaison Officer Phiwe Dlamini confirmed the event, stating that the conversation on bullying in the workplace was taboo, meaning it was seldom addressed and often excused when asked what prompted the Forum to hold talks on bullying in the workplace. “We wish to explore this and hopefully discover why it has become a culture in organisations in order to formulate tangible solutions for better performance and treatment in every organisation locally.
“Also, we wish to encourage and inspire long-term changes in working environments through this discussion, and also eradicate the comfort of bullying by anyone working with others. We believe this is a necessary start to reintroducing accountability in the workplace,”said Dlamini.
When asked what people should expect during the event, Dlamini said, Insightful discussions and vulnerability were to be expected from the event, as it was an extremely sensitive issue for many. “Seats are limited, so we implore interested parties to visit our social media platforms and RSVP to secure seats.”
Dr. Motsei has worked in human resources, strategy, and leadership consulting for over 25 years. In the last 10 years, she has focused her work on respect, compassion, empathy at work, and human-centred leadership as precursors to psychologically safe cultures free of bullying and harassment. She partners with C-Suite leaders to raise awareness about bullying in the workplace, provide specialised coaching to abrasive leaders accused of bullying, and facilitate team repair workshops in the wake of harassment and bullying incidents.
In Building Psychologically Safe Spaces, Dr. Ngao Motsei teaches how to make sense of workplace bullying. She starts by removing the confusion around what precisely constitutes bullying in the workplace—a behaviour that is often difficult to define—before explaining the steps that can be taken to bully-proof your organisation: Actions are outlined that are required of leaders, bystanders, targets, and bullies. She includes first-hand accounts from both leaders (previously accused of abrasive bullying behaviour) and targets to shed light on how this phenomenon affects all involved.
