Bullying does not just occur among school age children, and you must know how to handle it.  When most people think of bullying, they think of their childhood, or they imagine school aged children fighting on the playground.

In reality, bullying occurs even among adults as well. Just as children bully each other in school, adults will often bully each other in the work place.   To understand why you must be assertive, you must first develop an understanding of the mind of the bully.

In most cases, bullies are individuals who are very aggressive. They like to get others to do their bidding through coercion, intimidation, or outright force.  However, in many cases, the bully is often suffering from insecurity, and they tend to be cowardly.

While many people resort to aggression in order to counter the aggression of bullies, this is always a bad idea. Instead of countering aggression with aggression, it is much better to counter aggression with assertiveness.

Bullies are a reality, and there is no way to get around them. In the workplace, the bully will either be a fellow co-worker or the boss. When it is the boss you are having problems with, you are in a difficult situation, but with a little bit of planning, you can handle the situation in the right manner.

In the most extreme cases, if you are dealing with a co-worker or boss who is really annoying you, it may not be a bad idea to simply report them to a higher authority. But this should be thought of as being the last resort.

By being assertive, you can often neutralize the things the bully does without offending them at the same time. The biggest problem with reporting your co-worker or boss to a higher authority is that you will more than likely develop a bad reputation and this is something you will want to avoid.

How to deal with workplace bullies

If you feel that your boss is bullying you, it will be hard for you to avoid them since they are your boss. At the same time, holding it in will do you little good.

To handle this situation, you must do what the assertive person usually does: confront them and explain to them how you feel.  When you do this, you should be calm, and you should not exhibit any signs of anger or aggression.

There is a good chance that your boss may not realize they are hurting your feelings, and by sitting down and informing them of this, you let them know how you feel.  It is best to do this first before taking things to the next step.

Now, if after you have talked to your boss, they continue to bother you or bully you, the next step is to either report them to their bosses or ask to simply be transferred to another department.

If you are tired of the job itself, you may want to consider looking for another job, but do not let this be known to your superiors. If you are dealing with a co-worker who you feel is bullying you, it is best to handle them in the same manner that you handle your boss: confront them in a calm way and talk to them about it, and let them know how you feel.

Again, if they continue the bullying, only then will you want to take things to the next level and have them reported to either the boss or a higher authority. This is the best and most mature way to deal with work place bullies. But, when you confront these people about your feelings, it is absolutely critical for you to remain calm and non-aggressive.

If you get angry or argue, this will make things much worse, and there is a good chance that your entire department can turn against you. By being calm and assertive, you will definitely win the battle.

Workplace Bullying

Bullying in the work place is more common than most people imagine. Whenever you are in an environment where you are working with a sizeable group of people, there will always be some individuals who try to assert themselves over others.

While this will sometimes be the manager of the department, it will often be your other co-workers. When you encounter this situation, you have three options. The first is to explode, the second is to accept it, and the third is to be assertive in dealing with it. The third option is the best one.