London at night
by Lynda Archard
©: September 2006

Serial bullying - A personal Experience!

For 9 months I suffered sleepless nights and my shoulders felt like solid rock. I had known I was being victimised since February 2005. It started on the day I was told that my application to be the IT department team leader had been accepted. This was as much a surprise to me as it was to my two male colleagues who desperately wanted the job to improve their financial situations. I wanted it so I could ensure students are treated with respect.

Within days I was advised by a manager not to be too hard or demanding too soon to prevent alienating my colleagues. He had been given the impression this was true before I had even spoken to anyone about my duty as a team leader. I was actually waiting for the dust to settle before taking up the role on March 1st 2005 as advised by our general manager as the start date for my new role. My reason is that one colleague had already told me he would make his feelings known if the administrator got the position after convincing himself and trying to convince me that our managers wanted us out of our tutor jobs and wouldn’t choose either of us.

From the moment I got my good news neither of them spoke to me or acknowledged me as the team leader for several months and both wrote letters of complaint each time I sent a memo asking for paper-work. Every memo I sent was read and agreed by someone concerned with that part of the job previous to giving it out. Despite this my manager asked me to make my memos less aggressive after one of them claimed this as the reason for not providing department work even though he had read and agreed with these particular memos before they had been sent. I thought it was unfair but agreed to keep the peace. They were told that I had to have these items as soon as possible. I will never forget the smug smile on my colleagues faces as we left the meeting. He had earned me a criticism from management and was obviously pleased about his achievement.

They provided written evidence of their activity as a bundle of forms in May 2005. All had been only dated up until March 2005 when my job role started. They approached management and complained every time I asked for the latest updates or information regarding their roles within our team. It took me a while to realise that neither were fulfilling their employment agreements and had no intention of doing so. This was their way to convince management that I had no authority and they will not accept me as the team leader.

The administrator is young emotional and gullible and had listened to negative lies fed to him my other colleague and promptly altered settings on the computers in my classroom in March, taking away my access to settings and thereby preventing me from demonstrating certain sections to my students on my tutor PC. This included essential activities that were part of the course curriculum such as defrag and disc clean-up. Each time I have had to negotiate with management to get my privileges back only to have them altered each time I tried to fulfil my departmental role. After a while I asked if I could take an unused PC from the class next door and set it up to use with the projector. One of my managers agreed and I was told I would be given full manager support and that I should continue to ask for evidence of their work for the department files. Please take note of this because later I will tell you how the same manager took my key away to that room after telling the other manager that I had been moving computers about and causing a problem after another unfounded complaint from the administrator. I was not given a reason until I asked our General Manager what it was all about 3 days later.

One night the following week the administrator and the other tutor were staying behind to maintain computers. I had not been informed of this and so I placed a book on top of my folders and marked it. That might sound paranoid but you should be aware I had worked successfully with the pair of them for two years previous and knew them well. One or both of them had been through my folders because the following morning the book was pushed right to the back. On another occasion while I was on holiday one asked for the key and failed to lock the door after. I was told by management that I should have locked the door even though I lock it every time the room is empty even for a few moments and was not in the building all that week. As far as I am aware there was no reason to enter the room by either of them. My managers agreed and that was the end of the matter.

The administrator complained and criticised until he was taken out of the IT department and therefore regained his hold on the server so I could not prevent him from blocking settings of other staff in the building who he deemed unsuitable. By this I mean that if anyone upsets him then the Internet or services via the internet were blocked and this included access for students that he ‘didn’t like the look of.” This also undermined me in my new role that should have given me the ability to ensure all computers were repaired and staff and student work could continue, without the constant disruptions that were occurring before he teamed up with the other tutor to undermine me.

The administrator constantly took the magazines meant for my IT Users group and gave any he did not want to the other tutor. I complained and he lied to management that I don’t teach hardware and didn’t need them and as a result they were cancelled except for the .net magazine because I was now teaching web design as a module. The most important module was in fact IT principles and included hardware and the magazines kept all of us up-to-date with technology that I passed on to our students! The last magazine received at the college was found on the administrators’ desk after I asked why I had not been getting them. The colleague who brings them in assured me she had put it in my pigeon hole.

Any equipment used by students during lessons that the administrator could get was also removed and used for the main network on the order of his manager, who was also one of my managers. This included cat6 cable and a hub we used to create our own network.

The tutor lied by telling me my manager told him that I have nothing to do with his job and that he had agreed to hand over paperwork to me directly, which did not happen.

On another occasion my students were disrupted when I asked the other tutor to invigilate an assessment. He interfered with equipment moments before the assessment started without telling me knowing I had pre set everything to City & Guild requirements. This caused a student to leave and not return to the course and others to feel frustrated and anxious so they couldn’t concentrate.

Both only started speaking to me when they thought I would be leaving at the end of the course contract. I was relieved that all was okay but my students were concerned. I assured them that I am not stupid and it will take time to gain my trust again. I did begin to trust again and I managed to convince management to keep me on to find new funding and set up commercial courses to start in January 2006.

Within days the vendetta started again after I asked again for outstanding paperwork and reasons for not sharing or discussing important issues that have and continue to affect IT students. They even persuaded management that the other tutor is responsible for on-line assessments from external students even though it was my idea originally as well as my job role.

Both have taken over the publishing and printing of leaflets even though it is also one of my tasks. I had taught both how to use Publishing software and created all the leaflets for our courses prior to becoming department leader.

During this campaign the administrator ensured the other tutor had the laser printer, even though I was teaching desktop publishing, and also ensured that he had full access to his own server and computer after taking my access away. The Internet was turned off when they go for lunch breaks and when the E2E groups are near computers even though they need it as part of their course work. Nothing was done to stop it no matter how many times I created a report about the complaints I had received from members of staff (most were also friends of my colleagues). Shortly after this was when the keys were taken off me to all the rooms I had access to except my own classroom. I was told I do not need access to the room next to mine, which was set up and repaired by me after the administrator pulled machines apart and stripped it of network cables, so I asked our general manager why. He later said I had been in the room swapping computers about and disrupting things. There is only one person who could have said that so I reminded them I have one computer that they knew about. The keys were given back with a sorry and an explanation that the administrator manager did not know I was responsible for the room. This was a lie and I showed my manager a copy of the minutes of the meeting help to explain my exact job role.

Students had also told me they have been prevented from signing up for ECDL. Those who had previously signed up for this course were prevented from taking assessments because the tutor was ‘too busy’ or ‘unavailable.’ All of this has been denied by the tutor when I asked why this was happening.

Both colleagues have been rude or aggressive on occasions to my students as well as to me. Both unite in agreement to throw tantrums every time I try to address an issue that affects my work or student learning.

I stayed working after the course contract expired for 3 days on a part-time wage but coming in as usual for 5 days so I could find new funding and set up commercial courses. They seemed to sulk and ignore me after I was given the receptionist role for the 3 days I was paid. I only had two days per week to find new courses and had not been in the reception except to get mail while I am working in my classroom. When I was working on reception and had a break and came back the tutor was rooting through the draw of the desk. The girl covering me said he was searching for sellotape and I saw him several times after hovering around the reception desk looking at my notes when he had not seen me.

In the administrator maintenance book I requested a program be removed or corrected on the computer in reception on Monday morning, 31st October 2005 which prevented my access to my work. The administrator removed the book and had did not return it by 4pm Wednesday preventing anyone else asking for maintenance and the correction was never carried out to my knowledge.

The tutor has made the point during a staff meeting of praising the administrator for all his help in his achievements in the On-line centre and had constantly tried to undermine me and push me out of the team, which are me and the other tutor and not the administrator who had whined until he was separated from us. Both created a lack of trust and caused a great deal of stress by trying to prevent me from carrying out my work and working in secret behind my back. Our managers are careful to praise them while insisting the tutor liaises with me as department leader. At the same time they were rushing me to provide my data for the project I started to the point of forwarding dates so my projects could not be completed on time. Was the case simply that the General Manager was bullied too? It is my belief that the managers were in disagreement and bullying had occurred by the administrators’ manager to further undermine me and anyone supporting me.

During this time I collated new funding research, learned how to create project management using a flow chart and planned in some detail ready to begin advertising. I wanted a solid reliable system before courses started. I also did most of the work at home because I only had two days at work to complete these tasks, which was then being used to correct problems created by the on-line centre being turned into a £1 per hour Internet café, which our students cannot afford and no one knew was happening. My colleague was not working on Fridays because he also lost one day of work as part of the contract we delivered together for IT Users. He complained that if I can cover his job for 1 day then he should get his job back to full-time. He was now trying to openly bully our managers and did not like it when they suggested he also worked voluntary for that day. His reply was that he had to find work because unlike others (meaning me) he has commitments. He must have forgotten that I have commitments too. In fact more than he will ever have!

He constantly criticised competent staff since I have known him and has tried to intimidate staff by holding onto forms asked for by certain dates. He has failed on numerous occasions to provide details of his students and his work. He has made excuse after excuse not to complete his tasks and failed to complete his Stage 2 tutor certificate paid for by our college in 2004, which we started together and I know he was told that he was given a second dead-line and missed it. From the start of my career I have ensured work is completed by doing it myself and can only assume that my colleague has not changed and suddenly become organised. Each time proof of his work is asked for a distraction is created in collusion with the administrator to evade the fact that he has not completed it. On occasions he left work early, closed the on-line centre without good reason and caused disruption by insisting my room can be used amongst other staff members even though other rooms have been allocated. This caused friction amongst newly involved staff and a distraction from my work and that of our managers. Twice in one day I was told it is a personality clash. It was not. It was straightforward serial bullying!

He is not co-operative in a team environment. We lost so many students from our groups (in his class) in both IT Practitioners and IT Users all of which were provable by statistics of each group. We also lost potential students of ECDL and CLAIT therefore losing funding coming into the college. He started charging for the use of computers and immediately the centre was empty. My main concern was that while we might have gain some new custom in the On-line Centre eventually our regular students had turned away. Without a stable project management report there is no proof of potential or gain and no evidence that it could have been sustained or maintained. Managers had agreed for this to happen without consulting me as IT department leader. Time told the story. Our managers had reassured me I got the job fairly and deserved it. They were giving me full support but never dealt with this situation.

I can even see clearly how the bullying was transferred and directed at our management. I intended to help them to recognise and fully understand what was happening and how much damage the company bullies created, which will was in terms of financial cost as well as psychological.

We had a meetings and I was prepared and ready to insist the bullying stopped and it will never be tolerated. I can now look back thanks to my tutor diary and see the pattern of the serial bully at work.

It became a question of the fittest survivor and I was prepared to take this as far as I needed to in order to ensure I was not a victim and my students would never be disrupted again by childish tantrums. By this time people I had worked with and regarded as more than just colleagues for nearly 3 years were barely lifting their heads to say hello. Some stated that they didn’t want to get involved, pretended to not know about the situation or to see the effects.

I still have a folder containing every memo and documented letters of complaints I had made about their constant disruptions, screenshots of the firewall blocking access to my website and that of students and witnesses to prove it!

By reading my old tutor diaries dating back to the first few months of my career as a tutor I can clearly understand who caused the problems with another colleague. At the time nothing made sense and I stood my ground because the reactions that followed were open bullying and extremely intimidating. At least I knew where I stood and what to do that time and it was dealt with swiftly with the dismissal of someone who I had known for years and (I thought) had been a good friend. That was unfair on him but allowed me to progress more quickly after stepping in and having to deal with the situation. I learned more about the course and paper work he was supposed to have done. Little did I know that the administration had never been done in the proper way before and no actual lesson plans existed. I had finished my tutor certificate stage one and able to take the role as tutor. Suddenly both my colleague and I were quickly rushed to start the stage two course and doing the Assessor course at the same time as running two classes of 15 students on the IT Practitioner course. We had to learn the administration required for City & Guilds as well as for our college and the main college that we franchised the course from. All three were slightly different and no one could tell us how to do any of it. I discovered all of it through my research skills and my colleague told me I was wrong because they had never done it this way before. I completed most of the work and he was happy when we gained the credit for sorting everything out.

I could easily recognise that the serial bullying dated back nearly 3 years and how it had been done. I also recognised that I was so much more capable than any one I worked closely with. The confidence and enthusiasm I had at the start of my career returned with this realisation. I could not explain the evidence of this to other people who were affected because they had left or would not talk to me. Only one person took my situation seriously and he was also undermined.

I gave evidence for both of these individuals to be instantly dismissed for gross misconduct!

Conclusion

After everything was in place and advertising commenced for new courses early December 2005 to start January 2006 both the other tutor and me were made redundant on December 16th 2005. I offered to come back in the new-year voluntary until enough students applied for the course and the General Manager accepted in writing. I showed the waiting list I had accumulated of new students willing to buy our courses. All I had tried to discover was a start date and no one would tell me the date I should start the courses. The General Manager said he would get back to me. The following day I received another memo stating this would not be practical because my room will be used by another group coming in from outside who could no longer pay their rent in one of our buildings.

At the meeting regarding my redundancy on the day I left I was told I should have asserted my leadership skills to discipline my colleagues and it was not the General Managers place to enforce discipline for me. Our main receptionist handed me a box of chocolates that had been in her draw for the 6 weeks I had worked in reception. She said sorry there had not been a proper send off and she hoped I was going to the Christmas party that night. No one else said goodbye and I did not go to the party. I left the job I loved in tears knowing the company could not last without money coming in.

In early May 2006 I received the news that the college was in the hands of the receivers and it was rumoured that no one would receive redundancy money or compensation. To this date no one has and I am happy that I was pushed out with money I had been due. I am extremely sad that people would not prevent this situation and I hope other people will learn an important lesson from this. Bullying is a plaque sweeping through UK businesses. It needs to be prevented or treated promptly or your company will die!

Lynda Archard

If you think you are a victim of a bully the following link is the best resource on the Internet with information on every type of bully, how they work and suck in others and plenty of advice on how to treat them:

Bullyonline.org

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© Lynda Archard