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Competence and confidence.

That’s what you need.

Teach it, encourage it and promote it. Everywhere. Schools the workplace … everywhere.

Do that and you’ll help put an end to the scourge of bullying.

Competence and confidence; creates awareness, empowers people to speak up, promotes accountability, empathy and a sense of what’s right.

Competent people know how to get the job finished without finishing-off the people trying to finish the job.

Confident people can coach, show, explain and put into quiet words what needs to be done without the use of a fog-horn.

Confident enough to know when things go wrong, they have the belief and conviction to say; sorry, stop, change direction and encourage people to try again.

Mostly, bullies have bully bosses. The pressure comes from the top…

‘This is what we want done and we want it done in budget and by Friday…’

The squeezed middle manager says, ‘Yes boss’… and to the people actually doing the job…

‘Get this done by Friday… and don’t tell me what I don’t want to hear’.

It’s called kissing up and kicking down. Often the root-cause of bullying.

Bullies are generally in denial. They don’t recognise they are bullies because they are being bullied and ‘that’s just the way it is’.

They’re conditioned to a particular working environment.

Maybe they’re ashamed or embarrassed. Maybe they think they are the only one with any brains? Every one else is stupid.

If there is an allegation of bullying, it’s a sure-fire-sign, if it’s denied with; ‘I just wanted better performance… get things done’…

… you’re dealing with a bully.

We’ve seen all this played out, last week, in Whitehall. Another minister accused of bullying.

The response said it all.

And, would you believe…

… in the same week, Bully-Boy-Barclay announced he was going to take the nurses to the high court to stop them going on strike.

Gimmestrength…

Bully-Boy is arguing that the nurse’s six month window, within which they can strike, started on the 2nd November and finishes on the 2nd May.

Meaning RCN strike plans, which include no derogations, for 30th April, 1st and, importantly, including 2nd May are invalid.

Because…

… the nurses plan to strike continuously, from 8pm on Sunday, 30th, through Bank Holiday Monday and finish at 8p on Tuesday, the 2nd.

Barclay claims the strike legally ends on the 2nd and there should be no strikes after midnight on the 1st.

The strike is therefore ultra-vires. The nurses should call it off and…

… because their strike window will expire, they’ll have to re-ballot for another six months of strikes.

The RCN pray-in-aid a 1995 legal case between mineworkers, the then, coal-board and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, in which…

… the NUM argued that a scheme which provided compensation for redundant miners was unfair because it did not take into account the fact that a day should be considered as a whole, even if the redundancy occurred before midnight.

The judges agreed and ruled; ‘… a day extends until its last moments, namely midnight.’

You can see the ruling has broader implications as it established the principle that a day should be considered as a whole, even if an event occurred before midnight.

Like your your car insurance; expiring at midnight and the renewal a minute after.

I don’t know if the RCN is right. I guess we’ll find out.

Bully-Boy claims he is going to court at the behest of Trusts.

Despite this letter, I don’t believe that. NHS Employers are perfectly capable of taking action on their own. The DH are not the employers and probably have no ’cause of action’ and need cover from Employers to poke their nose in.

Employers know when the strikes are over, they’ll have to repair the working relationships with nurses. A punch-up in the high court over the definition of ‘a day’ doesn’t help.

The nurses will lose, even if they win. Their taxes will be used to injunct the RCN and their RCN subscriptions will be used to become un-injuncted. Double bubble.

Bully-Boy, ministers, the government, the Cabinet have run out of steam and are resorting to bullying, because they’ve…

Lost confidence in their ability and are running to the courts for help.

Not competent… to do the basics… like talk to people.

Resorting to government by messages.

Suing the nurses is a message for the Junior Doctors and a message to the blue-rinse voters in the up-coming Council elections… we’re tuff.

If the strike gets stopped… there’ll be another one.

Strikers will dig-in… this time, with a JCB.

Trusts have nothing to gain. They’ve already cancelled operations. It’s too late to reinstate them by next Sunday and un-pick Bank Holiday arrangements.

Patients won’t gain, waiting lists will get longer.

BB won’t gain. He’ll find it even harder to get around the table and look an even bigger pillock.

Who ever told him this is a good idea is stupid and dangerous.

Barclay and the whole mob of bullies in Whitehall are painting themselves into a corner and it’s not a pretty picture.

News and Comment from Roy Lilley
Contact Roy – please use this e-address roy.lilley@nhsmanagers.net
Reproduced at thetrainingnet.com by kind permission of Roy Lilley.