{"id":773,"date":"2015-08-06T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T13:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annelitwin.com\/?p=773"},"modified":"2015-08-06T09:00:02","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T13:00:02","slug":"career-aggression-what-you-can-do-to-stop-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/blog-posts\/career-aggression-what-you-can-do-to-stop-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Aggression: What You Can Do to Stop It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[&nbsp;\nWhen you feel you are or may be experiencing career aggression, this\u00a0is not the time to focus on strengthening relationships\u2014remember,\u00a0you may not know who is trying to damage your career, and if you do\u00a0know who it is, you may not have a relationship with the person to\u00a0begin with, as previously described. Your goal, now, needs to be to stop\u00a0the damaging behavior and to protect your reputation and your career.\u00a0To achieve these goals, you must be very cautious and thorough in the\u00a0steps you take as soon as you suspect that someone is trying to damage\u00a0your career. Keep the circle of people whom you talk to about what\u00a0is happening very small so that the aggressor does not realize you are\u00a0preparing to take action. You need to be the one who comes forward\u00a0first. Here are five suggested steps to take:\nStep 1: Write down the story of what is happening to you. Even if\u00a0you are not completely sure yet what is happening or who is involved,\u00a0document the following in your own words:\n\n\n<ul>\n\t\n\n<li>Whom you talked to<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>What you noticed or heard<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n<li>When you had each observation or conversation or learned a piece\u00a0of information<\/li>\n\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\nThe rule of thumb is to create a detailed record of who, what, and\u00a0when as soon as you begin to feel that something might be going on that\u00a0is directed at damaging you. Keep these notes with you and do not leave\u00a0them lying on your desk or easily accessible in your desk because someone\u00a0who might spread the information around or who might personally be\u00a0involved in trying to damage you could see them. You will eventually\u00a0bring this record with you to HR to provide facts for your case.\nStep 2: Do your homework. Research your organization\u2019s Equal\u00a0Employment Opportunity (EEO) statement, employee code of conduct,\u00a0and harassment policy to understand your rights. Download them from\u00a0the organization\u2019s website, or obtain them from the Human Resources\u00a0Department. Underline the sections that seem to cover your situation\u00a0and add them to the folder of materials that you are keeping with you.\u00a0Every organization has policies and statements that reflect its legal\u00a0obligation to provide a work environment for all employees that is free\u00a0from harassment and protects employees from working in a hostile work\u00a0environment. If someone is trying to damage your career, that person\u00a0is creating a hostile work environment for you. Your request for help to\u00a0stop the unwelcome behavior directed at damaging your reputation and\u00a0career will be taken more seriously when you can show you have done\u00a0your homework and understand your rights as an employee.\nStep 3: Seek out a trusted advisor. It is important that you talk with\u00a0someone whom you trust to have an unbiased view. This person can\u00a0help you think through how you will proceed and help you put together\u00a0your talking points if you are going to confront the aggressor or file an\u00a0official complaint. You may know a person in HR whom you feel can\u00a0be your trusted advisor and keep your conversations confidential until\u00a0you decide what action you are going to take. If not, a trusted advisor\u00a0can also be any of the following: (1) someone at work who can advise\u00a0you (2) a family member who is not biased or emotionally involved, or\u00a0(3) a professional, such as a clergy member or a therapist with whomyou have a good relationship.\nStep 4: Confront the career aggressor. If at all possible, confront\u00a0your aggressor in front of a witness before you officially file a complaint.\u00a0Plan your talking points with your trusted advisor, and confront your\u00a0aggressor in a private setting with a witness at your side. The aggressor\u00a0may admit that she has been acting to damage you, or she may not. In\u00a0either case, record what happens in the conversation in your detailed\u00a0notes, as well as any subsequent actions the person might take to try to\u00a0threaten you to keep you from filing a complaint.\nStep 5: Have a confidential conversation with a management- or\u00a0director-level HR person. Discuss filing a complaint and show the person\u00a0your detailed record. Discuss steps to escalate your complaint to the next\u00a0level and ask for her or his advice. It is your decision whether or not\u00a0to take the next steps. If you decide to go forward with filing a formal\u00a0complaint, the organization must conduct an investigation. Whether or\u00a0not the organization is able to prove that the accused person did try to\u00a0damage your career, this fluid process is very likely to stop the career\u00a0aggression and restore your reputation.\nThis process is summarized in table 9.\n\n\n<hr \/>\n\n\n&nbsp;\nTable 9. How to stop career aggression\n\n\n<hr \/>\n\n\n<strong>Step 1<\/strong>: Create a detailed record: who, what, and when.\n<strong>Step 2<\/strong>: Research the organization\u2019s EEO statement, employee code of conduct,\u00a0and harassment policy.\n<strong>Step 3<\/strong>: Seek out a trusted advisor.\n<strong>Step 4<\/strong>: Confront the career aggressor.\n<strong>Step 5<\/strong>: Speak with a director-level HR professional about filing a complaint.\n\n\n<hr \/>\n\n\n&nbsp;\n&nbsp;\nAn excerpt from my book,\u00a0<em>New Rules for Women<\/em>, available at Amazon (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/0982056982\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/0982056982\/<\/a>).]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[82,116,207,221,225,418,470,567,634],"class_list":["post-773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-excerpt","tag-career-aggression","tag-competition","tag-feminine-values","tag-friendship","tag-gender","tag-new-rules","tag-projection","tag-teamwork","tag-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}