3 Tactics They Use: This is how your colleagues try to put you down

“This was very bad for the staff,” says Heer. Young fathers who had to pick up their children from daycare were particularly stressed. “I suspect the employee wanted to show off by looking at the clock.” There’s nothing wrong with wanting to feel important. “Such games must stop as soon as others suffer from it.”

When someone gossips to harm others, it sounds something like this: “Did you hear that Michi is interested in Anna’s business?” Or like this: “I heard Sandra is apparently getting a raise.” Heer: “The line between spreading rumors and bullying is fluid. In the end, everyone might know what I accused someone of, except them.”

As a “young kid” he was once so annoyed by a colleague that he complained about him to his boss. Heer: “He looked at me and said: ‘Stefan, I’m not on either side of the case. Neither yours nor his; just clear this up with him.’ “Anyone working in a team can use this phrase when a colleague starts gossiping about another.”

I’m attending a meeting. Whenever I argue, everyone argues with me; except for one person who leans back in his chair, crosses his arms, and remains ostentatiously silent. I feel insecure as the victim of these types of “silence attacks” and I begin to wonder if the attacker wants to punish me for something or if he thinks I talk too much. In the worst case scenario, this upsets me and I withdraw.

Heer says this tactic can be found in a variety of forms. “While employees are doing their jobs according to the rules, they also use them against their superiors.” This means that when they see mistakes, they keep quiet and do business as usual. “When the boss shows them the mistake, they say: ‘But I did it exactly as I was asked.’ Then the scapegoat is the boss.”

Heer explains the tactic using personal experience: the basement was recently remodeled. “I saw a construction worker make a hole in the ground in a completely illogical place.