Written by Robert D. Sollars
Last week, I told you about how to look for someone who doesn’t like you or disagrees with you but won’t openly do anything. Those people are troublesome because they can become malcontents, rabble-rousers, and generally be miscreants who undermine many opportunities to thwart initiatives of management, good or not.
The individuals we’ll discuss this time around are the ones who are deluded. They lie to themselves and to the rest of the organization about a great many things, the worse aspect is that they will lie to your face that there is no fear about any workplace or school violence (WPV/SV) entering the facility.
They are lying to you about the possibility of it and you, as a manager, employee, or just a lowly underling in the organization, being injured, Maimed, traumatized, or even dying because of it. Why are they lying to you about it? Simple, they don’t’ want to acknowledge. the possibility of it happening there because “It Can’t Happen Here”.
There is also the idea, misguided as it is, that if they don’t talk about it, then it won’t happen and they can avoid the liability of an incident if it were to occur. This is tantamount to hiding your head in the sand and saying “You can’t see me! You can’t hurt me!”
I’ve said for a very long time that the CHH attitude is the most dangerous attitude that an organization, managers, employees, or anyone can have about an incident. They are lying to everyone about the potential of it entering the organization…because it already has and is just not recognized as such.
Has it been a fatal incident? Hopefully not, but the fact is that not all WPV/SV incidents are fatal and caused by firearms. That is what 99% of the media, law enforcement, and managers will have you believe…and it’s an out-and-out lie.
The potential for a fatal incident is remote. Whether it be in a school or business, doesn’t matter.
To quote the last paragraph of the last blog… “Be cautious; even if all of those signs are present, they might just indicate lack of interest. It’s very important that you don’t make conclusions about people using these signs alone. Some of the above may be due to a person being stressed or having recently suffered a loss.”
This means that stereotyping, authoritarian style of management, lack of communication (read empathy), and a myriad of other warning signs are present.
Yet you get lied to, by your own logical thinking processes about the possibility of violence. You, the employee, manager, owner, and whoever else, have to take that possibility any time it’s present. Does this mean being paranoid and worrying that everyone is lying to you?
Of course not! But it does mean that you need to remain vigilant, cognizant of trends and changes in personalities, as well as other subtle signs that something is wrong and an incident may be percolating. I’ve heard an untold amount of students, employees, and managers who had an inkling that something was wrong but never did anything about it…until it was too late.
I’m not advocating a change in culture towards the authoritarian style of management. What I am advocating for, is that if you notice something about someone, colleague, casual friend, a friend of a friend, or a loved family member, that you tell someone. Your moral obligation is therefore done if you wish it to be.
But as with this CovD 19 virus that everyone is so upset and frenzied for…people are reporting others for not wearing masks, not being vaccinated, or otherwise not taking appropriate precautions. If we do that, and not for the common flu bug that mutates into new varients every year, why not violence against our friends and family members?
Stop being lied to by your gut instinct, niggling at the back of your head, and your own, be damned with them, logical processes. Sometimes you need to take a leap off a short pier in order to know how deep the waters are and avoid an incident in the organization that may cost trauma, injuries – some a lifetime of them, or death. None of us want that, yet if you allowed yourself to be lied to that’s what you’re risking, whether by your own mind or a ‘trusted friend’.
Like these blogs? Then please feel free to pass them along to friends, colleagues, or anyone who may benefit. Have them subscribe at my website: Sollars Violence Prevention Training & Consulting
It happens to Anyone…Any Time…Anywhere… For any Reason
I May Be Blind, but My Vision Is Crystal Clear
Permission to share? Of course, with full attribution.
Copyright 2022 Robert D. Sollars
