When bullying runs a campaign

A covert campaign of pressure and manipulation can isolate the target while keeping the true architect of the bullying safely out of sight, writes Char Weeks.

You could be forgiven for thinking that bullying is common in Australian workplaces. Research commissioned by leading mental health charity Beyond Blue suggests that it is around 50% of employees They may experience bullying at some point in their careers.

A. to work The study, conducted in 2024, found that 13.3% of public sector employees reported being bullied. 47.7% of them were bullied by a colleague and 45.2% by a manager.

Tyranny occurs at work ‘Repeated unreasonable behavior by a person or group of people towards another worker or group of workers’ and this ‘Behavior poses a risk to health and safety’.

Behaviour Defined as bullying, bullying encompasses a wide range of actions, including aggression, intimidation, exclusion from work-related activities or events, withholding necessary information, making unreasonable work demands, and teasing or joking.

under Australian control Fair Work ActWorkers can apply Fair Work Commission for a order To stop bullying. However, the burden of proof to prove that bullying has occurred and may occur again lies with the person alleging bullying. This is not as simple as it seems. Aggression does not have to be overt or direct. When bullying is covert, occurs one-on-one, and leaves no witnesses, it can be difficult to gather evidence.

Independently A.Australia has previously monitored workplace bullying ‘It can be hidden and embedded in the organizational culture’.

Sometimes the only signs of bullying appear in the foreground (the pre-felt fear a victim experiences in the presence of the perpetrator) or in patterns of distress visible to others after each encounter.

More insidious forms of bullying seek to undermine a person’s integrity and trust to force compliance or, in extreme cases, to convince them that they are the problem or that they have even lost their grip on reality. These behaviors are not limited to workplaces. They fester in voluntary committees, strata societies, and community organizations, especially where influence is informal and recognition is scarce.

One of the most effective contemporary forms of bullying operates quietly, strategically, and unfolds in stages. I call this the “surround and conquer” tyranny.

On the surface, surrounding and conquering tyranny seems harmless. Represents well-intentioned colleagues who are interested in another’s welfare or business. Individuals are coerced, tricked, or tricked into obtaining certain information from the intended victim. This is like making a point of having one colleague check in on another, especially if they’ve never done it before. The victim may even feel flattered by the attention he receives.

At the heart of the tyranny of surround and conquer is an instigator. This is usually a person with authority, power, position, or real or perceived status. They may be an executive, manager, board or committee member, or respected community figure.

For reasons that can never be clearly stated, the instigator disagrees with the victim. Their behavior may be related to their ambition, independence, influence, or refusal to follow rules.

The instigator may reside in an office space within earshot of the victim or may live right next door in a community setting. They can solve the problem directly. They choose not to.

From where?

Direct interaction with the victim invites a response. It invites conflict. It carries the risk of observable conflict and exposes the instigator to accountability. Instead, the provocateur adopts a deliberate strategy by carefully and methodically recruiting others specifically and one by one to serve as intermediaries.

The ideal mediator is someone who is vulnerable, eager to be liked, subordinate, seeking approval, ambitious for advancement, and preferably close to the victim.

Each is encouraged to “talk quietly” or “see what you can learn.”

They were told, “It seems better coming from you than from me.”or “You can see why I can’t get involved in this.”.

Their job is to approach the victim, apply pressure, or extract certain information that only the victim may have. The agent reports back after it has been achieved. The instigator then triangulates this information with information gathered from others.

The victim is not directly attacked. They are surrounded by a circle and that circle narrows over time.

The victim gradually succumbs to the pressure, with the end game being compliance, retreat, resignation or withdrawal. The instigator’s power lies in retaining all the information needed to weaken the victim while remaining largely invisible.

Surround and conquer tyranny is as harmful and invisible as carbon monoxide. Even when noticed, it rarely appears dramatic enough to be reported.

No sound comes out. No overt threats were made. There is no physical attack. There is only the silence of the orchestration.

Different agents are tasked with slightly different lines of inquiry or advice; each is unaware of the broader strategy until a pattern emerges.

By the time this pattern is noticed the damage has often already been done. It is almost impossible to point fingers at any one person. The damage lies in the mold.

More importantly, none of the intermediaries are told how many people have already been reached. Each believes he is acting alone; Following a manager’s instructions, doing a favor, or helping to set things right. No one realizes that they too are being used and put at risk.

It is an ideal situation for the instigator, the handler, who controls and stages the bullying from afar. This involves identifying opportunities to approach the victim one-on-one, calculating the time between approaches, and managing the flow of information to both the agent and the victim. Days, weeks or even months may pass between approaches.

Meanwhile, the agitator is triangulating the intelligence gathered. They profile how the victim reacts, whether they appear defensive or hesitant, who supports them, and who may need to be recruited next. Armed with this knowledge, the instigator can amplify the narrative, shape perceptions of the victim to suit his or her own purposes, map alliances, and test loyalty. In some cases, the collected materials are later used to justify formal disciplinary action.

“He’s difficult. There’s something wrong with him.”

“We tried to help him change his attitude.”

In all of this, agents, unaware of a broader pattern, unwittingly become victims themselves. In fact, they are also bullied.

As more intermediaries come into play, the appearance of consensus increases. Multiple people voicing similar concerns or making similar recommendations creates the illusion of unrest and collective dissatisfaction. The victim is made to believe that he or she is the problem. But consensus is produced.

Meanwhile, workers moving further away from the original number begin to hear fragments of the story. The problem varies from behavior to character.

“He was always difficult to work with.”

“He’s not a team player. He does his own thing.”

Behind the scenes, emails and messages accelerate the disconnect between behavior, interpretation, and accountability. Facts and context are lost as the victim’s reputation is quietly destroyed.

Over time the victim feels a change. All eyes are on the victim and conversations are interrupted mid-sentence when the room is entered. Lunch invitations are dwindling. The daily flow of colleagues dropping by dries up.

There is not a single explosive incident to report. Only the atmosphere has changed.

Pattern recognition brings a breakthrough

The power dynamic changes when the victim realizes what the structure of containment and conquest really is.

Recognition often comes slowly. Sometimes it can be accidental; for example, a shift in conversation where multiple parallel approaches emerge. In retrospect, the victim traces conversations and shifting alliances to a common source. They may never understand why they were targeted, but they understand how it happened.

Once discovered, the victim gains the most by remaining calm and reacting strategically.

Because they have direct experience with the approaches, they are uniquely positioned to spot new hires and repeated lines of inquiry disguised as concern or advice. Each approach must be documented carefully, factually, and unemotionally: when it occurred, where, who was there, and what was said, verbatim.

Records should also note exclusions from meetings, withholding of information affecting work, and increased demands.

Chronological documentation over time makes visible things that were intended to remain hidden. It becomes evidence.

If we are serious about integrity in our workplaces and communities, we must learn to recognize bullying when it is organised, not just when it shouts; Because the encompass and conquer tyranny has already done its job when it becomes visible.

Char Weeks is the founder of the award-winning secure digital information vault. Secure My Treasures. Intolerant of injustices, he now campaigns against ageism, elder abuse and domestic violence in business.

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