Coaching practices for How to Address Bullying at Work

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Address Bullying at Work, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • I’ve told my people a hundred times they can disagree with me, but they still don’t
  • Someone got mocked or shut down in our last meeting and I let it slide to avoid the awkwardness
  • Someone on my team is clearly going through something heavy and I’ve just been carrying on talking deliverables like nothing’s wrong
  • There’s one person on my team everyone’s decided is just a complainer, and I keep noticing they’re actually pointing at the thing nobody wants to face
  • I think my boss is about to make the wrong call and I’m biting my tongue to keep the peace, then quietly stewing about it after

Practices that may help

  1. Teach speak-up skills, not just encourage speaking up
    Give team members specific language for raising concerns, not just permission to raise them.
    Psychological Safety in Teams
  2. Respond immediately and visibly to safety violations
    When safety is violated — a person is mocked, shut down, or punished for dissent — address it in the moment.
    The Four Stages of Psychological Safety
  3. Show up for the person, not just the deliverable
    Acknowledge what is happening in someone’s life when it is clearly affecting them — before addressing the work.
    Caring Personally: The Foundation of Radical Candor
  4. Give voice to those with uncomfortable perspectives
    Actively surface and protect the dissenting or marginal voices the system wants to silence.
    Adaptive Leadership, Made Practical
  5. Disagree with your manager constructively
    State your disagreement clearly, give your reasoning, and then commit to the decision — without sacrificing either honesty or loyalty.
    Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss
  6. Give and receive feedback with courage
    Sit on the same side of the table: feedback as a shared problem, not an attack.
    Daring Greatly, Made Practical
  7. Bring a proposed solution when you bring a problem
    Describe the problem and your recommended path before asking for a decision.
    Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss
  8. Use labeling across power asymmetries — with care
    Labeling your senior’s frustration is more delicate than labeling a peer’s — name the stakes, not just the feeling.
    Labeling Emotions in Negotiation, Made Practical
  9. Develop challenger safety — dissent and challenge are welcomed, not punished
    Create an environment where questioning decisions, challenging leaders, and dissenting are genuinely safe.
    The Four Stages of Psychological Safety
  10. Send proactive, brief status updates
    Update your manager on important work before they ask — in the format and frequency they actually want.
    Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss

Related concerns

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.

Practice this with IX Coach

Try this practice