Andrea Needham, who died recently, leaves a huge legacy in the fight against workplace bullying, writes Val Leveson
Andrea Needham - the person who linked workplace bullying and the idea that it is caused by failure of leadership - died recently of lung failure.
The legacy she leaves is huge. Through her, New Zealanders have a keener understanding of what workplace bullying is and what it can do to both employees and a business.
As she said in her final book, published last year, entitled Courage at the Top, Igniting the Leadership Fire: "The bottom line is that leadership is a privilege - not a right.
"Boards must go out of their way to ensure beyond reasonable doubt that the individuals in the most senior management roles, such as the CEO, are the best individuals they can possibly find. It is the single biggest and most strategic decision the board can make."
She said the most important job of the chief executive was to choose good managers. "Managers take care of business. They are there to engage, motivate, ensure productivity, growth of the business and success."
Needham made practical suggestions on how to avoid employing a bullying manager, or in fact anyone who was incapable of truly leading: "Use good psychometric testing when selecting managers.
"Interviews aren't foolproof - workplace bullies are extremely good at interviews, good leaders can often be subtle and quiet. They're sometimes not the people who make the good impression at the interview."
Look at the work culture, she said.
"Often the culture starts from the top. If the leaders behave well, the people under them will usually behave well. Good management is enabled because of a healthy culture."
John Butters, of human resource consultants John Butters and Associates, worked with Needham on using what she called "good psychometric testing".
He says Needham got workplace bullying on to the radar through organisations, think-tanks of commerce and simultaneously with management and workers, and not least through the book Workplace Bullying: The Costly Business Secret.
Even in December, when Needham knew she didn't have much time left, Butters said her passion for her work was so great that she'd work with him as an associate. "I would phone Andrea and she would help me with client work ... suggestions literally from her death bed."
Butters said Courage at the Top was a particularly insightful book about New Zealand management and leadership. "Andrea became aware of how workplaces are changing in New Zealand - in Auckland in particular there are many migrant managers with international nous."
Courage at the Top also worked as a guide for managers new to New Zealand who might have experienced different styles of management, he said.
"To her, the leadership key was that people were No 1, and getting the right people into leadership roles was vital."
Butters said it was sad Needham had been too ill to publicise Courage at the Top properly. "She had a book tour planned, but it wasn't possible for her as she became too weak."
But he was keen for people who had input in the book to give it the publicity push that it deserved. "It's an important book."
Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief Michael Barnett, who regarded Andrea Needham as both a mentor and a friend, said: "Andrea started a conversation in NZ that put bullying on the table as an unacceptable behaviour from anyone in a position of control.
"While she focused on the workplace she has been able to clearly articulate the patterns of behaviour from men and women so they can be identified in the boardroom, any meeting room and in all environments of employment.
"She referred to the bullies as creeps and jerks who should have their behaviour reported to management and know that changes would be made." He added: "The unfortunate issue for me is that before she could complete her work, she has gone.
"She was a gutsy lady who saw the worst behaviour in managers and leaders and wrote her second book in an attempt to not so much focus on the bad behaviours but on what could be the best for future managers and leaders to model themselves on."
He said for most of the time he knew her she had less than 30 per cent use of her lungs. "It was a pleasure to go for a social pinot noir with her and have the customers in the bar stare at the oxygen bottle she shamelessly towed around. Following her unsuccessful transplant she continued to push herself but in the end she left us all with her work unfinished."
Barnett said if she were here today she would want him to be highlighting the behaviour in schools that led to the bullies of tomorrow - and the bullies in business whose behaviour forced women to make other choices about where and how they were employed.
Barnett said it was his intention to continue her work.
"Within the terms of her will I will establish a trust and get the support of people she worked with in the past. We will finish the job she started - all I will need is help from those she had already converted."
Needham's work is also being continued in a joint research project by four universities - Waikato, Auckland, Canterbury and Massey - to look into workplace bullying in New Zealand. They expect to be ready to release a report next year.
"We are looking at the prevalence and incidence of stress and bullying," said one of the participants, Dr Dianne Gardner, a senior lecturer at Massey's school of psychology.
The other participating researchers are Tim Bentley and Bevan Catley of Massey, Michael O'Driscoll of Waikato, Linda Trenberth of Canterbury and Helena Cooper-Thomas of Auckland.
"We define bullying as a situation where a person feels they have repeatedly been on the receiving end of negative actions from one or more other people, in a situation where it is difficult to defend themselves against these actions," said Gardner. "These negative actions could be physical or non-physical - eg, verbal abuse. A one-off incident is not defined as bullying."
She said the researchers were looking particularly at the health, hospitality and education sectors.
Needham's research into bullying showed that it lay in the culture of an organisation, said Gardner.
"The idea was if you get right to the top, you are going to the cause. She highlighted issues that were being swept under the rug.
"Once she revealed what was happening, that workplace bullying was real, she received hundreds of calls from people who had been bullied.
"Bullying behaviour can be insidious and subtle.
"It can take a long time for someone to realise that they're being bullied and it can cause a lot of damage to an individual's self confidence and general well-being.
"Being bullied can eventually lead to underachieving when previously you have been a high achiever, anxiety, depression and a perfectly good employee leaving an organisation.
"If you're being bullied, and the organisation you work for is not supportive, it can seem as if you're the problem. The bully is usually of high status, and is seen as a good performer by management. That makes it easy for them to blame the victim."
Gardner said: "Andrea Needham had input in the early stage of our research project, for which we are currently collecting data.
"She had wonderful insights and insisted that it was so important to add an investigation of leadership in the study."
