About the Author

Katherine Williams is a survivor of workplace bullying in both private industry and government. During her 38 years in the workforce, she resisted and survived four major and several minor attacks by bullies, each time growing more knowledgeable about the techniques bullies use, the conditions in which they all too often thrive, and how to resist them.

Now retired from the Public Service of Canada, she writes and speaks on the subject of workplace bullying.

In her words, "The first time I was attacked was the worst. I was young, in my first important job, and eager to prove myself. I was also considered to be good at my work and the bully, a newly hired supervisor, saw me as a threat. My lack of experience made me very vulnerable to her manipulations and cruelty.

If I’d known then what I know now I would still have fought back, but I’d have looked very hard for another job. Like other people attacked by bullies, I was angry at the injustice and wanted to prove the bully was wrong.

Through that experience I learned not only how bullies abuse their selected targets, but how they can corrupt and manipulate others. For instance, although I’d complained to senior management several times about the bully’s abusive behaviour and provided clear proof, she was never reined in. Years later, I learned that she’d faked her qualifications for the job and the managers who hired her hadn’t checked her references. To protect themselves, they decided that it would be easier to let the bully harass complainers into leaving. They allowed this situation to continue for years after I left.

I survived that experience, due to the steadfast support of my family and a certain innate stubbornness on my part, though it was three years before my health was back to normal.

Like most people I’ve since talked to about bullying in the workplace, I assumed that it was just the way things are sometimes done, an ugly but ordinary hazard of working life. In 2005, while researching the topic of harassment for a presentation at another job, I learned that it is not at all ordinary. It is in fact a specific form of violence, a social phenomenon of the workplace. Bullying is not normal behaviour and the people who bully are not normal people.

I know from my own experience that reading about bullying can revive very painful feelings. Yet when I started learning about bullying, it was like the sun rising in my mind after a dismally dark night. Recognizing that the abuse I’d suffered was not my fault, that I was the target of violent, abnormal people, and that I could successfully resist them, was healing and very empowering. I am passionate about passing on that knowledge."

DISCLAIMER

Bullying is a form of violence. Dealing with bullies always involves risk. If you choose to follow the techniques described in Workplace Bullying: a survival guide or on this website, be aware that the level of violence you may be experiencing could increase. The bully, feeling threatened by your complaint as well as by your competence, will be yet more determined to drive you out of the workforce.

On the other hand, submitting or doing nothing are very unlikely to mitigate or stop the attacks. Bullying typically escalates whether or not one fights back. As long as the bully feels threatened by another person’s competence, the bully will continue the assault. It is the author’s experience that it is better to fight back and protect one’s reputation and ability to go on working than to submit to abuse that has the vicious goal of completely destroying competence. Fighting back helps reassert a targeted person’s own sense of power, reduces the harm done, and counters the insidious feelings of helplessness and guilt the bully tries to instill.

That said, some legal language is required here: The use, misuse, understanding, or misunderstanding of the material, in whole or in part, is the reader’s sole responsibility. The publisher and the author do not assume responsibility or liability, jointly or individually, to any person, group, organization, or entity regarding any loss, emotional or material, or any damage or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book and website.

The author does not represent herself to be a licensed psychologist or mental health professional. Please use the material in this book and website in a safe and sensible manner and consult a professional legal or medical advisor as needed.