subject: Workplace Violence - Seeing Through The Eyes Of An Aggressive Employee [print this page] Are you worried about the likelihood of a workplace violence incident occurring where you work. I can understand your concern. With about 20 employees being murdered and another 1,800 assaulted on the job every week, the fact is that, violence in the workplace has become one of the greatest threats to personal safety in recent times. And, understanding how an aggressive employee sees you when contemplating an attack can make all the difference in how you make out when he decides to act.
In fact, understanding what I call "attacker-logic," is an important first-step in being able to defend against and survive an attack. Seeing through the eyes of your attacker, in this case an aggressive employee, and recognizing how he chooses his targets, avoids those who can stop him, and depersonalizes everything else, allows you to tailor your training to make sure that you have the advantage.
The truth is that self defense and dealing with a workplace violence attack is no different than troubleshooting any problem. When assessing a situation that requires action, you and everyone else involved, falls into one of 3 places in the scheme of things.
From a problem-solving mindset, you are either:
1) Part of the problem
2) Part of the solution, or...
3) Part of the landscape!
If you can step back and look at things through the eyes of an aggressive employee, you can see that, from his perspective, you are either:
Contributing to his aggravation. You are seen as someone who plays a significant role in his experience and condition.
A balancing element. You either play a role as someone who helps to neutralize his negativity, or you are capable of preventing him from acting out at you or in your presence. Or...
You are just a part of the overall experience. Regardless of whether or not he actually interacts with or knows you personally, in the mind of the aggressive employee, you fade into the landscape and are simply a part of the environment.
As you can see, the only safe place to be is as a "balancing element." This is not to say that you should placate the negative people in your life. This is especially true if you are in a management or other supervisory position.
The point here is that, how you are viewed by an aggressive employee either contemplating or actually carrying out an act of workplace violence...
...determines how much danger you are in as an individual target.
You may not be able to do anything about how you aggravate someone - often this happens without our even knowing it. Also, you can't know everyone, especially of you work for a large organization.
However, you absolutely CAN so something about the way you knowingly interact with everyone you come in contact with, and your ability to protect yourself should violence come at you. Remember, you may prefer to remain oblivious as to how you are perceived by others. But...
...a potential attacker looking for easy targets IS paying attention. And, if he looks in your direction, you will have to live, or not, with what he sees.
