subject: Workplace Violence - Staying Focused On What's Important For Self Defense [print this page] In the realm of workplace violence and policy development, there is a problem that is both preventing companies and their employees from being safe, causing policy and procedures to miss the mark, and resulting in damage, financial loss, and even the loss of life.
What I mean is that, managers and administrators focus most of their time, either in denial about the problem of workplace violence or the possibility of it occurring in their business, or creating more policies related to prevention and reporting. Meanwhile, they are creating or, more to the point, "allowing" a gap to exist within their overall workplace violence and crisis management plan that leaves themselves, their employees, and the company, as a whole, completely unprepared for actual physical violence.
If you are to be able to escape from or survive an actual act of violence, you must first accept that violence exists AND can touch you. Living in denial or under the delusion that you are somehow invisible or impervious to danger - that you are the one exception in the whole human race that can't or won't be targeted by another irrational human being or other natural disaster will only leave you paralyzed in fear when something happens. This first phase of an overall 8-phase strategic formula for safety and self-protection that I teach my clients is called General Awareness.
In this phase, we consider not only the fact that danger exists, but what forms it could take and the types of attackers you could encounter. This information allows you to seek out exactly the types of self defense training, tactics, and techniques that would work to de-escalate, escape from or defend against an attack if and when it does come at you. Remember, violence is random. It can happen in any business, and at any time. And when it does, you are either prepared for it, or not.
But, I digress. The information that we gather in the "General Awareness" phase of our plan is absolutely useless in the moment of an attack. Because, in the moment when pure, unadulterated and uncivilized brutality is being thrown at you, the only thing that matters is quick, decisive, and pre-planned action. This is true in emergency situations where medical professionals are trying to save lives. It's true when a company has a crisis where massive amounts of money are being lost and the company's future is at stake. And, it's true when you are face-to-face with a violent aggressor trying to beat, break or kill you on the job!
This type of thinking - the "why is this happening?" and "why would this person do such a thing?" mentality, instead of taking action is not what's important during an attack. It reminds me of an old story about a warrior who was shot with an arrow. Before he would let anyone take the arrow out of him, he wanted to know the name and family of the archer who shot him, the type and materials the arrow was made of, the bird that the feathers came from, what poison it was tipped with, etc., before they could answer all of his questions - he died of his wounds.
Too much overthinking and not enough action based on knowledge and experience will do nothing to help you, and anyone that you're responsible for to escape from or survive a real workplace violence attack. And, let's also not forget that no amount of whining, blaming, or punishment for the attacker will take away the pain, loss, or fact that you just weren't prepared when you needed to be. That's why there are 8-phases to an effective plan or formula for developing the section missing from most workplace violence plans - the piece that deals with the operative word in your plan - violence!
If you don't have the knowledge and experience to put this critical, life-saving element into your existing plan and procedures (don't worry, most managers and administrators don't) then your first step is to find someone who does. And remember, you're not limited to choosing between gung-ho karate masters or ex-military commando types, nor the other extreme of the passive consultant with no experience at dealing with violence.
To be safe, you and your employees do not have to have a training program that will turn you into martial arts black belts. You also don't have to train for years to be proficient. There are programs and trainers out there who can give you the content you need, and within the context of your business needs. You can get the self defense training to be able to protect yourself during a workplace violence attack - training that is both easy to learn and effective, as-well-as being liability conscious and allows your managers and employees to convey professionalism and concern throughout the incident.
