Bullying is now in the spotlight as it hasn’t been before and it is my hope that the present initiatives will provide protection and empowerment for everyone involved.
Several years ago two colleagues and I delivered seminars and program development with educators in the Northeast to introduce them to bullying and what to do about it. Bottom line, for all that was said and done, it was our belief that if you concentrate on building what we referred to as Pro-Social Cultures, bullying would be extinguished as it would not have the oxygen to exist. We also know it doesn’t happen overnight – cultures take time to shift even when awareness is immediate.
Today I’m introducing the concept of Cultures of Kindness as the basis for extinguishing the opportunity for Bullying to exist.
The next set of blog entries will focus on eliminating Bullying through developing Cultures of Kindness. The first topics will summarize the “need to know” within the area of Bullying. The second set of topics will introduce Cultures of Kindness which is a form of Behavioral Intelligence at Work™.
But first things first. One of the crucial steps in addressing the problem of bullying is to be able to report it. Unfortunately this is difficult for those who know about bullying either as a Target or a Bystander. Trust and anonymity are essential. As an educator or parent or student please visit FriendWatch which introduces a new software that supports reporting with anonymity.
Full disclosure: a colleague has developed the software and I have no stake whatsoever in the organization. I just think this is an important opportunity to investigate.
Enjoy your day – spread smiles – like this one!
Spread Smiles
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