The presenters of this workshop included our very own Stacey Aldrich, CA State Librarian, and several other library managers and directors. They started off with a definition of PA (passive agressive) behavior from Wikipedia, and DSM. Some of the slides and ongoing joking between the presenters was humorous, yet not, considering the behavior was modeling PA. It was partly humorous, because we've all encountered these behaviors at some point in our lives. It's one of the most common ways anger is expressed in the workplace. After the definition and examples, they most importantly, gave strategies to deal with these behaviors.
Wikipedia definition: "Passive–aggressive behavior (negative personality trait) is passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following through with expectations in interpersonal or occupational situations. It is a personality trait marked by a pervasive pattern of negative attitudes and passive, usually disavowed resistance in interpersonal or occupational situations.
It can manifest itself as learned helplessness, procrastination, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or deliberate/repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible. It is a defense mechanism, and usually only partly conscious."
They talked about the PA employee and manager; and most importantly, what motivates this behavior, where does it come from?
Top 5 motivators of PA behavior:
1. non confrontational, person would rather not do anything.
2. disappointed communicator, person has been met with negativity in the past over ideas they have proposed
3. control freak, the Type A personality
4. past-ist, "been there done that"
5. "not my problem"
Top 4 strategies in dealing with PA behaviors:
1. be assertive - take action, don't ignore. "Silence is not golden, it is permission."
2. be objective - don't take it personally, don't assign motives. State behavior, actions, and impact on others.
3. communicate - talk openly and honestly. Bedirect and keep it simple. Model appropriate behavior and ask questions, approach with mutual respect.
4. document - keep records of assignments, follow-up and behaviors.
A practical exercise was given to the audience, in the form of a story about a fictional "Jane & Molly @the Library." We then worked in small groups, and gave feedback to the presenters on how we would handle the situation.
Passive aggressive behavior is something that can negatively affect an organization, this workshop's goal was to give the attendees more information to understand, and to deal with these behaviors. What I learned; how to more clearly identify these types of behaviors, and how to confront them. Part of my motivation in addending this workshop was to see what our State Librarian had to say about this topic.
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I completely agree with the statement about silence not being golden. We librarians tend to be non-confrontational people who don't want to make waves. Assertiveness is something I've been working on in other areas of my life and will make a point to apply it to the library as well.
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