Facilitator
Description
In Aotearoa New Zealand, bullying at work harms people and performance — eroding trust, increasing stress and turnover, and damaging culture. Left unaddressed, bullying also carries significant organisational costs, from turnover and recruitment to lost time and morale.
Managers play a decisive role in preventing bullying and this workshop gives managers and team leaders the clarity, skills, and tools to set respectful standards, spot issues early, and respond with fair process. The content aligns with WorkSafe’s Good Practice Guidelines and can be tailored to your organisation’s policies, language and context.
Designed for managers and team leaders across different functions and sectors, this workshop is practical, plain-English, and ready to apply immediately.
Learning outcomes
Participation in this workshop will enable you to:
- identify leadership behaviours that prevent (or enable) bullying and set the tone for respect
- distinguish bullying, harassment, discrimination, and reasonable management action in a New Zealand context
- recognise legal obligations, policy essentials, and who does what when concerns arise
- recognise patterns and warning signs (including hybrid and online conduct) and act promptly and safely
- apply upstander tools and team norms that build psychological safety and everyday accountability
- receive and handle reports using fair process — support, documentation, confidentiality, and appropriate escalation.
Content
- Leadership signals and norms: Model respect, set clear standards, and embed day-to-day behaviours that reinforce dignity
- NZ definitions and duties: What bullying is (and isn’t), reasonable management action, policy anchors, and manager responsibilities
- Recognising behaviours: Patterns, impact vs intent, power dynamics, and grey areas in remote/hybrid and digital settings
- Prevention by design: Team agreements, rituals, boundaries, and workload clarity that reduce risk and drift
- Upstander strategies: Practical scripts and options to challenge behaviour safely and support affected team members
- Responding with fair process: Receiving concerns, triage and risk, documentation, confidentiality, performance conversations, and escalation pathways