Slides to supplement the facilitated workshop given on training participants to speak up at the workplace. Covers harassment and how to handle bullying.

1. SPEAK UP
ANIMAH KOSAI
Handling Harassment and
Raising Issues in Law Firms
& Workplaces
K U A L A L U M P U R B A R - E Q U A L I T Y & D I V E R S I T Y C O M M I T T E E
2 1 J U N E 2 0 1 7

2. HARASSMENT IN ACTION
From the movie, Whiplash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAsABdkWSc
SPEAK UP

3. MEETING EACH OTHER
1. Introduce yourself
2. Say where and how long you have been working
3. Say one thing you like people to say to you
4. Say one thing you don’t like people to say to you and how it makes you
feel
The other person will write down items 3 and 4 and place them on the OK
and NOT OK flip charts.
SPEAK UP

4. WHY HARASSMENT MATTERS SPEAK UP
Read Comey’s difficulty
in speaking up here:
https://
www.linkedin.com/
pulse/powerful-people-
afraid-human-just-
like-us-animah-kosai
See details of BP’s pressure here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/
deepwater-horizon-under-pressure-animah-kosai

5. • Areas you want to Speak Up on
• Barriers to Speaking Up
• What makes you feel safe to Speak Up
SPEAK UP

6. HARASSMENT

7. WHAT IS HARASSMENT?
Bullying and harassment is behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated or offended.
Intention of the harasser is irrelevant. It is how the recipient reasonably perceives the
behaviour.
Examples:
• spreading malicious rumours
• unfair treatment
• picking on someone
• regularly undermining a competent worker
• denying someone’s training or promotion opportunities
Bullying and harassment can happen:
• face-to-face
• by letter
• by email
• by phone

8. PROFILE OF A HARASSER
What they do:
Grooming
Change the narrative, distract, digress
lie, deny, twist the truth
Blame the victim, turn tables on victim
Play the victim
Name call, shame, humiliate
Gaslight
Create toxic environment, conflict
Aggression - shame, distraction via social
media
Intimidate, threaten
SPEAK UP
• High estimation of self
• Cunning and manipulative
• Lack of remorse or guilt
• Shallow affect (superficial
emotional responsiveness)
• Callousness and lack of
empathy
• Irresponsibility
• Failure to accept
responsibility for own
actions
From Robert Hare’s PCL-R 20
point checklist on
psychopathy
PEERING INTO A PSYCHOPATH'S BAG OF TRICKS
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/peering-psychopaths-bag-tricks-
slaps-sexist-remarks-animah-kosai

9. ROLE PLAY

10. CASE STUDIES & ROLE PLAY
1. THE CASE OF THE INFLAMMABLE MATERIALS
While preparing an application for the completion certification for a new apartment block, an engineer of
the company informs you that the panels for the building cladding do not meet the specifications - that
they must be fireproof. She says that the material certificates have been forged and she suspects the
vendor that sold the materials to the contractor.
You inform your boss, A but he tells you to forget about it. He says, “now days big buildings never catch
fire,” and “it rains every day.”
You feel troubled and the next day you speak to him again saying, “we need to think about public safety.”
He begins shouting, “are you saying I don’t care about the public?! I fucking love the public. You’re not an
engineer and don’t know what you’re talking about. Tell lah! You go tell the CEO, then see if he wants to
keep you on. He is already talking about downsizing. You tell anyone about this, we lose our contract, and
I guarantee you will be begging on the streets.”
1. What should you do?
2. What would make you comfortable raising this higher in the company to make sure its addressed?
Role Play: You tell the CEO about this issue.
SPEAK UP

11. CASE STUDIES & ROLE PLAY
You are a young auditor in your first few months serving as internal auditor in a listed
company. Your boss, the audit manager is very nice and kind but she seems afraid of the
management. While you are auditing accounts payables for April, you notice that an IT
vendor is paid half a million which was the exact same amount of payment to the same
vendor in January, February and March. Upon further investigation, you find that the
amount is paid for the same invoice which was issued a year back.
You inform your boss and she looks worried. She suggests you present it to management.
1.If your boss keeps silent (instead of asking you to present), what should you do?
2. What would make you comfortable raising this higher in the company to make sure its
addressed?
Role Play: At the meeting, you present the issue. Also present is your boss, the head of IT,
the financial controller, HR head and the GM.
SPEAK UP
2. THE CASE OF THE INEXPLICABLE NUMBERS

12. TICK THE TRAITS SPEAK UP

13. HOW TO HANDLE A HARASSER
Run
Recognise their traits
But don’t try to analyse/understand them
Observe
Be the rock: stay on point
Document incidents/conversations. Preserve e-mails, messages
Check the facts (they lie)
Set boundaries:
• drop the need to be liked
• be consistent
• professionalism is your rock
• don’t actively seek their approval
Ignore personal attacks
Find support
Report
SPEAK UP
Read more here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/being-rock-among-psychopaths-
work-animah-kosai

14. DID YOU KNOW HOW MANY ISSUES STAY UNREPORTED? SPEAK UP
EY Asia Pacific Fraud Survey 2017
https://fraudsurveys.ey.com/media/1334/ey_apac_fraud2017_preview-single.pdf
PwC Global Economic Crime Survey 2016
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/economic-crime-survey/pdf/GlobalEconomicCrimeSurvey2016.pdf

15. NEXT STEPS: TOWARDS CREATING SAFE SPACES & SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Individual:
• Who is my support
• How do I intervene and
support others being
harassed
• Talk about it!
• Watch my own behaviour
in case I harass
Leadership
• Tone from the top. Leadership training - how to be open and
receive feedback, No Blame Culture.
• Ongoing awareness sessions and training.
C U LT U R E
S T R U C T U R E
S Y S T E M
P O L I C Y
• Harassment Free Policy
• Speak Up/Whistleblowing Policy. No Retaliation
• Independent & Anonymous
Hotline
• Clear avenues for reporting
fairly handled,
independent to avoid bias,
follow up with reporter,
take action and enforce
policy
• Written Process
communicated to all
including on boarding
process
• Report to HR/Compliance who
reports to CEO/Board. High risk
issues (Safety, ABAC to Board)
• Tiered reporting. High level to
board bypass management
SPEAK UP
More leadership tips here: https://
www.linkedin.com/pulse/dear-leaders-6-clues-
your-people-hiding-things-from-you-animah-kosai

16. SPEAK UP
ANIMAH KOSAI
LinkedIn
Twitter @SpeakUpAtWork
animahspeakup@gmail.com