Well Action Psychotherapy

“You feel scapegoated? I assure you there’s nothing like that going on in this team. Your HR record shows a history of mental health issues, you must be imagining it, you need to get help.”

The VERY WORST management response imaginable.

Being scapegoated at work is one of the most unpleasant situations that people can ever get into. Every day for months, even years, a scapegoat will wake at 4am worrying about what’s going to happen at work today. This takes a huge toll on both physical and mental health. But what to do about it?

Psychodynamic psychotherapists reckon they’ve got scapegoating sorted: appealing to the theory of Object Relations, the story goes that a new person in a group expresses emotions, beliefs or behaviours that are taboo in the rest of the group. The group all unconsciously wishes they were able to be like the ‘scapegoat’, so they attack them. OK, that’s a bit of a paraphrase!

The approach in a therapy group is to explore each individual’s relationship to the scapegoat, what they unconsciously envy, what resonates in their past. Although this is the recommended approach it is seldom effective, because group members’ resistance to exploring their deep-seated insecurities usually outlasts the scapegoat’s tolerance for being attacked by everybody. The scapegoat predictably leaves the group. Even if the group goes on to do “good therapy” from the incident, in my book it’s a therapeutic fail.

In a work situation this approach is even less effective. Even if the team is psychologically minded, a work team is not a therapy group. Managers cannot insist that team members do group therapy together.

Finally, the theory predicts that if the group forces out the scapegoat, the process will only happen all over again with the next new group member. While this narrative can help to curb the aggression of the group, at least temporarily, it’s not actually true. If the scapegoat leaves and is replaced by a new group member, the new member is seldom treated in the same way.

A few years ago I was working with a team where there was a scapegoating situation. Management had some psychology training and initially took the psychodynamic psychological approach, trying to work out what the scapegoat was expressing that each team member took such exception to. This approach yielded no results.

We did eventually resolve the problem, but not using psychological group dynamic theory; rather, I encouraged managers to approach this as a management problem, not a psychological problem. We sat down together and looked up relevant management theory, and found what we needed.

It turns out there are two strands to the scapegoating story: the individual and the team. Conditions have to be right (or rather wrong) in both strands for scapegoating to occur.

This is not to victim-blame. What this approach actually promises is there are steps that the victim can take to help turn things around. It’s a theory of empowerment of the underdog.

Individuals who suffer scapegoating tend to exhibit more than one of the following characteristics (many of which are seen as positive in our culture):

• Independent thinking. They don’t go along with ideas just because someone of higher status subscribes to them.
• Integrity. They have a strong sense of justice.
• Lack of concern for hierarchies. They tend to treat everybody positively and as equals, relating to people above and below them in the management hierarchy in the same friendly way. They see deference to authority as being obsequious.
• Lack of manipulation. They value honesty and are up-front: their word can be trusted.
• Rule-breaking. They see rules as ‘guidelines’, having a basis in an underlying moral or practical concern. They want to know why rules are in place and if there’s no good reason for them they ignore them.
• Unconcerned about popularity. They don’t depend on their team for validation.

Teams that scapegoat have:

• Weak, ineffective or absent management.
• 1 individual who is insecure and highly manipulative. This person drives the scapegoating process.
• A culture of deference to seniority and length of service.
• A strong sense of hierarchy.
• A culture of secrets, cliques, rumours and gossip.

The scapegoating process:

• The insecure individual in the team feels threatened by the scapegoat. The perceived threat could be any number of things, for instance they may feel that the scapegoat’s integrity threatens to expose their manipulative behaviour, or they may sense that the scapegoat’s talent and diligence with their work will expose their own incompetence.
• The scapegoater will start to build a case against the scapegoat: They will identify a workplace problem and come up with reasons why the scapegoat is to blame.
• The scapegoater won’t “go public” with their case, they will plant the seeds in other people’s minds through the gossip network, and then encourage others to speak up. Hence it’s often difficult to identify the individual driving the process because they hide behind others.
• The scapegoater will amplify anything negative about the scapegoat, and minimise anything good.
• The scapegoater will attempt to isolate the scapegoat, calling meetings that don’t include the scapegoat, having conversations with colleagues that begin “Don’t tell xxx, but …”

What to do about it:

Without strong management the scapegoating will not stop. If the team manager is weak, insecure or ineffectual then this will be feeding into the scapegoating situation. If necessary go over their heads to senior managers.

If you can’t get the support of management then leave. You’re in a workplace where toxicity is modelled from the top and things will never improve.

Once you have the support of management make sure you’re on the same page and that they know how to deal with the situation (see below).

At this point there are things you can do to help resolve the scapegoating situation, related to the characteristics of scapegoats listed above:

• Go quiet, bite your tongue. This can feel difficult, you may feel that you’re betraying your integrity. If you know you can make a positive contribution to a discussion which goes against the prevailing view it can feel very difficult not to speak up. However, it’s better to see some bad decisions being made in the short term if it means you’ll be there to influence the team for the good in the long term.
• Make an effort to flatter team members who see themselves as senior, especially if they have contributed long service but never achieved promotion. Don’t be insincere, just make an effort to express the positive and hold back on the negative.
• Be more manipulative. Discuss with your manager how you might adjust your behaviour to get allies.
• Quit the rule-breaking, at least for a while. You can go back to it when you’ve regained the team’s respect.
• Be concerned about how people see you. Don’t cut people off with “if you don’t see my good intentions I can’t be bothered with you.” Explain yourself to others patiently in ways that will gain their alliance.
• Don’t make yourself vulnerable. Don’t talk about family, personal problems and challenges etc. Don’t provide ammunition for your scapegoater.
• Don't do or say anything that might be experienced as threatening. Threat is the driving force to the process. Don't threaten "I'll go to my manager" (just do it), don't threaten "You'll see, I'll be your manager one day and then everyone will know you're a ******er".

How to manage a scapegoating team:

• Lead strongly. Take a firm stand against the scapegoating. Call it out for what it is and explain clearly that you’re not prepared to tolerate it. Express your faith in, and support for, the scapegoat unequivocally.
• If you’re the team manager’s manager then replace them with somebody who has the authority to deal with the situation. Don’t waste time sending them on training courses, the scapegoat will have left by the time the manager has figured out how to manage the team appropriately and you may end up facing a claim for constructive dismissal.
• If the team doesn’t have a manager (temporary absence such as sick-leave, maternity/paternity leave, or failure to recruit) put one in place. If nobody is available then take control yourself.
• Institute strong boundaries within the team: any gossip, accusations, case-building against the scapegoat will be called out and result in an interview with the manager and/or HR.
• Work closely with the scapegoat. Have regular meetings, review progress, discuss strategy.
• If possible, identify the insecure individual who’s feeling threatened and driving the process and transfer them to another team. This is harder than it sounds because they’ll be highly manipulative and probably hiding behind other people. When new gossip or accusations emerge try to track down the source as quickly as possible. The scapegoated individual may have a sense of who is behind the process.
• Don’t be afraid to use PIPs (Performance Improvement Plans) to counter an entrenched and destructive gossip culture.