There is a lot of information on the internet about what a toxic workplace and culture is. These are a few niche signs I have noticed over a period of ten years in corporates, public, community based and social development organizations. These observations I’ve witnessed within mandated roles and several based on feedback shared by professional peers in various industries who have over the last few years increased their sharing of their stories of unhealthy workplaces. Toxic leaders and staff can only thrive and survive in toxic cultures. The power of agency, speaking up and bravery is important for a healthy work environment to exist. It requires everyone’s efforts.
- Gossiping at leadership or senior level – If formal gatherings, meetings, or side bars become gossip sessions about colleagues, other leaders, or teams, this is a red flag. Professionals focus on doing the right work, at the time, team building and meeting strategic goals.
- Favouritism – For example, only a few selected leaders, team members, at any level, can to speak openly, make suggestions or decisions in meetings. Unless it is a short informational update, meetings should be a place of healthy discussion and engagement.
- Vague strategy – especially one that a few know about besides the top leaders. If you fail to plan, you fail. Best the high-level strategy be available to everyone so that everyone is working towards company or department goals.
- Confusion – Lack of clear ways of working, Standard Operating Procedures, processes and/or job scope.
- Tolerance of bad cultural behaviours such as blaming and shaming. In blame and shame cultures, it’s nobody’s problem. Much like a litter issue. Its everyone’s problem.
- Undermining is another word for sabotage and/or managing through fear.
- Fixation on irrelevant issues such as cleaning up small details in presentations, spreadsheets instead of focusing on the big picture, strategy, end goal and the why.
- No priorities mean everything is a priority.
- Silent meetings – When staff members consistently stay silent in meetings, it could be fear of retaliation or being singled out.
- Constant misunderstanding and miscommunication at a leadership level. You either know how to communicate or you don’t. There is no in-between. Habitual misunderstanding and miscommunication is not a mistake. It is the leader’s role to be clear about what they mean and what they need.
- Leaders that have great technical ability but don’t understand the people stuff. Leadership is all about people.
- The regular breaking of promises. If you cannot be accountable for what you say, don’t say it. It breaks trust and credibility.
- Work sharing imbalance. If one or a few team members or high performers are handling most of the work then what is the rest of the team doing and why are they there, if not to be productive?
- Lack of diversity in teams – does everyone look and sound the same? Diversity is a prerequisite for creativity and innovation.
- Leaders that are unclear about how they work, the purpose and direction of their team or departments and toxic behaviour such as being dishonest in meetings, scapegoating, blindsiding, verbose speeches about nothing of consequence. This kind of leader can only exist in a toxic environment with other such leaders.
Toxic work cultures are always difficult to pin down because the scope and indicators are not always present as outlined and can be infrequent. If it is consistent over time, say 4 – 6 months and has an impact on the productivity and morale of the staff, then I professionally recognize the organization as a toxic one and work towards re-establishing healthy relationship dynamics and communication instead.
Why does it matter?
A toxic work culture and environment will hurt your bottom-line. Businesses exist to earn, to achieve, to fulfil a goal in society. Toxic cultures and environments will never allow for a healthy thriving business to exist because it depletes the goodwill that each person brings to achieve the goals set out. Decreasing productivity, increasing high turnover, loss of high-performance talent. It’s not without saying that businesses exist to service society and its community in some way. It will not have the same fighting chance to do that within a toxic culture.
How to solve it?
Message me for a 15-minute free session or paid consultation to chat about your organizational culture concerns.
