A Toxic Work Culture and How To Change It

You see team members afraid to voice their concerns, a build-up of rules and processes that are more barrier than benefit, communication is running top-down only, and silos have become par for the course.  What you see now is a toxic culture in dire need of positive change.

We all know the impact of toxic cultures on employees. Apathy may exist in as much as 67 percent of workers (Gallup 2017 State of the Global Workforce Poll). Ultimately work performance is affected by employees jumping ship, and pessimism runs rampant. To know you are in a toxic environment is to observe any of the following scenarios as one or part of the whole.

Employees that are afraid will not speak up. A new culture of possible retaliation results in a holding back of both positive and constructive feedback. Sharing ideas and voicing your opinion are deemed harmful and may lead to transfer, denied promotions, up to and including dismissal (though the framing of the termination will note a legitimate cause, i.e., a lack of performance issue). Harassment is usually top of the list of harmful behaviors now thriving at the place of work. There will be little communication with senior management related to the abandonment of respect toward race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. The climate is now a desert, void of freedom of speech and empowerment.

Over time, employees begin to feel the struggle to accomplish their mandates, as new policies are implemented with hidden agendas to satisfy egos and gain political control or without proper forethought or impact study, all the while stifling creativity and objectivity to the point of frustrated employees leaving or their determination to refuse the change is broken.

With a tightly controlled environment, favoritism, and unevenness on who can ignore the newly created policies. Policies are now used as concrete determinations of actions rather than as a guideline that nuances and considerations may deem the policy unfair in a particular case.

This culture may display authority for the sake of an authority org chart. Toxic cultures will only affect managers who hold authority on an org chart, while the power resides elsewhere.

Communication is the one keystone to every great organization that ties everything together. When we examine toxic cultures, the top-down only communication stream is further filtered as information is shared on a need-to-know basis. Additionally, information becomes currency as employees hoard knowledge, confident that their perceived value drops rapidly if it is shared. This, in turn, leads to fear of losing power or termination.

Decisions will be made at the executive level, with the responsibility and accountability given to the line managers and employees. Input from the employees is rarely solicited, leaving the staff struggling to own it and give one hundred percent to something they see as an ambiguous task without purpose. A quiet work-to-rule unfolds as employees do their jobs only within normal working hours and will not go the extra mile unless mandated.

Lastly, on our breakdown of toxic culture indicators, you will see silos emerge. A silo can be one person holding onto information and refusing to share the knowledge for the betterment of the department or organization. As mentioned above, this type of practice is used to hold onto a sense of power or as currency to barter for a more stable footing in the current role or a potential promotion. Another type of silo involves an area or department that will keep the knowledge within the team, keeping each other sheltered and emboldened to any pushback from other areas or departments. This inevitably causes a disconnect from the business, and employees are left limited in their ability to act as advocates for the company. Employee numbers will increase as department managers pad their areas and duplicate other areas’ work to gain power as a too-big-to-fail department.

A toxic culture is temporary, given that the proper leaders are in place to effect change. There is hope and a few actions that can be taken to bring normalcy back.

The key takeaway to overcoming a toxic culture is to plan with timing; critical Mass, Communication, and Celebrating Wins play pivotal roles here.

Plan with Timing

• This is your one opportunity to build a new culture of transparency, open communication, and respect. Before implementation, the plan must include the purpose of why your employees arrive to work daily. It must consist of voices that haven’t been heard and a forum or opportunity to share them openly. Your plan will include stages of implementation to keep the wave riding high until most are on board permanently.
• Your plan must work within the 90-day rule. People will revert to old habits quickly beyond this point.

Critical Mass

• It is not always the majority of employees needed to affect change. Sometimes, it is the majority of key personnel required to achieve success. It is commonly understood that if you can bring the influencers on board to a new culture, they will advocate on your behalf when it is needed privately amongst, for example, a line employee-only meeting.

• Achieving critical mass can also be done in small groups, but the preference is to have as many shows up as possible in one room (via satellite or video call, etc.). It is a compelling moment when your employees walk away knowing change has already begun.

• Either way, you want to build momentum here by hosting an open forum or town hall where the employees are given the mike to ask anything of the leaders or stakeholders.

Communication

• Your town hall or open forum meeting is your crucial motivation tool to effect change.

• Before this meeting, it is important to have all executives deliver the same message during and immediately following the event. One voice is the only voice that will work. Leaders need to know this message without relying on a presentation or charts to assist. The message will identify the problem, what the solution will be, how the solution will be implemented, and what the result looks like.

During the event and shortly after, there will be a point where to coin a phrase; the rubber hits the road. Your leaders must deliver a less fluffy message and back it up more with tangible actions. In other words, it is less of “We will be transparent.” and more of “We will meet as a department on Tuesday to review the budget and get input from all for next year.”

Celebrating wins

• It seems simple enough on the outside, but to celebrate, we must turn to our employees and operations to identify the quick wins, with more significant wins following later.

• Still keeping within the 90-day rule (preferably the end of the first week or immediately at the start of week 2), have, for example, a department or small group of employees identified as owning the change by accomplishing goals set or for efforts over and above in assisting with the change.

• You can also celebrate the new start with a company event. Whatever the reason, it is important here to show your employees that the unique purpose of arriving at work is to give your best and that their efforts are valued and respected.

• Celebrating wins will only work if consistency is critical in your organization. It is not enough to have annual events or events when primary targets are achieved. Celebrating successes is everything from a Friday potluck lunch for one team to a departmental treat (e.g., an ice cream fridge during summer months) to a simple, heartfelt thank you for showing sincerity.

Flexibility, fun, humility, honesty, presence, and showing appreciation all counter any culture trying to keep the status quo to maintain a temporary power that will eventually be consumed by positive change. Inspired leaders and an empowered culture will always thrive. Toxic cultures can be changed.