Toxicity is a topic that keeps coming up in business and society at large. In a previous article, I wrote about how leaders can deal with toxic personalities effectively. As it turns out, the real issue is not the person, but the person's behaviour. I believe that leaders can manage toxicity successfully by approaching the topic with awareness and compassion, and by connecting with those who may be expressing toxic behaviours on a human level.

One of the keys to managing toxicity in the workplace is to create and nurture a nontoxic culture and environment. Often, toxic behaviours arise not because the person exhibiting them intends to misbehave, but because they are acting according to what they see and experience around them. In other words, they are merely operating in a manner conducive to the culture and surroundings they find themselves working in.

Leaders are mainly responsible for establishing and maintaining the workplace culture, and they have a lot of power when it comes to eliminating toxicity in favour of positivity, honesty, collaboration and vulnerability.

The problem is that sometimes leaders don’t realize that they are creating and contributing to the toxicity.

Workplace Culture and Leadership Self-Awareness

Leaders who are not tuned in to the nature of the culture within their workplaces fail to notice when things take a turn for the worse. They assume everything is running like clockwork until one day they realize that they are operating in crisis mode because either their people are not working together, perhaps struggling to meet results, or they are losing people on a consistent basis.‍

How does this happen? To me, it all comes down to self-awareness. Leaders who aren't aware of their impact on the culture—or whose invisibility and lack of communication allows a toxic culture to fester—can't see that they might be the cause of the problem. They are blind to what's happening in the office because they are not in tune with what is happening within themselves, and not seeing to how their actions impact others.

This doesn't mean that toxic cultures are solely created by toxic leaders. Again, it's not about the person; it's about the person's behaviour, and behaviours can be changed. It's important to spend time noticing your thoughts, choices of words, actions and overall tone to develop self-awareness.

Could you have delivered your criticism more constructively? Could you have implemented a new policy in a manner more conducive to workplace harmony and understanding?

To help you become more self-aware and develop the ability to discern if you are contributing to a toxic culture here are some of the signs that you should look for:

1. Unhealthy Competition Characterizes the Work Environment
   A sense of healthy competition can boost productivity and get people to push each other to greatness. But if you're pitting people against each other and encouraging mean-spirited competition, your culture will suffer.
2. Your People Don’t Trust Each Other
   A sense of trust is critical to your organization’s success. But if you don’t trust your people to perform, the distrust spreads like a virus within the workplace. The same is true for respect. If you display a lack of respect for your people, they will act accordingly. Not only will they lose respect for you, but they will also begin to disrespect their peers and their direct reports.
3. Communication Is Negative or Non-Existent
   Listen to how people are talking to each other. Are they communicating in a negative manner, focusing on what isn't working and being overly critical? Are they communicating at all? The nature of communication within your organization is inspired directly by the way you communicate. Negative or non-existent communication starts with leadership which sets the tone for how people interact in the workplace.
4. Confusion Reigns
   A confused worker may naturally become an unproductive and disengaged worker. When members of your team feel a lack of clarity around what they are expected to accomplish, they might react by offering half-hearted efforts, which poisons the work being done by the people around them and negatively infects the entire organization. Leaders may indirectly encourage this when they fail to provide clear instructions and set clearly-defined expectations.
5. People Are Overly Concerned with Titles, Status, Job Descriptions and Hierarchy
   People who are fixated upon their status and position in the organizational pecking order may not necessarily work in a manner that's aligned with success in the workplace. They may choose to put themselves above everyone else and prioritize their ambitions over the goals of the organization. This can create an overwhelming amount of toxicity. And if it's happening among the members of your team, it could be because you exhibit the same "me-first" behaviours.
6. Lots of Discipline; No Praise
   A culture that punishes infractions at the expense of recognizing accomplishments is one that's doomed to experience challenges if not fail altogether. When people work to avoid repercussions, they are operating in fear which is incredibly toxic. Address the mistakes and take disciplinary action when appropriate. But the culture should not be driven by fear. Leaders who fail to recognize accomplishments and focus too sharply on discipline create fearful environments where people rarely perform at their best.

How to Create a Non-Toxic Culture

If you find yourself leading in a culture that has become toxic, it can feel as if there’s nothing you can do to get your team and your organization back on track. It might even feel impossible as culture is a tremendously difficult aspect of the workplace to transform but understand that it is well within your power to make the necessary changes to have a positive impact.

I genuinely believe that in reality, no one wants to work within a toxic culture or environment. The majority of people desire to enjoy their relationships with one another, and they want to wake up every day feeling energized and excited. People by human nature, strive to feel inspired and hopeful, but they can't do it without strong, self-aware, communicative and grounded leadership from you.

Start changing your culture today by listening to your inner voice and paying attention to the way you interact with your people. Be kind, open, vulnerable and act in a way that makes you feel proud of your leadership. Be willing to have honest and open conversations about your role in creating a positive and engaging culture. It may take some time before you see changes, but your efforts at eliminating toxicity from your organization will pay massive dividends.

What Do You Think?

How have you handled toxicity in the workplace? Have you had to lead in a toxic culture? How have you noticed your behaviours impacting the behaviours of others?

I'm curious to learn about your experiences, and I would love to share my insights with you, email me at joanne.trotta@leadersedgeinc.ca.

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