So, it’s not my favourite Britney song but the words seemed appropriate. I see the term toxic a lot these days, toxic leadership, toxic culture, toxic behaviour. It made me wonder whether the corporate leadership community have accepted that pockets of toxicity are just a part of working life.
When I investigated what “toxic” means to others I was surprised to see some consensus that it’s where infighting and drama exists. Others find it easier to define what it isn’t rather than what it is.
In an attempt to keep it simple, in my lived experience, I found that two things exist: ignorance and tolerance of poor behaviours. Consider these behaviours and whether you see them every day:
- Micro-managing
- Aggression
- Inaction
- Unsupportive
- Blaming
- Alienating
- Demeaning
- Unapologetic
- Irresponsible
- Rejecting
- Punishing (overtly and covertly)
- Isolating
- Ungrateful
- Disingenuous
- Inflexible
- Unethical
Over the decades I have seen and experienced much of these, in particular inaction when it comes to poor behaviour, even rewarding it by cleverly “making redundant” those who are “too difficult” to dismiss or those who take a stand against toxic leadership. I was offered redundancy because it was easier than admitting and dealing with toxic leadership. I was happy to go, the alternatives were inconceivable.
If you go into work each day feeling uneasy, exposed, the need to have your own back and conform outside of your values, it’s likely your organisation is oblivious to or condones toxic behaviour.
A toxic culture is the opposite of a psychologically safe one.
It’s time for culture to become more than a paper exercise. I have seen and read more “party lines” than I could mention on values over three decades. The boardroom needs to start having conversations about accountability rather than professing values because expectation in the form of a code of conduct means nothing if all it achieves is a nice glossy filler in your annual report.
A piece of research by New York Times best-selling author Brené Brown suggests that as little as 10% of organisations have taken steps to, in her words “operationalise” values into teachable, observable behaviours used to train employees and hold them accountable. According to Brown, after collecting experiences of over 10,000 participants in her leadership work, one reality exists, we can only subscribe to 2 core values or beliefs. Most organisations expect you to conform to 4 or 5 at least.
Sure, a large proportion of employees live and breathe company values because it’s who they are. The boardroom must however create safety for those who experience poor treatment to speak up and find ways of celebrating and rewarding those who demonstrate and live the values. I’m reminded of the superficial ways in which I’ve seen this done of course, the problem being if you are still rewarding or ignoring poor behaviours it neutralises any efforts. I’m still reminded of three things:
- Innovation and creativity suffocate without psychological safety.
- Good people will leave when they cannot meaningfully participate.
- Exposure and subsequent liability can arise from even the smallest pocket of toxicity.
When employees characterise your ability to attract and retain customers, how do you want to be seen to the outside world? What can you do today to end the cycle?
Kirsty Ritchie
