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Toxic Work Environment: The Impact of Toxicity in the Workplace
This week’s episode continues the discussion of toxicity in the workplace with a look at how toxic elements can negatively affect an entire company. Not everybody realizes the impact that toxicity can have on an organization, and while businesses are doing better at dealing with problematic elements, it’s still too easy to label it an emotional problem and push it to one side. Today, Maria and Michelle show why ignoring the impact of toxicity could have a disastrous effect company-wide, and how to avoid falling into that trap.
Michelle starts things off with a look at how toxic leaders can manipulate those around them to disguise the damage they do in the workplace and how difficult it can be to deal with them as a result. She advises that a high turnover can be a sign of a toxic manager and is one of the areas to keep an eye on when toxicity is suspected. Next, she and Maria discuss the perception of manipulation as a leadership tactic and how to push back against the idea that this approach is a necessary part of doing business. Michelle points out that while immoral business practices can be effective, their cost on a moral and practical level is too high, potentially resulting in sick and demotivated employees and big problems for the company. Finally, they wrap up with some advice to work with HR to identify and deal with the toxic element in your company.
The Finer Details of This Episode:
Quotes:
“It’s easy to take anything that is ‘people-y’ or ‘feeling-y’ and just push it aside and say that it doesn’t matter, or it’s not important.”
“So what I found in some of my research is the senior leaders, or the owners of the company have literally promoted someone because it appears that they’re doing a great job and they get results. They show numbers or justification, and they just don’t realize how toxic that leader is because the leader doesn’t demonstrate toxicity around them.”
“I’m not a fan of leaders who come in and clean out immediately. I think that leaders who come in and clean out immediately aren’t leaders, they’re actually jerks who don’t know how to lead people. Because if they did, they’d come in, and they’d learn who was there and how to influence the people that were there.”
“If you are going to go out in public around other people, you have basically signed yourself a non-written social contract to behave in a way that is acceptable in a civilized society. And if you can’t do it, go live on an island by yourself.”
“It used to be that you walked to the cafeteria to get a coffee and took a ten-minute stroll. And now you’re taking five ten-minute strolls a day. You used to take an hour-ish for lunch, and now lunch is three hours and includes a cocktail or two, just putting it out there, guys. And this is that person who’s not willing to not show up because they don’t want to lose the job or they don’t want to risk being called out for something, but it’s worse than them staying home.”
“I promise you, they know exactly who the assholes are because they’ve been looking at your numbers dwindle in those departments, they’ve seen increased interpersonal problems, they probably interacted with the manager as well. So my advice to you would be to seek counsel from your HR team. Just be prepared for what they might tell you.”
Show Links:
REL Talent: HR Consulting
Email REL Talent
REL Talent on LinkedIn
View all episodes
By Maria Rodriguez, Michelle Elder and Keith Leonard
4.8
1414 ratings
This week’s episode continues the discussion of toxicity in the workplace with a look at how toxic elements can negatively affect an entire company. Not everybody realizes the impact that toxicity can have on an organization, and while businesses are doing better at dealing with problematic elements, it’s still too easy to label it an emotional problem and push it to one side. Today, Maria and Michelle show why ignoring the impact of toxicity could have a disastrous effect company-wide, and how to avoid falling into that trap.
Michelle starts things off with a look at how toxic leaders can manipulate those around them to disguise the damage they do in the workplace and how difficult it can be to deal with them as a result. She advises that a high turnover can be a sign of a toxic manager and is one of the areas to keep an eye on when toxicity is suspected. Next, she and Maria discuss the perception of manipulation as a leadership tactic and how to push back against the idea that this approach is a necessary part of doing business. Michelle points out that while immoral business practices can be effective, their cost on a moral and practical level is too high, potentially resulting in sick and demotivated employees and big problems for the company. Finally, they wrap up with some advice to work with HR to identify and deal with the toxic element in your company.
The Finer Details of This Episode:
Quotes:
“It’s easy to take anything that is ‘people-y’ or ‘feeling-y’ and just push it aside and say that it doesn’t matter, or it’s not important.”
“So what I found in some of my research is the senior leaders, or the owners of the company have literally promoted someone because it appears that they’re doing a great job and they get results. They show numbers or justification, and they just don’t realize how toxic that leader is because the leader doesn’t demonstrate toxicity around them.”
“I’m not a fan of leaders who come in and clean out immediately. I think that leaders who come in and clean out immediately aren’t leaders, they’re actually jerks who don’t know how to lead people. Because if they did, they’d come in, and they’d learn who was there and how to influence the people that were there.”
“If you are going to go out in public around other people, you have basically signed yourself a non-written social contract to behave in a way that is acceptable in a civilized society. And if you can’t do it, go live on an island by yourself.”
“It used to be that you walked to the cafeteria to get a coffee and took a ten-minute stroll. And now you’re taking five ten-minute strolls a day. You used to take an hour-ish for lunch, and now lunch is three hours and includes a cocktail or two, just putting it out there, guys. And this is that person who’s not willing to not show up because they don’t want to lose the job or they don’t want to risk being called out for something, but it’s worse than them staying home.”
“I promise you, they know exactly who the assholes are because they’ve been looking at your numbers dwindle in those departments, they’ve seen increased interpersonal problems, they probably interacted with the manager as well. So my advice to you would be to seek counsel from your HR team. Just be prepared for what they might tell you.”
Show Links:
REL Talent: HR Consulting
Email REL Talent
REL Talent on LinkedIn