Leaders must continually be taking the pulse of the organization they work for.  A once happy workplace can turn toxic quickly if you are not paying attention.  But when caught early, it can be turned around.

What signs indicate that your workplace might be toxic?  The most common warning signals include:

1.      Increased gossiping and/or social cliques

2.      High turnover

3.      Low staff morale

4.      Aggressive, bullying behavior

5.      Poor communication and unclear expectations

6.      Dictatorial management techniques that don’t embrace employee feedback

7.      Excessive absenteeism, illness, or fatigue

8.      Favoritism and imbalanced working conditions

9.      Workaholic behavior that sacrifices healthy work/life balance

10.   Unrealistic workloads or deadlines

11.   Little or strained interaction between employees

12.   Unsafe or morally questionable working conditions

What can leadership do to correct the issue if they think that the workplace might be toxic?

Dig Deeper – For a toxic environment to exist, it is being supported someplace in the organization’s infrastructure. Do a thorough examination from top to bottom and look for issues such as:

·        Discriminatory beliefs

·        Treating employees as assets, not people

·        Information guarding

·        Aggressive or hostile leadership styles

·        Belief that employees are lazy, stupid, and/or expendable

·        Resentment of authority

·        Lack of accountability

·        Lack of appreciation or recognition of good work

·        Defiance

Prepare a Strategy for Repair

Once you’ve recognized a problem, the most important step is to correct it.  It won’t happen overnight or in one easy step.  Consider tackling the biggest problems first and then move on to any smaller issues.  Some common strategies include:

·        Listen to your employees.  Employees want to feel validated.  Show that you are listening and are ready to create a solution.  Create a culture of trust so that employees are willing to speak up.

·        Assign realistic workloads and deadlines.  This might require some restructuring or realignment of job duties.  Is there someone who has capacity to take on the excessive duties someone else is overloaded with?  If not, do you need to consider adding additional staff?

·        Acknowledge work well done.  Recognition goes a long way in the workplace.  A study by Boston Consulting Group found that being appreciated for one’s work is the most important factor to job satisfaction.  Give one-off compliments and thank you’s, but also consider creating a formal recognition program.

·        Offer management coaching.  Is it a particular manager or group of managers creating a problem?  Consider offering leadership coaching or training.  Coaching can help leaders develop improved interpersonal skills, but also goes beyond that to expand upon their current leadership skills, which will benefit the organization as a whole.

·        Prioritize emotional intelligence.  There should be zero tolerance for workplace bullying and disrespect.  Emotional intelligence is described as “the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.”  Emotional intelligence is critical in the workplace – especially in leadership.  Provide employees opportunities to expand upon their emotional intelligence.  While most agree it cannot be taught, it can be improved upon.

It’s important to keep tabs on the workplace culture and prevent it from becoming toxic in the first place.  But when it does, it’s wise to take immediate steps to correct it and prevent it from becoming worse.  The smaller the workplace, the faster it can take over.

Sources:  Forbes.com, HRMorning.com