Fixing a Toxic Work Culture
What is toxic company culture?
This is an environment that is filled with negativity, interpersonal conflict, a lack of trust, and employees feeling emotionally unsafe.
When a culture becomes toxic, this leads to:
A decrease in performance and profitability
A decline in employee mental health
Higher turnover
Raised absenteeism
Lower levels of engagement
Trouble hiring due to a damaged reputation
Fixing a toxic company culture takes a team effort. There must be buy-in and a willingness to make changes from all levels within the organization. Here are eight strategies to transform a toxic culture into a healthy and strong culture.
Get to the root cause – What is causing the culture to be toxic? Get feedback from people at various levels to see what is causing this. Make sure to not just stop at surface-level reasons. Also, don’t just assume you know the reason for it. Take time to investigate this with an open mind.
Develop a clear plan – Once you know the root cause or causes of the toxic culture then you need to develop a plan to address it. In creating this plan, you want to have a clear picture of what you want your ideal culture to be. Not only are you addressing the problem but you are proactively building the culture that you want to have!
Establish safety – In any toxic culture, there will be a lack of psychological safety. Amy Edmondson defines this as, “A sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish someone for speaking up.” Daniel Coyle talks about creating this through belonging cues. These are things such as short energetic exchanges, high levels of mixing, few interruptions, lots of questions, active listening, laughter, and small courtesies.
Get clear on what you stand for – What is the purpose of the company? What are the core values that you stand for? Have your purpose and values drive the changes that you want to make.
Consider making personnel changes – This may or may not be necessary based on your situation. If certain people are contributing to this toxic culture, then you may decide to put them on a development/improvement plan. If you have already talked to them in the past or if their behavior has been particularly egregious then you may decide to fire them.
Demonstrate the desired behavior with your leadership team – People are going to want to see that your words have weight. They are going to be watching the leadership to see if they truly believe in the new culture and if their actions are supporting this. If this is missing then your desired culture doesn’t have a chance.
Show appreciation – One way to fix a toxic culture is to be intentional about showing appreciation. You want to especially show appreciation for employees that are demonstrating the behaviors and attitudes that contribute to a healthy culture.
Plan events and activities – You want to provide opportunities for people to build stronger relationships. Also, for them to get to know people outside of their immediate team or division. These can be things such as parties, lunch and learns, community service activities, team building activities, etc.
