Spring cleaning: It’s time to rid your workplace of toxic behaviours

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Ken Ingram, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

Working day after day with the same people can sometimes be a drag. The routine schedules and tasks can stifle the passion for the work we do. This impacts our performance which in turn, influences our behaviors and attitudes towards our colleagues. Add to this poor communication and winter blues and, we will certainly end up with a negative workplace: the perfect storm. The good news is that spring is just around the corner and soon sunshine will be coming back into our lives.
Yes, every team goes through a multitude of challenges at one point in their organization’s development. Many factors can contribute to difficult interactions and low success rates, yet most often than not, we tend to want to blame forces outside of our control, such as other employees, managers, clients or shortages, among others. Seldom do we look at ourselves as contributors to a toxic work environment or just as powerful, as the source of positive impact.

Therefore we challenge you, dear readers as the gentle rays of sunshine return to our lives it is a great opportunity to expand our spring cleaning to our workplace by reflecting on the behaviors, attitudes and tactics we often employ or tolerate within our teams: attitudes that contribute to creating miserable workplaces. Many of us do not realize how much power we actually have in creating positive work environments. Understanding behaviours is a complex process, but the key to understanding what motivates people to act and behave in negative ways can enable you to take the appropriate action. Companies, partnerships and even non-profit boards have been seriously damaged by people looking to find fault versus building bridges.

The following is a list of the five most prominent misbehaviours that have been proven to create toxic work environments. Word of caution: use this list to keep yourselves in check, rather than to coerce your colleagues, clients and business partners or board members.

1. Negativity: the expression of criticism of or pessimism about something.

Nope, never, impossible, but: we all know someone who is consistently pessimistic. However, there is a difference between an occasional disagreement and a negative attitude. It seems that some people always undermine the team with their negativity: they whine and complain, never seem to offer solutions and worst, if a solution is put forth, they don’t apply it or find a million and one reasons why it won’t work.

2. Tardiness and absenteeism: the quality or fact of being late or absent.

Everyone needs to miss work occasionally, but some people always miss work or miss work at a rate that causes everyone else to double-time it to cover for them. If we allow or make frequent unexcused absences, we will alienate our good employees or colleagues and undermine their morale.

3. Gossip: casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true or an exaggeration of the truths.

We’ve all done it and some for some of us, it seems we’ve never graduated from high school: we constantly talk about people or a problem we have with them, rather than discussing it directly with the person involved. Sometimes it starts with blowing off steam and soon turns into a gossiping extravaganza. Allowing gossip to flow through the workplace is far more damaging to productivity than trying to pretend it is not happening.

4. Disrespectfulness: having or exhibiting a lack of respect; rude and discourteous.

For those who have ever woken up dreading the thought of going into the office only to endure constant criticism, public ridicule, sarcasm and fits of unpredictable rage from a supervisor or colleague, we know all too well how some people take rude behavior to another level. We also know how the lack of respect can impact us in such a way as to cause depression and our bodies to become physically ill.

5. Strategic stupidity: where a person or a group acts dumber than they actually are in order to achieve what they want.

No, I never received that email: but we have, we simply didn’t want to follow up on the request. Best part, because others can’t prove it, we believe we will get away with it. However, when faced with strategic stupidity, people often start noticing the pattern. The results of which is simple: widespread lack of trust. Those who use this strategy often become isolated which ironically is what they want: less responsibility.
Very few business owners invest time to think about the effects of toxic behaviors such as the one’s mentioned above. They focus their work ON the business rather than IN the business. It is therefore, left to the management team to take up that responsibility. Unfortunately, few are well trained when it pertains to key leadership skills that would allow them to address or recognize and effectively deal with these issues in a timely manner. As a result the health of the organization is weakened: workplace harmony is shattered and the team’s ability to share ideas and thoughts suffers. Ideas stimulate creativity, innovation and motivation which in turn improves the development and the sustainability of our organizations.
Think about it in the following manner. If your business was just like a tree with shallow roots, it would take very little wind to blow it over. But when a tree is full of life, deeply rooted and stands tall, only a catastrophic event will put a dent in its armor. The bark is thick, but alive and flexible, capable of withstanding winds and bringing it back to its center after each storm is over. It knows where it belongs and what it needs to continue growing.
What creates a strong tree? The life given back to it each spring through the essentials of water, nutrients and sunshine. Your business needs the same rejuvenation that is brought forward by a spring process: feeding your organization with positive behaviors, attitudes and habits will strengthen it for tougher times like a summer drought (low sales) or autumn showers (flood of sales you can barely keep up with). As a result, we will continue to be admired, respected, and trusted by both our internal and external customers.
Do you have the boldness it takes to do your own spring cleaning in 2016 or will you pass the bucket and responsibility to another?
As always, we welcome feedback and the opportunity to share more ideas with you to grow your business intelligently.