Let's Stop Being Toxic - And Thrive with Compassion

What is the easiest way to deflate engagement and motivation? Behave in a toxic way! This is a topic that has gotten increasingly more attention recently. The business world is experiencing more tension and more leaders understand that a positive work atmosphere is leading to better results.

Recently, I have read Michael Jenkin's new book Toxic Humans. Very insightful and I want to share my thoughts here. Overall a great read, also because it has a refreshingly engaging writing style.

I think most of us have experienced a leader or a person that has been toxic. Toxic behaviour is poisonous for an organisation and undermines, threatens, or damages people. We can all agree that such behaviour is negative for any business and should be avoided. Though, very often toxic behaviour is not so obvious and might slowly seep into a company's culture.

How can we describe toxicity? Here are some examples: passive-aggressive behaviour, persistent naysaying, rude language, blaming, bullying, conflict avoidance, distrust and lack of safety. In summary, there are five elements of a toxic culture: lack of inclusion, disrespect, cutthroat behaviour, abusive management and unethical behaviour.

As with overall culture, toxic behaviour is strongly linked to the behaviour of the company's leadership teams (board and top executives). Destructive leaders are nurturing susceptible followers and a conducive environment. When we want to strengthen a culture that says no to toxic behaviour, we should focus on the senior leadership team; they need to be the role-models, set the purpose and boundaries for behaviours, and be the champions for the company values.

How do we steer away from toxic behaviour? I think, a first step is to acknowledge that toxic behaviour is harming people and that we want to set a Zero Harm culture. Based on this, we want to create a company that operates with functional teams; the key element to avoid dysfunction is trust - so let's start with that. One strong component to develop functional teams is to build trust and psychological safety. This means we want to balance challenge (drive & motivation to move forward) and support (providing resources and energy) and build the conditions for our people to thrive and grow.

In the book, Michael elaborates the strong correlation between toxic behaviour and the lack of empathy in leaders. Some people have difficulties to be compassionate with other people, and that can lead to toxic behaviour. I admit it is not so easy to change this. One can start with small steps and learn how to be curious about their environment. One way to start this is to engage in many different topics like reading, sports and other hobbies. Break out from a monotonous lifestyle.

Knowing this, we can explore three areas to nudge the company culture: leadership, social norms & values, and work design. One way to start is actually quite simple: bring in more structure in the way we interact, we set goals and we live our values. Here are some practical examples of how this structure can be implemented: a code of conduct, defining meeting agendas, clear and shared objectives, seeking for more diversity. And we should be consistent about this as well; very importantly, this means that nobody is above the law - these principles apply to everyone in the organisation, including the senior management team.

When we nurture the right behaviour - e.g. inclusive, supportive, curious - and allow people to speak up, then we enable people to give their best, unleash their potential, create synergy and effectiveness. Starting with a cohesive senior leadership team, we can then create strong bonds across the organisation that allow different viewpoints and challenging questions. The foundation to highly effective teams and a self-managing (fast) organisation.

Where do you observe toxic behaviour and how did you avoided it from coming back?


​Source: Toxic Humans by Michael Jenkins