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Organizations today are facing a lot of challenges. We have challenges such as an aging workforce, a talent shortage, lack of succession planning, disengaged employees plaguing most organizations if not all. Now we have to add to the mix one more challenge that seems to be growing – organizational cultures that have become toxic or poisoned.
With a toxic culture or perhaps even worse a lack of a good culture the breeding ground for disengaged and dissatisfied employees begins. Your position really has no bearing as this disease can hit anyone – whether it be a corporate executive or the heart and soul of the organization – its employees! A recent article in the Regina Leader - Post – “Job Dissatisfaction now the norm” confirms that the disease can in fact infect even those at a senior level in an organization.
I have mentioned in previous articles that disengaged/dissatisfied employees can have a huge impact on the bottom line in any organization. The negativity from these employees can and has spread throughout a large number of organizations. The number of organizations infected far outweighs the organizations that have model cultures in place today. We ask ourselves are those organizations as productive as they could be – and the answer to that question would definitely be “NO!”
So how did it get to be that way? How did my organization end up with all these issues? I thought all along that everyone was getting along and I guess for the most part work was getting done or so I thought. I wasn’t aware of the fact that our productivity was suffering.
In some cases organizations do realize that they need assistance to stop the disease from spreading and in some cases they don’t realize that they have problems and choose to ignore what is there in front of them. Once they do reach out for assistance, they then begin to see things more clearly and wonder how it could have become that bad. What is even more interesting is that it is at this stage that finger pointing begins to happen. After all, being negative takes far less work than being positive so it is easier to not accept responsibility than to accept that you have a part to play in all of this.
The best way for me to paint the picture is that the negative/toxic culture did not get that way overnight. It took a lot of people to buy in to the bad behavior to get it to where it is today. That includes our leaders who rightly or wrongly chose to ignore what is going on. Now, don’t think that as an employee in this situation that you have escaped any responsibility. If you participated in the bad behavior then I don’t need to say more as you know that you have contributed to the problem. If you did not participate, but chose to stand idly by and watch the disease spread throughout your organization, then I am sorry to say my friend you are just as responsible as the person whose has engaged in the bad behavior.
Let me continue with the picture for you! To administer the first aid that will be required to fix the culture is not a job for one person. There will not be a knight in shining armor riding into your organization to fix this for you! You guessed it! Everyone has to step to the plate and participate in changing the behaviors within the organization – after all, everyone contributed to where it is today. Remember that it takes more work to be positive than to be negative so we need everyone buying in to the new culture and to emulate the new behaviors. You can be guided through this journey by seeking assistance from outside the organization and that is a good idea. But remember, this person or persons cannot do this all on their own. It takes everyone in the organization to accept responsibility for what has happened and to become accountable for the change that needs to take place. A quote from Adrian Lajtha – Chief Leadership Officer at Accenture says it all, “energized, engaged employees remain a competitive advantage.”
So ask yourself, do I want an organization that has an engaged, empowered and accountable workforce enabled through a mentoring culture? If the answer to that question is “YES” then you are on the way to helping cure the disease that has been spreading throughout your organization. Accept responsibility for your part in the culture becoming what it has become – and accept responsibility for the work that lies ahead to rebuild the culture and your organization. Together you can make a difference.
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