The­se 5 me­a­su­res pre­vent a to­xic work cul­tu­re in the com­pa­ny

Der häu­figs­te Grund für eine Kün­di­gung ist eine schlech­te Ar­beits­kul­tur. Selbst un­ter­durch­schnitt­li­che Ge­häl­ter oder hohe Be­las­tun­gen füh­ren sel­te­ner zu Kün­di­gun­gen, als eine „to­xi­sche“ Kul­tur am Ar­beits­platz.

Ruthl­ess, ma­ni­pu­la­ti­ve, hard­ly app­re­cia­ti­ve: a to­xic work cul­tu­re can en­cou­ra­ge staff tur­no­ver. Pre­vent this ef­fec­tively as a ma­na­ger – with the­se 5 ways.

Stu­dy re­sult: Fluc­tua­ti­on is due to to­xic work cul­tu­re

Neither too low pay nor pro­blems with work-life ba­lan­ce are the most im­portant re­asons for quit­ting – but a to­xic work cul­tu­re. This is the con­clu­si­on of a stu­dy by the re­se­arch ma­ga­zi­ne „Slo­an Ma­nage­ment Re­view“. Ac­cor­ding to the stu­dy, a to­xic work cul­tu­re is com­pa­ra­tively more im­portant than be­low-avera­ge re­mu­ne­ra­ti­on when it co­mes to pre­dic­ting a company’s tur­no­ver. Ac­cor­ding to the ana­ly­sis, the most im­portant ele­ments of a to­xic work cul­tu­re are a lack of fair­ness and the fact that di­ver­si­ty and in­clu­si­on are eit­her not pro­mo­ted en­ough or not pro­mo­ted at all. Lea­der­ship coach Ed­ward Sul­li­van – who has work­ed for exe­cu­ti­ves at Goog­le and Sa­les­force, among others – and John Baird, who was an exe­cu­ti­ve coach in Si­li­con Val­ley, also ana­ly­zed com­pa­ny data from a to­tal of 40 ye­ars. The th­ree-year re­se­arch reve­a­led one striking fin­ding: Baird and Sul­li­van came to the con­clu­si­on that a he­alt­hy work cul­tu­re – and the­r­e­fo­re bet­ter em­ployee per­for­mance and suc­cessful em­ployee re­ten­ti­on – is si­gni­fi­cant­ly lin­ked to the qua­li­ty and type of con­ver­sa­ti­ons bet­ween ma­na­gers and their team. Con­ver­se­ly, this me­ans that ma­na­gers who want to pre­vent staff tur­no­ver and avo­id lo­sing sa­les should avo­id a to­xic work cul­tu­re.

What are the si­gns of a to­xic work cul­tu­re?

The chall­enge for ma­na­gers ari­ses from the theo­re­ti­cal fin­dings of today’s re­se­arch and the prac­ti­cal im­ple­men­ta­ti­on of a working cul­tu­re that is he­alt­hy, pre­vents fluc­tua­ti­on and pro­mo­tes the suc­cess of the com­pa­ny. In short, ma­na­gers are faced with a mam­mo­th task. While em­pa­thy is re­qui­red, for ex­am­p­le, too much of a good thing can lead to a blur­ring of boun­da­ries bet­ween line ma­na­gers and em­ployees. It is the­r­e­fo­re im­portant to be awa­re of the si­gns and ele­ments of a to­xic work cul­tu­re:

  • Grou­pings: Per­ma­nent „litt­le groups“ are for­med who­se dy­na­mics con­sis­t­ent­ly ex­clude or mar­gi­na­li­ze in­di­vi­du­al team mem­bers.
  • Bul­ly­ing, ma­ni­pu­la­ti­on and the like: Ha­rass­ment, in­ti­mi­da­ti­on and ex­clu­si­on are the or­der of the day; ma­na­gers do not in­ter­ve­ne or take ac­tion.
  • Ing­rai­ned hier­ar­chy: Ma­na­gers and em­ployees do not meet as equ­als; the­re is a strict hier­ar­chi­cal le­vel.
  • Lack of di­ver­si­ty: The­re is a lack of va­rie­ty and di­ver­si­ty in the com­pa­ny, which could pro­mo­te fle­xi­bi­li­ty, to­le­rance and ad­ap­ta­bi­li­ty.
  • Cool working at­mo­sphe­re: Fri­end­li­ne­ss and cor­dia­li­ty are rare. In­s­tead, a cool working at­mo­sphe­re do­mi­na­tes with a harsh tone bet­ween su­pe­ri­ors and em­ployees.

The­se 5 ways to pre­vent a to­xic work cul­tu­re

Whe­ther you al­re­a­dy know some of the­se si­gns or want to pre­vent them as a ma­na­ger, ac­cor­ding to Baird and Sul­li­van, it is im­portant to fo­cus on the way you tre­at your team. Fac­tors such as hig­her re­mu­ne­ra­ti­on or com­pa­ny fit­ness can be a mo­ti­va­ti­on to re­tain em­ployees. Even more im­portant, ho­we­ver, is per­so­nal in­ter­ac­tion, buil­ding a he­alt­hy re­la­ti­onship with the team and as­king the right ques­ti­ons in per­so­nal dis­cus­sions. Im­portant for all points: The fo­cus is on the way we com­mu­ni­ca­te with em­ployees. The way we talk to them is the key.

Tip 1: Make it clear what im­portance your in­di­vi­du­al em­ployees have for the or­ga­niza­ti­on

Tho­se who feel nee­ded and re­co­gni­ze a sen­se of pur­po­se in a re­la­ti­onship are more li­kely to stay. This not only ap­pli­es to per­so­nal re­la­ti­onships. It also ap­pli­es to the re­la­ti­onship bet­ween em­ployees and their work­place.

What helps?

  • To pre­vent a to­xic work cul­tu­re, em­ployees should be re­min­ded of their im­portance to the com­pa­ny.
  • Make it clear what the company’s goals are and how they re­la­te to the exis­tence and con­tri­bu­ti­on of the re­spec­ti­ve em­ployee. Es­tab­lish a con­nec­tion bet­ween the „big pic­tu­re“ and your em­ployees.
  • Du­ring a dis­cus­sion with em­ployees, ma­na­gers can ask spe­ci­fi­cal­ly about the em­ployees‘ per­so­nal sen­se of pur­po­se and find out whe­re the­re is a „gap“ – and how they can coun­ter­act this.

Tip 2: Be em­pa­the­tic, but con­sis­tent

Em­pa­thy is con­side­red the be-all and end-all in today’s working age – but it does not mean en­cou­ra­ging to­xic be­ha­vi­or by no lon­ger ha­ving ac­cu­ra­te „boun­da­ries“. If boun­da­ries are not set, in­di­vi­du­al em­ployees can per­ma­nent­ly over­ri­de other team mem­bers, play power games and crea­te a to­xic working en­vi­ron­ment. Bul­ly­ing, gos­sip and ex­clu­si­on should the­r­e­fo­re be con­sis­t­ent­ly pur­sued and have no place in the work­place.

What helps?

It is im­portant for ma­na­gers to pro­mo­te a ba­lan­ce bet­ween au­to­no­my and com­mit­ment: On the one hand, it me­ans gi­ving em­ployees the fee­ling that they are seen, un­ders­tood and va­lued – as well as en­joy­ing a cer­tain free­dom in their de­cis­i­ons. On the other hand, it is im­portant to cle­ar­ly com­mu­ni­ca­te and im­ple­ment any trans­gres­si­ons of boun­da­ries and their con­se­quen­ces.

Tip 3: Know the needs of your in­di­vi­du­al em­ployees

Whe­ther it’s an emo­tio­nal­ly safe en­vi­ron­ment, re­gu­lar team events or sim­ply fresh fruit, every team mem­ber has dif­fe­rent needs in or­der to stay mo­ti­va­ted. If the­re is no room for this in the com­pa­ny, it speaks for a to­xic work cul­tu­re.

What helps?

In or­der to suc­cessful­ly re­tain em­ployees and crea­te a he­alt­hy work cul­tu­re, you should the­r­e­fo­re know what their in­di­vi­du­al needs are. Sur­veys and one-on-one in­ter­views are the ea­sie­st way to find ans­wers and see what me­a­su­res you can take.

Tip 4: Don’t ask for any­thing that ex­ceeds your com­pe­tence

Pro­mo­ting per­so­nal re­spon­si­bi­li­ty and trus­ting and han­ding over tasks to em­ployees – both are im­portant. Ho­we­ver, ma­na­gers who fo­cus so­le­ly on their own to-do list in or­der to com­ple­te tasks may be over­bur­de­ning their em­ployees. In­s­tead, it is im­portant to pro­mo­te skills in a tar­ge­ted man­ner – and not to ran­dom­ly hand over tasks in or­der to be able to cross so­me­thing off the list. Other­wi­se, as a ma­na­ger, you make the mista­ke of not only over­bur­de­ning em­ployees. You also give them the fee­ling that they will fail more of­ten – a real kil­ler for work mo­ti­va­ti­on.

What helps?

In one-to-one mee­tings, ask your em­ployees spe­ci­fi­cal­ly what they en­joy, what mo­ti­va­tes them and when they feel most com­for­ta­ble. This can be re­la­ted to a work area, a spe­ci­fic pro­ject or a per­so­nal ex­pe­ri­ence. This will tell you more about their in­te­rests and in­di­vi­du­al skills. Ad­di­tio­nal tip: Em­ployees are not al­ways awa­re of some of their skills or eli­gi­ble com­pe­ten­ci­es. Fur­ther trai­ning pro­grams, coa­ching or re­gu­lar feed­back can help here.

Tip 5: Show yours­elf, your fe­ars and your thoughts

Ever­yo­ne knows it: fear of fail­ure, pres­su­re to per­form, ten­si­on, worries. As ma­na­gers, we are in a role mo­del po­si­ti­on – more so for some, less so for others. If you show litt­le of yours­elf, your em­ployees may also be un­wil­ling to com­mu­ni­ca­te their fe­ars and in­se­cu­ri­ties.

What helps?

De­spi­te pro­fes­sio­na­lism at work: if the­re is no room for fee­lings, a poi­so­ned work cul­tu­re eats th­rough the company’s struc­tures. Un­s­po­ken is­sues lead to even grea­ter worries and ul­ti­m­ate­ly to (in­ter­nal) re­si­gna­ti­on. Con­ver­se­ly, ma­na­gerswho are pre­pared to talk open­ly about their own fe­ars and in­se­cu­ri­ties open up com­ple­te­ly new ways of deal­ing with in­ti­ma­te and hu­man thoughts. A good ba­sis for pre­ven­ting a to­xic work cul­tu­re from de­ve­lo­ping.

Con­clu­si­on

Even a litt­le poi­son in the cor­po­ra­te cul­tu­re can make the who­le working at­mo­sphe­re to­xic. To pro­tect the team, it all starts with an open at­ti­tu­de and re­spectful com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on. Make sure em­ployees feel seen and he­ard, boun­da­ries are re­spec­ted and in­di­vi­du­al em­ployees know their per­so­nal im­portance to the com­pa­ny. Source: https://​ar​beits​-abc​.de/