The old adage is that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. That begs a question — if your working culture is terrible, and the staff are all toxic to one another, can you force them not to be? Can accountability correct behaviour? Well, ultimately it can, because it means if people don’t conform to professionalism, they’re out the door. But is it possible that if a working culture has become so difficult to manage with arguments around every turn, or you have a big enough team to the point where firing everyone isn’t feasible right now, how do you turn this around? It’s not always obvious. Below, we have listed 3 considerations you may wish to implement to turn around a toxic working culture for good.
By Team Savant
Image: Mika Baumeister
Addressing The Issues Head On With A Company-Wide Meeting
As nice as it would be, simple solutions like team-building exercises or stern warnings rarely address the root causes. Instead, actual change requires a careful refocusing of clear boundaries, open communication, and real intervention. You could think about setting up regular, structured feedback sessions where staff can talk about their concerns without fear of repercussion.
This might mean bringing in an independent mediator or establishing an anonymous reporting system that doesn’t discriminate or push back. Perhaps you’ll notice that some people on the team are noted as problems more than others, such as a manager who seems to always blame their team for problems they cause, which adds conflict to new hires.
New No-Tolerance Policies
Fresh starts need clear guidelines that you stick to. In some cases, that means implementing thorough and renewed conduct policies that outline exactly what acceptable behavior is or isn’t. When it’s black and white like that, staff have no way to ignore it. You can include specific examples and consequences, but avoid creating an atmosphere of constant surveillance like the secret police is watching around every corner. Focus instead on promoting positive interactions and professional respect. Make sure these policies apply equally to everyone, from entry-level staff to senior management, and make absolutely certain that bullying, harassment or discrimination is met with immediate suspension.
Outside Consultancy
You may just need to turn to a HR consultancy that can help you better process complaints or difficult issues within your team. Perhaps this all emanates from your hiring practices and the fact that you don’t vet people enough. Maybe the team is understaffed but feel worried about telling you that, because the business has a high turnover rate and people really do need jobs in this economy. Keep in mind that no matter what, you’re going to be biased as the business owner or leader. That’s why it’s so important to get an objective view and use individuals that can offer full-scale recommendations. Take them to heart, and make sure you understand that a toxic workplace isn’t a difficulty to veer away from.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily turn around a toxic working culture for good, and understand what caused these issues in the first place.