Do You Know Why Your Work Environment is Toxic? And Want to Know How to Fix It?

There are a lot of negative things I could say about social media, but then again there's also one really good thing I can say about it. The truth is social media helps bring awareness to the little things that most people used to "accept" about life, but have been proven to lead to major problems down the road.

For example, "the toxic work environment."

Before social media- the truth is We All Worked in a Toxic Environment.

It's so clear to us now because social media raised our awareness.

But before social media, toxic environments were normal and worse completely accepted as the best we could do.

But here's the good news!

We don't have to accept the old way of doing things anymore. The fact is we know how to fix our work environments, which means there's no more excuses for allowing toxic work environments to exist in 2024!

What Causes a Toxic Environment in the First Place?

I get asked this question all the time when I'm consulting with businesses. CEOs and Founders tell me they don't want a toxic environment, and yet somehow that's exactly what they created.

Therefore, a CEO or Founder will come to me and say, "how did this happen?"

So before I answer the question, I ask them this question first:

"Do you believe in collaboration?"

For the most part they all say: "Yes! I love collaboration and we try to encourage our employees to collaborate all the time."

And when they finish their speech and patting themselves on the back, that's when I say:

There you go! That's why you have a toxic work environment.

The Collaborative Myth

If you've been following my LinkedIn account, then you know I help school districts transform into 21st century learning environments. Whether I'm working with a school or a business, solving the problem of toxic work environments is dealing with the same issue.

So before I can explain the academic research and also the mathematical proofs. I need to make sure we are on the same page. And in order to do that, I need to point out that the education you received, no matter who good you thought it was is based on 19th century academic concepts.

And one of those concepts is that "collaboration is a good technique to use."

This is a complete myth.

In fact, collaboration is so bad that it leads to toxic environments wherever it's used.

But I don't want you to take my word for it. That's why I want to refer to the research and the researchers. The first piece of research that you need to look up is called the Pareto Principle. And the first researcher I want you to look up is Dr. Joseph Juran.

Now there are other researchers and I encourage you to go down this rabbit hole, but I want to keep us on track. After all, the purpose of this article is to help you fix your toxic work environment.

So here's what the research says:

When you create a collaborative environment, you are creating the conditions that produce the 80/20 rule. It doesn't matter who's in charge, thus you can have a strong leader, a weak leader, an assertive leader or a passive one. The one common theme in all toxic work environments is the use of "collaboration" as a means of productivity. (paraphrased Dr. Juran)

And there's real mathematical proofs to back this up. And it's fascinating.

Now the reason this theory can be mathematically proven is because human beings are not as complicated as most people assume. In fact, humans are rather predictable.

Therefore, if I gave you this scenario, you could accurately predict what would happen:

There is a group of 6 co-workers who have been assigned to work on a project together. They have been told to "collaborate" on the project. They know the deadline and are told that it doesn't matter how they get it done, but they need to "collaborate" on it.

What do you think will happen?

• Will everyone put in the same effort?
• Will some of the group members do the majority of the work?
• Will everyone get the same credit?
• Will there be resentment from the people who did all the work to the people who barely did anything and yet still get full credit?

This is the major problem with collaboration and collaborative work environments. No matter how large a group you use for this experiment, the 80/20 rule always shows up mathematically.

Now there is one exception to this mathematical rule. So I want to highlight it before the internet trolls jump down my throat. Collaboration will work as a technique, as long as there are less 4 people in the group and the project they collaborate on doesn't last longer than 3 months.

Otherwise, if the project lasts longer than 3 months, the 80/20 math will show up again.

How Can You Fix a Toxic Environment?

Now that you understand why it's not a good idea to collaborate at work, you might be wondering what's the alternative? After all, companies need employees to work together.

So here's the solution.

If you've been following me then you know I'm a former teacher, principal and superintendent turned entrepreneur. And I've launched two startups since 2013. One of them is called the Education Development Institute. And at the Institute, I do academic research for the sole purpose of developing programs that help schools and businesses become 21st century environments.

So here's one of those innovative 21st century solutions that I developed to combat toxic work environments.

The Five Stages of 21st Century Team Building

Now I know what you're thinking. "Isn't team building and collaboration the same thing?"

If you thought that, I don't blame you. After all, this is what our school system taught us. The problem is our school system is stuck in the 19th century. And you need 21st century solutions for a 21st century world.

So let's talk about 21st century team building for a second.

• What is a 21st century team?
• How do you build a 21st century team?
• How do you not slip back into "collaborative mode?"

These are the three most common questions I hear when I start to talk about 21st century team building. For the purposes of this article, I want to make things as simple as possible.

Obviously, I would go into much more depth if I was working with your business.

But top line, there are five stages to team building. The reason I describe them as stages is because it's a process. If you throw a bunch of people in a room, they will not create a team on their own.

That's why you need leaders in your company who learn how to build teams and then manage teams, so that people do not fall back into the habit of collaboration.

The second most important take-away is understanding what makes a group of people a team--and not just a group of people.

So here's the best definition I can give for what makes a group of people a team:

A team is a group of people who all agree to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the team.

Once you know that definition, then we can go back and compare it to a "collaborative" environment. And once you do that, now you will understand why the Pareto Principle exists and why you can't break out of the 80/20 pigeon hole.

So here's the comparison. If a team is a group of people that sacrifice themselves, then a collaboration is a group of people who never put their ego on the shelf.

Does that describe where you work?

• Do you work with a lot of egos?
• Do you work where everyone is stabbing each other in the back?
• Do you work where the boss rewards bad behavior?

If the answer is Yes. There's only one way to resolve that problem. And the answer is 21st century team building.

When you establish a team environment, everyone's ego gets put on a shelf. And everyone on the team gets a defined role to play, including the leader of the team.

If you're having trouble picturing this, think of a football team. We all know that the Quarterback is the most important position on offense, but the best offensive teams have quarterbacks who put their egos down and play their role for the greater good of the team.

That's what you need at work.

And the benefits of team work are enumerable:

• Teams produce more
• Teams innovate more
• Teams work better together
• Teams feel more accomplished
• Teams are more supportive
• Teams are more positive
• Teammates are happier

How much more convincing do you need?

The reality is that teams are better than collaborations by leaps and bounds.

So what are you waiting for?

A team works when all the individuals on that team sacrifice themselves for the greater good. In other words, you put your ego on a shelf, in order to play your role for the greater good of the team.

Tell Me Your Thoughts

If what I wrote resonates with you, let me know. If you have a toxic work story you want to share, reach out to me. And if you want to know more about 21st century team building, hit me up.