Are negative emotions creating toxic work environments?

Having the presentation earlier this week on the topic of 'Positive leadership' and the beneficial role it plays in case of work toxicity, as well as talking with one of my private clients, the question of negative emotions kept showing up, so I wanted to elaborate on that.

Are our emotions directly responsible for the creation of toxicity in our work, career, and life? The answer: in short, no. In long, here's the article...

Toxic environments outside are a reflection of toxicity inside.?

What do I mean by that? Toxicity exists in systems, we can say one component influencing another in a not so beneficial way. Systems can be families, work environments, or governments, but they can also be individuals. Our body is a system too, including our mental and emotional states.

In case of the workplace toxicity, or calling it what it is: abuse. It can occur as mental and emotional, or (in some cases, unfortunately)?physical and/or sexual.

Inside and outside systems are closely connected.

I would argue that there is no physical and/or sexual abuse without emotional and mental abuse. In many cases, body recovers long before mental and emotional recovery takes place (if it is ever properly addressed and healed). Similar is with other systems, including toxic work environments.

Problems of a toxic workplace stem from mental health issues.?

We handle our emotions or our emotions handle us?

Going to more fluffy topics, I recently got a cute little cat (Very cute, as I may so say. Just look at these pictures!). However, even she can feel hurt or angry. You can see it in her behavior, if she gets impatient waiting for me to make her food, if another cat goes to her special spot, if the bird feather keeps getting out of her reach, she shows all kinds of emotions.?

Same is for us humans. Emotions are a natural part of our inner system and possess various qualities. Some are lighter (such as joy, excitement, positive expectations), and some are heavier (such as fear, anxiety, or hate), making them harder to digest.

Emotions alone don't make for toxicity; the way we handle them do.?

For example, the source of work related abuse is many times envy. Envy in its core is a fear of someone taking my position, abstractly and literally. It is both a position of dominance over others which gives me immunity (prestige), as well as my position in the company (paycheck, travels, and other benefits). If I feel that my power (or more accurately, 'control over') is questioned, I seek to remove that threat.

On the other hand, if I fear not being good enough at what I do, or believe I lack skills, I may allow for abuse. I may even go to the extent of wanting to prove myself and how much I can handle, by enduring abuse for a long time.

In both of these situations, fear alone was not a problem, but my dealing with the fear was. The same is true for all?emotions. Negative emotions do not create toxic work environments, but the inability to process them in a healthy way does.

In a toxic work environment, the consequence is not poor mental health. Poor mental health is what makes a toxic work environment.

What is the solution?

Over the years I worked in an agile way of working, I saw that this methodology can be both the problem and a solution. Despite the bad rap it sometimes gets, agile is still the best way I see that can bring a positive change.

It is very common in toxic work cultures that agile roles inter-lap, are mixed, don't exist, or are misunderstood (see more in my article here). For example, people manager doing technical analysis, or concurrently becoming an agile coach. When these common role issues are resolved, agile can be a solution.?

After all, there is a coach role which can bring necessary balance of mental health in a workplace. The job of an agile coach is to talk with everyone involved with the project or a product, be that department manager, or member of the team as well as to coach in groups. Compared to HR, agile coach thus has a deeper awareness and understanding of the issues and if necessary can collaborate with HR to resolve them.

Conclusion

Outer systems and inner systems are connected. The way one person may manifests their dysfunctional inner system is by abusing others (in my books, leader personality type[Ref1]), while another person may express it by tolerating bad behavior (team player personality [Ref1]). Both are toxic.?

The solution is to heal inner systems first, done by hiring a coach or practitioner experienced in this area, which in an agile way of working can be an agile coach.

About the author:?

Ivana helps organizations, as well as individuals in healing from the toxic culture and establishing more positive and balanced ways of working.?More: IvanaPazek.com

New Book: Wolves in Red Hoods: Understand and deal with the creators of a toxic work environment More: IvanaBooks.com [Ref1]

In long, our emotions are not responsible, but we are.