Toxic Work Culture: What We Can Do Other Than Just Complain About it?

Work culture is not only about those rave parties or trips together or even playing board games in the office. It is more about creating an environment at the workplace where an employee feels safe, has the opportunities to grow and wants to turn up to work with a lot of enthusiasm.?

But many of us who are stuck in toxic cultures complain of it but don't take a stand to do something about it.?

So, what is stopping us, employees of an organisation, a leader or not, to create a great culture within the organisation?

Before that, understanding what a toxic culture is, is important.?

There are few signs that you are in a toxic culture. Some of the most important signs are:

Clique and Gossiping culture

Having best friends in an organisation isn't wrong, and it's the norm too. But creating groups, back talking and gossiping about other people in other groups isn't, and this is exactly what happens in a clique culture.?

Sometimes, casual joking around religion, gender, weight, etc., happens, affecting many individuals' morale.?

In toxic work environments, it is common to find different groups sitting separately while eating and talking about backstabbing each other.?

Office gossip exists everywhere; that's a truth we all must accept. But when the gossip involves passing in derogatory comments on others, and when all you hear is whispers and giggles, you definitely are in a toxic environment.?

No enthusiasm

When no one around you shows any kind of enthusiasm to do amazing work or when there's no motivation that's coming from anywhere to work, then that place is not a place of growth.?

Any place where no one is growing should be considered a toxic workplace

Employee turnover?

Each of you has the right to choose to move to better opportunities as we all deserve growth in every which way. But if you are seeing more and more people leaving the organisation, some having been there only for a few months, then there must be something wrong with the organisation.?

If people keep leaving, then that is never a good sign.?

Lack of communication?

When the communication at the organisation is all about getting the orders from above and being expected to just carry them out, that's a clear indication of a toxic environment.?

When the communication is insufficient or confusing, employees cannot do the work properly. They can go through a lot of stress, especially when they cannot communicate back that they need more information.?

Now that we understand what's a toxic culture is, we must ask ourselves how, as an employee, can we work on creating a better culture.?

Even when you are not leading the whole organisation, or even if you are leading a small team, you can create a culture within your team where there is proper communication, inclusivity, no gossip and also opportunities to grow and become better.?

A huge organisation is made of smaller teams, and each team is led by different individuals. Most of the time, your team is your responsibility, and they answer only to you as they'll not have any access to higher leadership. In such cases, you can choose to create a culture within your team that can act as an example for everyone around the organisation to bring in change. You have all the power in your hand to stop the toxicity from reaching your team.

But if you are an employee and you belong to an organisation and a team where toxic work culture exists, here are a few ways you can work on creating a better culture.?

Befriend

Make friends with people who share your values. By making friends who feel the same about the culture being toxic, now you have more people who can voice out their opinions in bringing in the change.?

Lead by example

By abstaining from gossiping, by voicing out your opinion when you find someone doing that, by acting as a support system for others, and by being there for others to communicate with you are some ways you can lead by example.

After all, change starts with you.?

Focus on what you can control?

Sometimes you cannot control certain things, but you can choose to ignore them. It's not right to ask people to be positive, especially when they are part of a toxic environment, but if there's nothing one can do in a situation, it's also not good to take in all the unnecessary pressure.

So, you have to ask yourself if you have any control over the situation; if not, you can choose how you respond to it. One way is to voice your opinion when needed?

Toxic work cultures affect the productivity, health, and growth of everyone in the organisation, and they stop people from performing their best.

The first step of solving a problem is accepting that the problem exists in the first place. So acknowledging you are in a toxic workplace is the right start.?

But complaining isn't enough. One must work towards creating a better culture and being a professional who can act with integrity and can stand on what's right.?

That said, is the change guaranteed when you choose to act on it? Not necessarily. But at least you have created a dialogue, and in most cases, companies choose to act on employees' feedback because no one in their right mind wants to create an environment that stops growth.?

At the end of the day, more than organisations, it is the managers or the leaders who need to take note of this. Because organisations are made of people. As they say, people don't leave bad organisations; they leave bad managers.?