Workplace Toxicity - Getting Past the Spin to the Solutions

It is a known fact that if an organization’s reputation in the workplace as a toxic place to work, their ability to attract top talent and retain customer loyalty is impaired. Social media platforms such as Glassdoor allow employees to rate their place of work with sometimes brutal frankness. MITSloan Management Review (2022b) studied 1.3 million Glassdoor reviews and found the following were the top five toxic culture attributes:

1. Disrespectful
2. Noninclusive
3. Unethical
4. Cutthroat
5. Abusive

If you find your own organization is exhibiting any one of these five, you need to start thinking of ways to remediate. For instance, the noninclusive measure is strongly correlated with burnout. A study by MacLean and Company found that organizations that are inclusive reduces the likelihood of? burnout by 93%. If your organization has a high churn rate or employees and management are suffering from burnout, you will need to check whether your workplace culture is inclusive or just feigning it.

A recent article in Forbes, “Why Employee Engagement Is In A Slump” by Marc Emmer (2023) indicates that it is the coercive nature of employers in trying to get their employees back into the workplace instead of working remotely, often arbitrarily which is leading to disengagement.

Eventually, disengagement turns into departure. Employees look for better workplaces. Emmer also points out that increased compensation isn’t the only motivator here. There will be a need for a competitive market value to attract and recruit new employees.?

However, addressing employee engagement through surveys can be counterproductive. My take on it is often organizations run employee engagement surveys or client satisfaction surveys to generate a positive spin on the great work they’re doing. However, coercing positive responses from their employees in the name of engagement and encouraging their clients to indicate that they are fully satisfied can mask the fact that management and staff are struggling in a toxic work environment. Emmer mentions doing more employee engagement studies.? I agree we need the data, but disagree that surveys are the way to get it.

Unless there is an open and transparent environment first, then getting honest answers directly or through a survey will be difficult. Glassdoor evaluations are often done after the individual has left the organization. Getting the honest answers to address workplace culture may be a difficult conversation, but doing so will be significant to the organization’s long-term success. We need to communicate with our management and staff openly, transparently in one-on-ones and in groups. But if a leader or manager is stressed, their communication style can be inauthentic, brusque or simply unsympathetic. So the question is how to improve workplace communications?

Isn't it time to try something different? If so, the change should start at the top. After all, it is the leadership that sets the tone for the organization. If the organization is sincere about addressing burnout, mental health and toxicity in the workplace, they need to have an openness to new methods of doing things. A new approach is needed. The approach should be scientifically validated and evidence-based. An investment in developing the workplace atmosphere and the individuals working in it is a bet on improving productivity, employee engagement, morale and creating a thriving atmosphere to attract and retain talent. it shouldn’t be left to well-wishing and motivational talks that dissipate in their value within weeks. Leadership needs to exemplify the change they need in their organization.

The commitment to change will involve a change in the daily habits of the leadership, management and staff. It will involve practising, individually or together, transformational technologies that have a proven track record, are easy to learn, easy to do and produce cumulative results. It requires providing both a physical space on-site (for those working on-site) and a set time to practice these technologies within the workday(for both on-site and remote workers*). The transformational technologies should show improvement in brain functioning. Neuroscience provides a reliable set of measures to ensure that true change is taking place. The workplace culture begins within the consciousness and the neurophysiology of everyone in the organization.

The mental health and well-being of everyone is key to the full development of the workplace potential and for lowering the communication barriers between leadership, management and staff.? By developing new neural pathways in the brain, we can actually track changes in behaviour, attitudes and even moral reasoning. Without developing the brain, changes in behaviour will revert back to their original state. Changing behaviour must be predicated on opening up the brain to its holistic development.

The Performeasure instrument, developed by Drs. Travis and Harung for evaluating high performance managers, athletes and musicians, can be used to establish a baseline and then ongoing milestones for change.? Performeasure tracks brain wave coherence, improvements in? moral reasoning and increased frequency of ‘peak experiences’. It is easy to administer and yields trackable results. To ensure long-term success, ongoing check-ins by trained professionals in these technologies can ensure that the benefits accrue over time.

We are not talking about mindfulness and concentration techniques. Rather we are referring to auto-self-transcending techniques starting with the Transcendental Meditation? programme. These techniques are well-established in the scientific community for their recognized benefits in dealing with anxiety, depression, burnout and even trauma. They have been shown to develop increasing access to the prefrontal cortex, home of the executive functions, where one’s thinking is more open to others and other experiences.

The TM? technique has been shown to develop not only cognitive intelligence, but emotional and social intelligence as well. Studies on improved appreciation of others and improved tolerance of others, speaks to improved social relationships both personal and professional. For leadership, it is the opening of higher dimensions of thinking, creativity, insight and decision-making that is most significant.? This sets the tone for more open and transparent communications and an improved workplace atmosphere.

It is possible to transform workplaces from toxic environments to healthy and thriving ones. It begins with simply 20 minutes twice a day, sitting comfortably, practising an effortless technique that releases stress and expands one’s awareness. The TM? programme accelerates mind-brain development, leading to higher and higher states of performance.

Because the whole brain is being developed, it does not mean that one loses focus or is not mindful of the very real performance metrics that are essential for any organization. Instead, a new layer of perspective is added on top of this, allowing one to flexibly move from ‘business’ to ‘personal’ conversations without effort or strain. It leads to higher and higher states of integration so that one’s thinking is more global, more all-inclusive. This means that the well-being of everyone within the organization becomes a means to realizing the vision and mission of the organization more effectively, more efficiently and more meaningfully.

This is genuine progress to a thriving workplace culture based on direct remediation of the issues at the basis of workplace toxicity. No need to spin the results. Rather, you’ll want to take the time to celebrate them.

*For those working in different timezones, considerations can be made.

References:

Emmer, M. (2023) ‘Why Employee Engagement Is In A Slump’, Forbes, [Online] Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/09/14/why-employee-engagement-is-in-a-slump/?sh=438fe2e26125

Harung, H. & Travis, F. (unknown) ‘The Performeasure? Assessment’, [Online] Available from: https://performeasure.com/

McLean & Company (2023)‘HR_Plan_to_Extinguish_Organizational_Burnout_Storyboard’ [Online] Available from: https://hr.mcleanco.com/research/ss/plan-to-extinguish-organizational-burnout

Sull, D., Sull, C & Zweig, B. (2022a) ‘Toxic Culture is Driving the Great Resignation’, MITSloan Management Review, [Online] Available from: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/toxic-culture-is-driving-the-great-resignation/

Sull, D., Sull, C., Cipolli, W. & Brighenti, C. (2022b) ‘Why Every Leader Needs to Worry About Toxic Culture’, MITSloan Management Review, [Online] Available from: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/why-every-leader-needs-to-worry-about-toxic-culture/