There are a lot of articles available on this subject, but I do believe that this topic is important enough to warrant more discussion.
In my line of business, I unfortunately come across these types of environments more than what I would like to admit, and in 9 out of ten cases the toxicity in a team can be traced back directly to the leadership team.
Unfortunately, as a leader you would not necessarily notice that you are the cause of your team being toxic, and you are most likely wondering why your team’s culture is negative, and why people do not really show any interest in going the extra mile. They don’t live and breathe your culture or really believe in your mission and values.
Quite simply, if you have asked any of these questions, it’s time for some serious introspection and time that you start looking at yourself instead. Are you creating the very behaviour that you are questioning right now? Have a look at your team, are they just doing exactly what they have to because of the fear of an outburst or even worse, the fear of getting fired? Does your team always agree with you no matter what the decision is that you made; do they say yes, but then do something else later? Does your team actually tell you the truth when it comes to status updates, progress made etc. or are they just giving you lip service?
All of the above are signs of a toxic work environment, and you as a leader are the only one that can change that. People are who they are led by and it is as easy as that. If you are toxic, your team will be toxic, if you change, your team will change, and if you trust your people they will trust you.
I don’t make the following statement lightly but if you are a business owner and you have toxic leaders in your organisation, remove them as they will inevitably drive your teams to the ground anyway. Change is possible, but in my experience individual change takes long, and the change in teams takes even longer. Once trust has been broken it will take very long to rebuild.
Just remember this, there are no bad teams, only bad leaders, and the same rings true for toxicity and negativity in your organisation, it is created by toxic and negative leadership.
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