How can IT leaders tackle a toxic team environment?
TikTook has been hitting the headlines for all of the improper causes recently.
US staff are testifying that the company’s toxic culture and its focus on “relentless productivity” are inflicting them to endure burnout and extreme psychological misery. London employees, however, have reportedly been leaving in droves due to what they declare is the social media large’s punishing workplace regime.
But at a time when employees turnover charges are excessive and job vacancies – notably in tech – are plentiful, it’s no actual shock that what staff understand to be a damaging office surroundings ought to see them heading for the door. In truth, a research by MIT Sloan Management Review revealed that toxic cultures are 10.4 occasions extra prone to trigger staff to give up than unhappiness with their wage ranges.
So what precisely do these toxic cultures appear to be, how do they arrive about and what impression are they prone to have on particular person staff, groups and the broader enterprise?
Jonathan Passmore is professor of teaching and behavioural change at Henley Business School and senior vice-president of teaching at Coachhub. He believes toxic environments can manifest themselves in myriad alternative ways, which vary from individuals repeatedly “using humour that others from different cultures feel is inappropriate” to “someone shouting and throwing a stapler across the room at a colleague”.
Other frequent manifestations embody “political backstabbing and devaluing others for personal gain” slightly than everybody working collectively in the direction of a frequent aim, says Robert Ordever, European managing director at worker recognition specialist OC Tanner. A disproportionate concentrate on what’s being achieved, for instance when it comes to undertaking outcomes, slightly than how such objectives are arrived at, additionally tends to result in bother.
But irrespective of how toxic cultures make themselves felt, such conditions inevitably take their toll, not simply on people, however on the enterprise too.
How toxic cultures manifest themselves
As Justin Kearney, group senior vice-president of HR at IT infrastructure and companies supplier Logicalis, factors out: “People can end up being chaotic and confused due to a lack of direction, so standards and productivity levels drop. Disciplinary issues begin surfacing and you can start seeing short- or long-term sickness absence, a lack of discretionary effort and people burning out.”
To compound the issue, this situation can put strain on the remainder of the team, resulting in rising ranges of resentment. As a outcome, says Kearney: “If it goes on for a sustained period of time, people will just go elsewhere.”
As if this wasn’t sufficient, toxic cultures even have a tendency to foster “risk aversion” and to “inhibit people from making decisions as they constantly refer up for reassurance, resulting in creativity being hit”, says Ordever. “This means they feel less empowered, which in a fast-moving environment like tech is a real problem.”
Unfortunately, although, it’s a downside that seems to be getting worse. For occasion, recent research from law firm Fox & Partners revealed that the variety of UK employment tribunals regarding bullying (throughout all industries) rose by 44% to 835 in 2021/22.
The report additionally advised that hybrid working had led to new types of such abuse, which included leaving distant colleagues out of conferences, making inappropriate feedback throughout video calls and sharing malicious gossip over messaging platforms.
Nonetheless, Passmore believes the issue is not only that extra staff are behaving badly in the direction of one another – though they’re undoubtedly beneath mounting strain, which creates its personal challenges.
“The pace of work and level of change continues to increase, with expectations and working hours going up and resources going down,” he says. “The continuing growth of the ‘always on’ culture due to more digital devices and delivery teams becoming more global is also generating higher levels of stress, which can make individuals less effective in managing their behaviour, making things more emotionally charged.”
Other the explanation why issues go improper
Another cause behind the rise in authorized motion, says Passmore, is that staff, particularly younger staff, are typically much less tolerant of toxic office attitudes and language, notably in relation to gender and race, than was the case previously. As a outcome, they’re extra able to name any perceived points out.
A 3rd contributory issue is that colleagues in hybrid working eventualities usually discover it harder to interact in informal pre- and post-meeting conversations. Such chats have historically performed a helpful position in serving to to construct private relationships between colleagues and in offering area to clear up any potential misunderstandings.
“These three factors coming together can bring about a lot of opportunities for miscommunication and fewer chances of resolving misunderstandings – a situation that can ultimately lead to formal proceedings,” says Passmore.
Another frequent and probably problematic situation amongst tech startups and scaleups, although, is the customarily inadvertent exclusion of newcomers from the small, close-knit friendship group that developed within the early days and tends to result in porous boundaries between members’ work and private lives.
Jim Berry, director of UCL’s MBA programme and assistant professor of its School of Management, says: “Once you move beyond friendship group hiring, you may find, for example, that what you all find funny is offensive to someone else, and that’s where trouble can start. If you’re hiring people from different backgrounds and with different social needs, it can become a ripe area for creating a toxic environment.”
What IT leaders can do to detoxify their cultures
So what can IT leaders do to deal with these difficult conditions, notably if they’re taking up a new team for the primary time?
The first and most necessary factor is to set clear boundaries and position mannequin what good, honest behaviour and moral values appear to be – and, within the case of latest managers, to set the tone as shortly as doable. To accomplish that entails recognising, praising and rewarding team members who comply with your lead and refusing to present credence to those that don’t.
One means of smoothing the trail right here is to collectively set floor guidelines for a way colleagues ought to behave and the way they’re anticipated to deal with one another. Examples embody not speaking about individuals behind their backs and listening to others respectfully. The secret then is to “weave these behaviours into as many processes, such as training and recruitment, as you can”, says Ordever.
An additional consideration, says Coachhub’s Passmore, is to set out clear pointers on the aim and priorities of the entire team and every particular person inside it. The concept right here is that everybody ought to perceive how greatest to contribute in the direction of a frequent aim and be given the wherewithal to ship most worth to stakeholders.
Even star performers will not be exempt, notably in the event that they show to be “well-poisoners” who refuse to adapt to the brand new regime. In this occasion, slightly than allow the contamination to unfold extra extensively, motion must be taken to assist them change their behaviour. Options right here embody offering 360-degree suggestions and interpersonal expertise coaching. If this fails to work, merely letting the offending particular person go could show the very best plan of action, as counter-intuitive as this will really feel.
“If a star player doesn’t value others, they can become an impediment to the team achieving its goals,” says Passmore. “It’s the team that wins the game, not individual brilliant players, and the problem is that if they alienate everyone else, you won’t have a team.”
Taking accountability
UCL’s Berry agrees, saying: “As a manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure the environment is positive for everyone, as you have vicarious liability. So, if you know an employee has said something offensive or is harassing someone and you don’t do anything about it, you’re as guilty as they are.”
Leaders even have a responsibility of care to anybody interacting with their team, whether or not they’re members of that team, different staff, contractors or guests, he provides.
An necessary consideration on this context is that what could also be acceptable to 1 particular person might be deeply offensive to a different, particularly if they’re from a completely different background and tradition.
Therefore, says Berry: “The key thing for managers is to ensure you listen and have open communications with all staff members because the more you know and understand them and the earlier you can catch something going off the rails, the better.”
An additional factor to consider is guaranteeing you may have a team with the appropriate values and attitudes in place from the outset. This means each hiring with pre-defined values and attitudes in thoughts and rewarding team members for hitting not solely key efficiency indicators, but in addition constructive behavioural objectives.
OC Tanner’s Ordever concludes: “The role of a leader over the long term is to create a culture by design, but you have to be very deliberate about it. You don’t just fix things and then they’re sorted – you have to keep on going and continually reaffirm what good looks like.”
