It’s shocking how quickly a toxic culture can erode a company’s success. While the descent into negativity, distrust, and palpable apathy can be gradual at first, the snowball effect of unrest can soon turn a workplace into a miserable situation for everyone involved. That includes leadership. 

This is why nurturing a healthy culture is so important. Is your company culture suffering? Here’s a guide to why acknowledging a poorly nurtured professional culture is the first step to fostering a cutting-edge company culture that allows team members and leadership to thrive.

Why Maintaining a Positive and Productive Company Culture Today Is So Difficult

No, it’s not your lack of talent or professionalism as a leader. More managers and business leaders than ever before are questioning if they are actually equipped for their job roles because they’re facing unprecedented challenges when it comes to creating positive, productive work environments. If you were to speak honestly, you might say that it feels like nobody really wants to be there. The top challenges include:

• Getting employees to meet high standards without draconian management techniques.
• Maintaining a cohesive workplace culture in a work-from-home culture. Yes, there are ways to build meaningful workplace relationships with remote teams. This can even make your company one of the best places to work.
• Melding different ideas and ideals among teams from different generations.
• Being respectful without allowing team members to trample on boundaries.
• Getting people excited about the work they are doing!
• Making team members feel like the work they’re doing is important.

What Are the Effects of a Toxic Workplace Culture?

There’s so much at stake when company culture is toxic. In addition to making day-to-day operations miserable, a poorly managed company culture also eats away at the future potential and legacy of a business or brand. Here’s what at stake:

• Major Talent Loss: As a leader, you know better than anyone that news travels fast about which companies are toxic. The first symptom is a major talent exodus that causes your best performers to look elsewhere. The second wave of loss involves new graduates or experienced professionals who won’t touch your firm with a 10-foot pole because its reputation for being a miserable place to work precedes it! You are putting your company at risk of falling behind competitors for the next five to 10 years simply due to talent leaks!
• Lost Productivity: Once a company gets into the “Why should I?” era, things get bad pretty quickly. Employees in toxic workplaces don’t see a reason to push themselves to go above and beyond. Lack of rewards, advancement, or acknowledgment for high performance is an invitation for employees to do the bare minimum. In addition to avoiding going above and beyond because there’s no incentive, employees may be doing the bare minimum out of spite because they feel trapped in a toxic setting.
• Lawsuits and HR Nightmares: How toxic is too toxic? It’s the question that every leader needs to ponder once it feels like the horse is out of the barn with negative workplace interactions and general workplace toxicity. In a toxic workplace, lack of accountability and guardrails for behavior can make some employees feel that they have the green light to behave viciously or unscrupulously in ways that cause distress for other employees. While you may not even be aware of the behavior, you are still responsible for it if you’re in an ownership or leadership role.

The shame of it is that toxic workplaces are avoidable. Are you struggling to “right the ship” after noticing some negative signs in your company? You may be just two keys away from success. Teamalytics recently published an e-book called Creating Cutting Edge Company Culture in a Work From Home World: Two Keys to an Engaged Workforce. 

In this e-book, we share research insights to show how results and relationships in the workplace are linked. As you read, you’ll learn how to leverage new insights to adapt leadership styles and optimize team performance. Highlights include learning how to hold remote teams accountable while building healthy relationships and mastering the skills needed to thrive in the work environment of the future. 

Our e-book also gives you an exclusive look at the Teamalytics 360 Profile that ranks 13 critical leadership behaviors as strengths or risks. You’ll never look at management styles the same way again. Download it today as a free resource for building the success of your company.