06/28/20. {Average Read Time: 4.0 Minutes}
When considering a position at a company, I used to ask myself, “Do they have a healthy culture?”. After all, who wants to be entangled in a toxic workplace? life is complicated enough!
A healthy culture is not only created by leadership, but by all team members who work there.
The characteristics of a toxic workplace are unhealthy conflict, hurt, and anger. There may be unresolved resentment from lack of communication, and lack of appreciation. People who work there do not feel like they are part of a team, but just have to “put up with their job” in order to earn enough money to support their lifestyle. And these unhappy people will make everyone around them unhappy also.
Rising Above a Toxic Workplace, YouTube
Looks can be deceiving.
I have learned that even companies who portray a healthy culture may not provide a healthy work environment. A company can have team building, team participation, and other practices in place. But the key is the answer to the question “Why?”. Why does the company spend the time and money doing these activities?
It may be that the leadership truly wants to create a healthy culture, so these activities are designed to make work more “fun”. But let’s face it, what is fun to one person is not fun for another. In an environment where group participation is part of the expectations of the job, then it becomes just another part of the job.
Another possibility is marketing. Businesses need customers, but they also need team members to serve their customers. When these internal activities are publicly posted on social media or other platforms, then it becomes a marketing tool to recruit more team members. The “why” may just simply be for marketing.
It’s not what you say, but what you do.
Can an organization create a healthy culture by administering in-house group-based activities? I do believe it may help. It certainly will help promote the business to the job market and aid in recruitment.
Let’s look at this question from the viewpoint of an average American worker who will spend an average of 90,000 hours working a job during their lifespan.
Do we need participation exercises? Or do we need an emotionally safe place to work, to feel appreciated, and earn a living while helping others?
Do I feel as if the company and this team care about me?
Personally I would rather have a sense of security, competence, and well being while at work, rather than participate in activities, even fun ones!
The question I ask now is, Does this company care about the people who work there?
We all have different perceptions and form our own opinions about reality. A spider web is a source of life for the spider. A source of death for a fly. A beautiful piece of natural art to a human.
If you feel like you are “trapped” in a toxic workplace now, this book is a great resource,
Rising Above a Toxic Workplace, Amazon
So what is your perception of your job? If you own your own company, what is your perception of that?
Leave a Reply