Everyone who steps into a new work place expects it to be happy and healthy environment.
However, this is far from the ideal work environment that many people find themselves in. Sometimes, you may find yourself stuck in a toxic work environment or in the middle of toxic work relationships.
In worst cases, this toxicity may force you to quit your job or ask for a transfer to a different department. In the same vein, there are ways you can use to navigate through the toxicity. Let us look at some of them:
It starts with you: You may very be the source of the toxicity. Keep yourself on the straight and narrow and evaluate how your actions and behaviours affect other team members.
Where is your career headed today? Does it have a future?
For example, are you constantly in the business of undermining their work? Are you always the one noticing when they have gained weight or have new office wear?
“Be professional. Do not be at the centre of every office gossip and unnecessary office chitchat. Get your work done and leave. Do not jump into confrontations with toxic workers. Remember, your behavior and conduct at the office ought to be a reflection of your employer’s brand,” says Perminus Wainaina, the head of recruitment and managing partner at Corporate Staffing Limited, a human resource firm based in Nairobi.
Confrontations and malicious gossip will ultimately bounce out of the office and reflect badly on your employer. Office walls have ears too!
When afflicted: If the toxicity is being directed at you, you must rise up and have a candid conversation with its purveyor. This will let them know that you are not comfortable with their dysfunctional interactions.
It will also be a form of boundary that will set the standard on how others will treat and interact with you. “Do not assume that the purveyor will wake up one morning and realize how they are affecting you.
Most people are usually not self-aware at the workplace,” says Abby Curnow-Chavez, a management consultant and the co-author The Loyalist Team: How Trust, Candor, and Authenticity Create Great Organizations.
She also suggests that while explaining how you are being affected, you should also ask for feedback on your own behavior. Avoid a combative and vindictive approach as well.
Consult your seniors: When you have tried all in vain, it may be necessary to consider bringing the issue at play to your manager’s attention. This might be a very uncomfortable undertaking.
Other team members might misinterpret your consulting as backstabbing or snitching. It will also be going against the norm, especially if the toxicity has been ongoing for a long time and no one in the team has been courageous enough to raise the red flag.
“The key is to remain neutral in the way you raise your concerns. Do not victimize without reasonable evidence. Have a documentation of everything that has been happening, stick to the facts and be clear. Don’t issue ultimatums, and instead ask for your senior’s input on the way forward,” says Stephen Makau, a Nairobi-based human resource consultant.
Ms. Abby also suggests that you can request your boss to call for a meeting that will address what you feel are the challenging issues in the team’s interactions.
“Such a proactive move will provide the session for the team members to gain insight into each other’s perspectives, set behavioural and networking standards, and increase co-worker to co-worker accountability,” she says.
Mind your well-being: Take care not to be lost in the toxicity. Mind your emotional and psychological well-being in order to stay focused on your work goals and targets.
“Toxicity can easily drain your mental strength, especially when compounded with other work stressors and burnout,” says Makau. “Eat well, exercise when you can, and take breaks when necessary.
Do not hang on to a matter you cannot influence, and if – all including HR’s input – hasn’t worked, you may opt to seek for greener pastures elsewhere.” One of the best tricks you can have in your bag is the role of a mentor. He or she will be better equipped to direct you on which path you will take and what options you can go for.
The manager’s takeaway: When addressing a toxic employee, you will do well to handle the toxic behavior itself instead of the employee’s personality.
“Don’t tackle their personality as that may result in long lasting emotional and psychological injuries. Instead, focus on their behavior and make it clear how it is affecting the team or efficiency at their department,” says Wainaina.
Seek out what the root cause of the problem is. “It could be that the employee causing difficulties is handling private problems whose stresses are spilling over into the workplace,” he adds.
