What is toxicity?

Toxicity in the workplace refers to activities that create an unhealthy working environment. Toxic behavior can take various forms, ranging from subtle to blatant. Common toxic behaviors include micromanagement, bullying, withholding information, passive-aggressiveness, favoritism, unrealistic expectations, and obsession. As a result, these cause demoralization, draining vitality and excitement and replacing them with fear.

Something is off

A toxic environment indicates that something is off in the workplace. Interestingly, though, toxicity is not as tangible as a faulty printer in terms of its impacts, but it is as detrimental as a major system collapse. For instance, usually, toxicity may begin with behaviours that may seem positive but excessively overdoing these behaviours renders them toxic. Checking in on a task for example can be overdone to an overwhelming point.

How does toxicity start?

Oftentimes, poor leadership breeds toxicity in an organization. A culmination of poor introspection, a lack of awareness of how you are presenting yourself and an inability to adequately listen to criticisms usually manifest into toxic behaviour.

“Do not hide behind personality to lead ineffectively, you can do it differently.”

Samson Gitahi, Managing Director, Equity Afia.

Furthermore, improper leadership diminishes the opportunity for an environment to be created in which everyone can thrive. People become lackluster, always looking to ‘cover their tracks’ rather than seeking out ventures which would improve the organization’s performance. A growing ‘individuality’ complex accompanies this melting pot of smaller problems, combining into the larger shortfall in productivity and business profits.

Why is toxicity a concern for your organization?

The underlying tensions built as a result of a toxic work environment generates fearful relationships between employees and their seniors, and distrustful inter-relationships between employees themselves. A culture of backstabbing, completing tasks sub-optimally, straying further away from accountability, and much more arises in the organization.

“Toxicity impedes performance as employees are risk averse, worrying about the consequences an action will bring.”

Samson Gitahi, Managing Director, Equity Afia.

Troubleshooting Toxicity

An understanding of the causes and effects of a toxic working environment without devising strategies to solve it, is like a car without gas. For this reason, here are the proposed range of mitigation strategies that help to nip toxicity in the bud. Stemming from a central root, these strategies all focused around the principle of coaching. Coaching is a contemporary and pertinent solution which cannot be overlooked.

How does coaching improve you as a person?

Coach training plants invaluable seeds within any individual that, under proper management, fruit into permanent and lucrative benefits. Importantly, all coach training begins with intense introspection, as a means of growing an individual’s self-awareness. How do you present yourself? How do you show up in your leadership positions? How do you listen and communicate? All of these answers, and more, will flow in abundance following the undertaking of coach training. After all, it is evident that self-awareness is critical in shaping toxicity in a working environment.

“Lack of self-awareness is the greatest contributor to toxicity.”

Mary Kinyua, Strategic HR and OPs Leader

The hard truth is that the business world is a shark-filled world, and still an individual must deliver. Consequently, coach training helps you to strengthen your vulnerability. It helps to shed a culture of trying to pass off toxicity by hiding behind ‘a strong personality’, and the unhealthy narcissism that prevents you from accommodating more conversations that centre around criticism. This transfers to your team members, growing a more hospitable and positive working environment.

You learn about the importance of speaking up where necessary and listening where applicable. Your self-awareness becomes profoundly intact as a result of coach training, to the point where you cannot compromise; you develop cognizance of the fact that it is not your primary responsibility to transform any person. Your working environment will begin to respect your constant strive to ‘do right’, and this culture will be emulated by your colleagues.

How does coaching mitigate toxicity?

Through coach training, you gain an opportunity to benefit regardless of your status within your organization. You are able to better set your values and boundaries, and to consistently stick by them. From this, the possibility of succumbing to toxicity in the workplace is alleviated.

Through coach training, leaders begin to value perfectionism and popularity significantly less, and improve their relationship currency instead. You begin to lead from the middle, and oftentimes from the back, acknowledging the value of everyone in your team. You start to worry less about ‘deliverables’ but rather about the means of delivering; offering a human-centred approach to your organization’s work processes and constant growth.

Through coach training, you learn the significance of ‘selling the why’ when leading, instead of merely getting subpar results. You understand the mantle you are carrying as a leader, knowing what it means for your organization to be successful and how to achieve success.

“A leader must be trustworthy, authentic and consistent.”

Mary Kinyua, Strategic HR and OPs Leader

So, what next?

Get started with a coach training program today! Join the Leadership Masterclass, Coaching for High Performance which offers contemporary and widely applicable solution to any toxicity troubles within your organization.

The bottom-line is that the calling of a leader is to attain the organizational goal through a team; doing so by leading with a long-term mindset. A toxic work environment cannot coexist with this calling, and by allowing any toxicity to linger within your organization, you leave room for this problem to metastasize to the various sectors in the workplace. As a leader, be ready to hold up a mirror – and let others hold you accountable – with hopes of improving organizational performance, and promoting self-growth!