Cómo proteger a su equipo de una cultura laboral tóxica

Aprenda sobre los temores e inseguridades de su equipo, y sea lo suficientemente valiente para hablar de los suyos.

Recuerde que todos quieren sentir que están cumpliendo su propósito más alto.

Las personas no buscan mejores salarios. Están huyendo de sentirse sobrecargadas de trabajo, socavadas y poco apreciadas.

How to Protect Your Team From a Toxic Work Culture
John Baird and Edward Sullivan
c.2022 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp.

John Baird is currently the founder and chairman of the executive coaching consultancy Velocity. Edward Sullivan is CEO and president of Velocity.

From HBR.org

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a staggering <a href=»https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm» rel=»nofollow»>4.4 million people</a> quit their jobs this April. You might assume people are leaving because they want more money or better benefits, but you’d be wrong. A recent Sloan Management Review <a href=»https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/toxic-culture-is-driving-the-great-resignation/» rel=»nofollow»>study</a> indicated people are 10 times more likely to quit their jobs today because of toxic work cultures.

In other words, people aren’t running to better salaries. They’re running from feeling overworked, undermined and unappreciated.

<a href=»http://www.leadingwithheartbook.com/» rel=»nofollow»>We</a> spent three years scouring a combined 40 years of data from our work as coaches at hundreds of companies. We wanted to learn why some leaders have succeeded in building cohesive, healthy corporate cultures that outperform their peers, while others built low-performing companies marred by toxic behaviors.

Though the data set does not prove causality, there is a consistent connection between the quality of the business and culture and the quality of the conversations those high-performing leaders and managers regularly had with their teams. They consistently made their employees feel seen, heard, appreciated and supported. And, as a consequence, their teams delivered better results.

How do you begin outperforming your competition? Start by finding out what your employees want and need.

1. GET CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES NEED TO BE CREATIVE AND RESOURCEFUL.

Every manager should keep an eye on what they need from people to stay on track with their larger team goals, but they should also stop and ask what their teams need to deliver on those goals. Each person has their own unique needs. Some may need better snacks to feel happy and energized while others may need to feel more psychologically safe.

While you can’t have separate policies for everyone, making an effort to meet people’s needs at the individual level and being flexible is paramount, especially with your top performers. Getting curious means listening actively, showing empathy and asking questions.

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

— What do you need to be at your best?

— What impact are your needs (physical, emotional or environmental) having on your productivity and creative well-being?

2. LEARN ABOUT YOUR TEAM’S FEARS AND INSECURITIES, AND BE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO TALK ABOUT YOUR OWN.

Humans have natural biological and behavioral responses to fear. Fight, flight and freeze in the office looks like hoarding resources, undermining each other’s projects and managers setting unreasonable deadlines. These behaviors are almost always the result of a scarcity mindset that stems from unexpressed fears. Employees fall into these patterns when they don’t know where they stand or are overwhelmed with stress.

Our fears are often alleviated when we talk about them openly. In an office setting, leaders <a href=»https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1997-43874-005″ rel=»nofollow»>must share their own fears</a> first to make others feel psychologically safe talking about theirs. Once the entire team can talk openly about fear, many of the toxic behaviors that have been cropping up will go away on their own.

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

— What fears are holding you back?

— When you’re feeling stressed, what is your go-to response?

3. HELP PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY REALLY WANT, BUT TO DO SO WITHOUT DERAILING THEM.

Most <a href=»https://hbr.org/2021/05/what-your-future-employees-want-most» rel=»nofollow»>people want</a> to win, to learn or to feel of service. But taken to an extreme, each of these core motivators can be derailing. Too much focus on winning can <a href=»https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-pros-and-cons-of-competition-among-employees» rel=»nofollow»>lead to unscrupulous behavior</a>. Spending too much time learning and researching and not really doing can lead to frustration. Wanting to be of service can descend into ruinous people-pleasing.

You’ll motivate people when you tap into what they really want, but make sure they don’t get too much of a good thing. When people get derailed by their desires (when they’re overly competitive or have a constant need for validation), they easily fall into toxic territory. The key is for managers to look for the earliest signs of toxic behavior. Small flare-ups are easy to put out; house fires are not.

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

— What desires drive you?

— What desires might derail you?

4. PUT PEOPLE IN ROLES THAT HELP THEM DO THE BEST WORK OF THEIR CAREERS.

If you exclusively focus on what needs to get done, you’ll make the mistake of asking people to perform tasks beyond their competency. Pushing people to grow is good, but setting them up to fail is not.

If you understand what people are really good at and place them in the right positions, you’ll enjoy an increase in productivity that only comes when people are using their greatest talents. They’ll also be more likely to feel like they’re doing the best work of their careers. Leaders can help their teams find their gifts by providing them with opportunities to work on different teams or entirely different projects. Rotating high potentials through various departments may unlock untapped talents.

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

— What are your greatest gifts?

— When do you feel most engaged?

5. REMEMBER THAT EVERYONE WANTS TO FEEL LIKE THEY’RE FULFILLING THEIR HIGHEST PURPOSE.

How can you help your employees realize that they are critical to your organization? Whom does your organization serve? What is most important to your team? Whom do they want to serve?

Recent employee survey data suggests that managers who connect employees’ work to the broader purpose and mission of the company are more likely to retain and motivate them. By getting curious and having these conversations, managers can help their teams put the role they play into larger context.

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

— Do you feel there is purpose in the work you do? If not, what would fill that gap?

— Can you describe an “aha” moment that resulted in you feeling a renewed sense of purpose in or outside of work?

COMPANY CULTURES DON’T start out toxic. They turn toxic when managers stop having the conversations that make people feel seen, heard, appreciated and invested in. Toxicity is best treated by engaging your employees in conversations that help them get their needs met, dispel their fears, uncover their core motivators, do the best work of their lives and fulfill their purpose.