178: Positive and Negative Work Cultures
SHOW DESCRIPTION
One of our most popular episodes has been “Toxicity in the Workplace.” This is because we all experience it. We go through jobs that we absolutely hate. It gets so bad that we just can’t stand even stepping foot into the building. There are also those jobs that we work at and absolutely love. The environment makes us look forward to going in. Our conversations are uplifting, and the opportunities are enriching. Its important to look at the effects of the culture in developing either a toxic or positive work environment.
What are the qualities of a positive work culture? Rohit talks about his experience with his new job. People greet him and introduce themselves. They are positive and trusting. He mentions that the business he works for now goes out of their way to make you feel wanted. There aren’t managers watching your time and there are free food and drinks in the building. The employees are personable and want to get to know you. A positive work culture lifts you up and makes you want to go to work.
In negative work cultures, the employees don’t feel valued. They feel like management doesn’t care, they aren’t recognized for their efforts, and everyone talks negative about their own company. This type of culture makes people feel expendable and devalued. Their productivity goes down because no one wants to over perform for a company they view doesn’t value them. My dad left a job recently because the place was nothing but negativity. The employees did nothing but complain, the managers didn’t train new people well enough for them to be successful, and management was verbally abusive about performance when goals were not met. It got so bad that employees came in did the bare minimum and then watched the clock so that they could hopefully get out of the building before the next shift manager came on.
Companies that have a negative work culture tend to have higher turnover. One of the greatest quotes I ever heard about why people leave jobs is , “People don’t quit jobs, they quit managers.” Leadership sets the tone for the culture. If leadership shows nothing but negativity towards their teams, their teams will show nothing but negativity towards their job. Negativity breeds more negativity.
Positivity is a tough road to walk in today’s career paths. If it is done successfully, you will have employees that will stay even if they get better paying job offers. Richard Branson has created hundreds of thousands of jobs around the world. His quote is something that will help you determine if you have a positive or negative work culture. “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” Leadership should care about people leaving, but they should really start looking at how they are treating their people when they can’t keep people within their organization for more than a year.
