Common Change Management Error (3 cont. j)

Three Main Drivers to Fix a Toxic Culture

i) leadership (this includes senior executives setting the tone for the whole organisation plus middle managers and front-line supervisors creating distinctive micro-cultures within their respective parts of the organisation; the top leadership needs to
"...Quantify the benefits of cultural detox to keep it on the top team's agenda, publicly report progress to keep pressure on, model behaviour you expect from employees, track progress with honest data......only the top team has access to all the levers of cultural change, including hiring and promotion decisions, budgets......organisational wide measurement..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

As senior executives have many demands for their attention and time, both internal and external, eg pandemic, geopolitical instability, macro economic uncertainty, etc, they could easily lose focus on cultural change; they need to link cultural improvements to bottom-line benefits, such as lower attrition, lower staff healthcare costs, better performance, etc.

"...quantifying the benefits can help keep culture detox as a priority for top teams that are being pulled in many directions..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Even though top management support is pivotal, middle management and supervisors are also important; the more discretion the latter groups have, the more important they are

"...Empowering managers has many advantages, but autonomy also leaves more scope to create a toxic subculture..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

For middle management and supervisors
 "...coach them on non-toxic behaviour, make them aware of the negative impacts of the toxic behaviour on colleagues, make behavioural expectations crystal clear, deal with leaders who deliver results but create toxic sub-cultures..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Need to encourage middle management and supervisors to treat
"... Employees with dignity and respect, demonstrate emotional support, and avoid bullying behaviour..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Employees closely observe senior management on their actions rather than words; actions provide signals about what behaviour is encourage, expected, tolerated, etc.

Don't filter out the bad news about toxic behaviour; otherwise it cannot be addressed.

Cultural change requires a holistic approach; it requires multiplee interventions and takes time.

Toxic behaviour trickles downwards, eg if senior management
"...tolerates opportunistic behaviour, employees are more likely to commit accounting fraud and insider trading..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Unfortunately, some managers are more concerned about presenting a positive public image rather than generally treating people better.

At times management may turn a 'blind eye' to a  staff member who delivers good results but 'cuts corners', ie compromise ethically to achieve this performance.

As most promotion is based on an individual's performance rather than their ability to create a healthy subculture via collaboration, these toxic individuals can be promoted, ie
"...promoting uncollaborative employees to management can foster cutthroat sub cultures that ultimately hurt the bottom line. Sales teams led by lone wolves have 30% less sales compared with teams led by more collaborative managers..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Generally, most managers are willing to change their 'bad' behaviours once they are aware of them, ie the impact that their abusive behaviour is having on colleagues/staff and their own reputation.

Need to be careful of people who are narcissistic and/or psychopathic as their behaviours can result in a toxic culture; they are less likely to modify their behaviours, ie aggression, lack of empathy, etc.

ii) social norms (norms act at a group level rather than at the individual, ie people follow social norms because others do; need to define expected and accepted behaviours in daily social interactions; need to translate abstract values into concrete behaviours; different social norms can exist at all organisational levels; social norms can become ingrained and very hard to change; to establish healthy social norms
"... Let work groups define their own social norm, have middle management and supervisors lead discussions on social norms, collect credible, granular data on sub-cultures and leaders..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

The impact of social norms can be contagious, ie
"...Toxic social norms increased the odds that even good people will behave poorly......When groups tolerate disrespectful behaviour, their rudeness invites retaliation. Reciprocal retaliation hardens into social norms that fuel a downward spiral of continued incivility..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

"...leaders need holistic, granular data to identify toxic micro-cultures, to root out abusive leaders and understand perspectives of distinct demographic groups..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Employee surveys with open-ended questions can help identify actual and potential problems/issues, etc that multiple-choice or numerical ranking can miss; using averages can be misleading as these figures can hide critical differences in micro-cultures within an organisation; regular follow-up surveys can help evaluate performance. Some other measures include

- benchmarking against competitors, peers, etc (it allows organisations to understand what is possible)

- regular feedback like performance reviews, etc can provide insights into behaviours

NB Need to create a non-threatening environment (psychological safety - for more detail, see elsewhere in the Knowledge Base) so that people who provide candid feedback will not be worry about retaliation or retribution; providers of feedback must be guaranteed anonymity.

Need to act on the feedback, ie act on the key findings, communicate actions taken, and make visible progress. Otherwise employees will lose interest.
Leadership and social norms are linked:
"...Managers reinforce or undermine norms through their actions, and entrenched social norms influence who is promoted to leadership positions..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a)

iii) workplace design to reduce stress (this includes workload, inflicting job demands
"...high-stress workplaces contribute to negative outcomes, including employee attrition, mental health issues, physical illness, burnout, and increased risk of death......stressful jobs are a breeding ground for toxic behaviour..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Stress can cause a downward spiral into toxicity.
"...Regulating emotions and resisting negative impulses requires energy. Mental stress depletes limited stores of energy, making it harder for people control their negative impulses......managers who are stressed out and exhausted are more likely to lapse into abusive behaviour. The employees on the receiving end of the abuse are themselves more likely to exhibit toxic behaviour..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Reduce stress by redesigning workplace, ie
"...Reduce nuisance work, clarify job descriptions and responsibilities, give employees more control over their work, and help employees get a good night's sleep..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Some measures to reduce occupational stress include reducing workloads by removing tasks, capping the number of hours worked per week, providing more resources and staffing without increasing job demands, etc.

NB Not all work has the same effect on stress.
"...when work is framed as a positive challenge, it is still associated with higher levels of stress but also with increased employee engagement..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Issues like dealing with red tape, bureaucracy, unclear roles and responsibilities, insufficient resources, ambiguous duties, balancing conflicting demands, role conflicts, etc have a negative impact on employees' stress and burnout. Thus need clearly structured job descriptions that define roles and responsibilities, etc.

One way to reduce stress is giving employees autonomy and empowerment over their work; this is almost as powerful as reducing employees' work loads, sorting out unclear or conflicting roles and responsibilities, etc. However, it should not be used as an excuse to give more tasks to employees.

Physical demands of the job (including temperature, noise, ergonomics, etc) are strongly correlated with stress.

Sometimes home office can be more pleasant than work office. However, social support is an important factor in reducing workplace stress, and remote working may increase workers isolation. .

Adequate sleep is a way of reducing stress. However, a stressful job can cause insomnia
"...Insomnia is a well-documented and objectively measurable consequence of a toxic workplace......sleep-deprived managers are more likely to abuse their subordinates or act in an unethical manner..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a

Some ways to improve sleep include cognitive behavioural therapy, improving sleep hygiene, etc.

More information

Other attributes like demographics (age, length of time with the organisation, educational background, etc) have minimal impact. However,
"...Women and racial minorities are more likely to experience their employer's culture as toxic for reasons rooted in discrimination and harassment..."
Donald Sull et al, 2022a