Toxic Company Culture

This coaching tip was originally published in the Coaching for Excellence newsletter.

I’ve observed toxic behavior in small businesses. In some, it’s worse than I ever saw at corporate. Most likely because there isn’t an HR department to raise a red flag about the risk it creates for a business. There are several reasons founders allow it.

• Founders are active participants. They lack the self-awareness to see how their behavior has a negative ripple effect. What the team sees, they repeat.
• Founders are afraid to lose a top performer. As a result, it’s seen as acceptable and people either join in or leave.
• Founders don’t know how to address it. They lack the courage, skills, or tools to swiftly eradicate it.

Toxic behavior can range from small passive-aggressive actions (intentionally ignoring someone) to big actions (getting in someone’s face). Allowing people to continue bad behavior impacts the well-being and performance of their peers. I’ve seen people become timid, cower, and absorb the rudeness instead of saying anything. What happens is their body holds the stress making them sick. The worst-case scenario is when people retaliate through workplace sabotage or violence.

Being under stress, having personal issues, etc doesn’t justify toxic behavior. I have zero tolerance for it and will call it out. The behavior is corrected or the relationship ends.

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