Hello I m Darren Magee and the topic for today s video comes from questions asking
if I would outline some of the common signs of a toxic working environment. Although I will
be primarily focusing on a working environment, some of the following could apply to any toxic
unhealthy environment or network where someone has a particular role and they experience long
term stress and anxiety due to maybe the culture or other people's behaviour, not necessarily due
to the role itself. But I would like to say at the beginning a toxic workplace is not the
same as having a job you don't like. A toxic work environment can involve lying, devaluing,
crossing professional as well as personal boundaries. There could be inappropriate comments,
bad language, name calling. Sometimes the boundaries between work and home life can blur
as the stress and anxiety spills into someone's personal life, even into their relationships.
There are different things that can create a toxic working environment. There could be an atmosphere
that stifles growth, that de-skills people. There could be a culture of bullying and micromanaging,
constant disapproval. But it's an environment that affects someone's ability to complete their tasks
competently and confidently and yet still punishes them for it. So in this video I'm going to outline
nine common signs of a toxic unhealthy work environment. And as always, if you find this video
interesting, please consider subscribing to my channel. But in no particular order the first sign
of a toxic workplace is it has cliques. Now these are little groups that stick together, exclude
others, unless of course allegiances change. Cliques tend to be quite counter productive. They
tend to have a them and us mentality. There can be jokes and gossip about those outside that little
group. In some cases with little cliques might get offered special projects, preferential treatment,
even bonuses, regardless of their talent, skill or effort. People in those little cliques can become
quite precious, quite guarded over their work, over their roles. So they exclude others which
can lead to an atmosphere of negativity. Other staff feel alienated, feel as if they re being
overlooked or treated unfairly. Sometimes they go off and form their own little cliques. They
can also ostracise a member or certain members of staff. Pretty much show them how unimportant,
unwelcome or irrelevant they are. That could be continually getting someone's name wrong,
not including them in group emails or messages. Openly ignoring them or having conversations about
them right in front of them. Secondly there's poor communication. There could be a lack of clarity
around issues and instructions, but there can also be contradictory messages sent to different
members of staff. This often leads to confusion, uncertainty. There's a lack of understanding,
a lack of focus and ultimately poor productivity. Another aspect of communication is poor listening
skills. Concerns or requests for support aren't listened to. There could be reactive,
emotionally driven responses rather than addressing a certain query or issue. There
could be aggressive derogatory language used or sarcasm. So people become afraid
to ask for clarity, support or instruction out of fear of how they may be answered.
This ultimately leads to further difficulties. A manager that doesn't listen to their team is
not a good leader. They don't inspire trust, loyalty, and they generally don't get the best
from those that work with them. Staff members who don't listen, don't listen to the manager,
don't listen to instructions, find obstacles, difficulties everywhere, they can be disruptive.
They create division and generally just waste everybody's time. When people aren't listened to,
they tend to get very frustrated. They lose interest, motivation, sometimes even loyalty.
Thirdly, there is dishonesty and double standards. People in the organisation do not practise or live
by its core values. They don't follow their own ethical framework or codes of conduct, but maybe
come down hard on others who don't. There could be a lot of lying. People lie about their work,
lie about their outcomes, but they don't take any responsibility for any mistakes or errors. It's
always someone else's fault. Rules could be used against people to coerce them, to control them,
sometimes even fire them. So there is an atmosphere of fear and everybody's always
trying to cover their back. Which leads me to sign number four and that s people being set up
to fail. That could be unreasonable expectations, impossible targets to hit. For instance,
there may be only ten items of something in stock, but a team of five people are expected to sell ten
items each by the end of the month. And this can lead to unhealthy competition where people
actively work against each other. Sometimes people don't even know what their goals are. They re
either badly communicated or they are constantly changing. Because they can't mind read or second
guess or keep up people are left to feel as if they re failures. They re kept under a constant
strain of must do better or you'll be in trouble. Sign number five would be a lack of development
or growth within the organisation. People are continually overlooked for training opportunities
or for promotion, sometimes in favour of others who may be in a certain clique. Growth and
development opportunities are important without them people fail on their valued, unchallenged,
underutilised and under appreciated. Other than a paycheque they have no real incentive. And
this can be very demotivating. What's the point in doing your best if it just goes unnoticed? Which
leads me onto the next sign of a toxic workplace, there is no motivation. People don't do their
best, maybe just enough to get by. They don't support each other. Maybe everyone is too busy,
they are too bored, or they just don't care. Everything is an effort. Everything is unfair.
There can be more time spent complaining and gossiping rather than working. There would even
be people doing little to nothing all day long and getting away with it, and yet maybe they're better
thought of than those who are trying to work hard. There can be many different reasons for a lack of
motivation but quite commonly it can be because the place is just badly organised. The workers
feel disenfranchised, they don't be valued. Maybe they don't trust each other, they don't trust the
leadership. There could even be bullying taking place and it s just accepted as normal. Now yes,
it is fair to say there some individuals who don't have maybe what you would call a good work
ethic. But when there is a culture of demotivated unmotivated employees, that's usually a sign of a
much bigger problem that isn't being addressed. Sign number seven which is probably the most
obvious, the organisation has a very high turnover of staff. No one stays for long. It's almost
like there's a revolving door there. This can indicate many things. It can show dissatisfaction,
lack of opportunity, bullying, micromanaging. There could be undermining or disrespecting for
people's skills and experience. There could be heightened stress and anxiety, but the little
to no support or appreciation. But regardless of the reason, the organisation just offers no
incentive for people to stay. Number eight, the only feedback people get is negative feedback. And
this could include derogatory language, being made to feel stupid, worthless. Worthless perhaps for
not knowing information they weren't given in the first place. Or if someone is working really hard
is doing a really good job, they could be treated with contempt, insulted. Staff are constantly
corrected, micro managed, judged harshly rather than given constructive criticism. There is never
anything supportive. I would say this is primarily a sign of bad leadership. As the expression goes,
people don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses and bad work colleagues. And lastly sign number
nine. There's bullying. There could be threatening behaviour, comments, remarks made to deliberately
make someone feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. To dismiss their concerns. Being derogatory
towards someone's physical characteristics their personal values or their background. Now it could
just be just to dominate. The bully wants to feel important about themselves so there's harassment.
There's harsh language, gossip, unkind nicknames and dehumanising. Or it could be a way to perhaps
encourage someone to leave by making their job and their lives miserable. There are just a few
signs of a toxic work environment. The long term exposure to an environment like this can have,
can have a huge impact on someone's mental as well as their physical health. It can lead to burnout,
disillusionment of a chosen career. People cand feel drained emotionally. Feel as if their soul
has been eroded. It can affect their personal life. Their work life balance is nonexistent.
The toxicity of the workplace follows them home. It affects their sleep pattern it affects
their diet. There are many different ways in which exposure to a long term toxic working
environment can affect someone, but if you would like me to go into more detail in a future video,
just let me know in the comments section. As always there are many examples I could have given,
many I ve left out. If you have any and if you feel comfortable in sharing them again,
please use the comments section box below. There are interesting
conversation start around these videos. If you find this video interesting,
please consider subscribing to my channel. And until next time, thanks for watching.