7 Actions to Cultivate a Positive Work Environment and Avoid Workplace Toxicity

More than 90% of North American CEOs and CFOs believe that improving their corporate culture would boost financial performance, according to the latest research. Most of these executives ranked a healthy culture as one of the top three among all factors in terms of its impact on results. Yet, despite the importance of organizational culture, more than 80% acknowledged that their organization’s culture was not as healthy as it should be.

Among executives who said their culture wasn’t working as well as it could, nearly all agreed that leadership failed to invest enough time upgrading corporate culture. Lack of leadership investment was, without question, the most important obstacle to closing the gap between cultural aspirations and current reality.

Value of Balancing Results with Employee Well-Being

Companies and teams create a positive work environment when they balance the drive for results (performance) with a focus on maintaining and enhancing employee well-being (the ability to perform).

Increasingly, organizations are becoming aware of the value and importance of achieving this balance to:

Improve employee engagement and alignment around key priorities.
Foster a sense of community.
Provide opportunities for growth and development.

A recent survey on the most crucial elements of workplace culture shows:

In 2021 employee engagement in the U.S. saw its first annual decline in a decade—dropping from 36% engaged employees in 2020 to 34% in 2021.
This pattern continued into 2022, as 32% of full- and part-time employees working for organizations are now engaged, while 18% are actively disengaged.

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“More than 80 percent of CEOs and CFOs acknowledge their organization’s culture was not as healthy as it should be.”

The “secret sauce” to engaging employees and cultivating a robust culture involves ensuring:

Communication at and between all levels of management is clear and consistent.
Interactions between employees are beneficial, productive and rewarding.
Employees have the necessary resources, such as staff, training and time, to perform well.

Effects of Work Environment on Employees and Organizations

Before we jump into the hidden issues that lead to workplace toxicity and the corrective actions to cultivate a positive work environment, let’s examine the effects work environment has on employees and organizations.

The work environment impacts employees’ overall well-being, both physically and mentally. A positive work environment with a comfortable, safe and healthy workplace reduces stress and promotes better mental health. Conversely, a negative work environment that’s stressful, unorganized or lacks support can lead to higher levels of employee burnout, anxiety and depression.

A positive work environment that provides opportunities for growth and development helps retain employees. A company culture that doesn’t value or support its employees can adversely impact retention and cause high turnover rates and quiet quitting. In contrast, a workplace environment that delivers the necessary tools and resources, fosters open communication and collaboration, and encourages employee creativity and problem-solving propels productivity.

Hidden Issues to Uncover Workplace Toxicity

With approximately 1 in 10 employees experiencing their workplace culture as toxic, be on the lookout and listen for these hidden issues to uncover workplace toxicity:

Lack of trust: Leaders should listen and look out for signs that employees don’t feel trusted by management or don’t trust their colleagues.
This can play out in different ways, including:
- Unhealthy competition: Leaders, managers or individual employees who are always trying to one-up each other, engaging in excessive gossip or creating cliques within the team.
- Micromanagement: While it’s vital to be clear on desired outcomes and what qualifies as success, being overly prescriptive on how to achieve them can cause frustration, feelings of inadequacy and resentment.
Lack of accountability: A lack of accountability can lead to a blame culture, where people are afraid to own up to their mistakes, and instead, they point fingers and pass the buck. This can lead to a toxic environment that stifles innovation and progress.
Poor communication: Communicating insufficiently or incompletely or failing to actively listen to others results in misunderstandings, frustration and conflict.
Discrimination and harassment: This is untenable and unacceptable at any level. Companies should have clear policies in place to prohibit this, ensure that employees feel safe reporting any issues and take swift action when necessary.
Burnout: Overworked employees are less productive and can become irritable and less collaborative. Leaders should ensure that they’re not overloading their employees with work and provide support if they notice signs of burnout.

Positive Work Environment Benefits

Alternatively, companies and teams that foster a positive work environment realize benefits including an enhanced reputation. This makes it easier to attract and retain top talent and build your customer base.

Improved customer satisfaction is another positive work environment benefit. When employees are happy, motivated and have a strong connection to purpose, they’re more likely to provide better customer service, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and revenue.

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“Approximately 1 in 10 employees are experiencing a toxic workplace.”

A positive work environment inspires better teamwork and collaboration, by improving productivity and driving breakthroughs that otherwise wouldn’t be attainable. When employees are happy and motivated, they’re more likely to persist through challenges or adversity and be more focused on and committed to achieving their goals.

Actions to Cultivate a Positive Work Environment

In order to cultivate a positive work environment, take these corrective actions:

Communicate effectively. Communicate regularly with your team members, listen actively and provide clear, personalized feedback.
Promote respect and inclusivity. Establish and enforce policies that prohibit discrimination and harassment, conduct training to raise awareness and promote diversity and inclusion, and create a safe space for feedback.
Encourage teamwork and collaboration. Foster a sense of shared responsibility and accomplishment, by encouraging and positively reinforcing the value of teamwork and collaboration. This can be achieved through cross-functional projects, shared goals or cross-training between teams.
Provide necessary support and resources. Ensure that employees have the resources they need to perform well. Adequate staffing levels, training, information and materials are crucial not only to them delivering on their targeted outcomes, but also in guaranteeing they have the capability and capacity to perform.
Recognize and reward good work. Provide formal and informal acknowledgment and appreciation for good performance of both the “what” (outcome) and “how” (process).
Present opportunities for growth and development. Bring training, mentoring and coaching to the forefront, to create a culture of continuous learning and helping employees grow and advance in their careers.
Lead by example. Model the behaviors you expect from your team members. This includes being accountable, ethical and respectful.

Upgrade Your Corporate Culture with Leadership Coaching

Establishing and sustaining a positive work environment requires leaders to balance the drive for successful outcomes with the capacity to deliver those outcomes. And even though some leaders can deliver results in the short term when neglecting this balance, they do so at the cost of sacrificing their own and their team’s long-term success.

The key to long-term success, which includes growing sustainably, acquiring and retaining talent, and differentiating yourself and your company from others, lies with how you lead and how well you cultivate and maintain a positive work environment.

Upgrade your corporate culture by investing in leadership coaching. Are you interested in finding out how 4D Executive & Leadership Coaching by Leading Edge can help? Click here to book a complimentary discovery call today.