A toxic culture has a massive impact on morale, productivity and reputation. Workplace culture expert Colin Ellis, author of Detox Your Culture, offers practical advice for directors to help keep toxicity out of the boardroom — and the broader organisation.
1. You get the culture you build
Culture is the shared values, behaviours and practices that shape the experience of employees at work. In the past, culture was a black box. It sat out of sight, out of mind, and was never mentioned in the media, despite having always been the number-one determinant of an organisation’s success. How functional people are, how they work together, how they behave towards each other — this is how we generate success.
You get the culture you choose to build. It’s no secret that the best companies are often the ones which invest the most time, money and effort into culture. This is one of the challenges and opportunities boards have — to ensure their business and executives are actually putting time and money towards building culture.
2. The board sets the tone
Boards have historically sometimes been slow to embrace the idea of demonstrating the values they want from the organisation. If there are issues in the organisation, the board needs to ensure the CEO and executive leadership team get coaching and the opportunity to change. It’s an empathy- first approach, but if they show no signs of change, they need to be moved on.
Boards cannot simply put reports of toxic culture in a box and bury them in the garden in the hope people don’t see them or forget the incident(s) occurred in the first place. They should ensure action is taken by those who have responsibility for them.
3. Stamp out old-fashioned behaviours
Chairs need to constantly be on the lookout for directors displaying “old-fashioned” behaviours. Little comments can alert you. For example, “Oh, this diversity and inclusion is such nonsense.” It’s not nonsense, it’s really important to the organisation’s culture.
I once presented to the board of a medical company where the chair was extremely aggressive in his introduction of me and the topic. “This is what we need,” he said. “We need to know more about culture and you guys don’t have the knowledge."
I immediately knew there was a problem and that it started at the top.
At boardroom level, subtle bullying can create a power imbalance — one or two directors exerting their influence over the others. There will be pressure applied to members, side conversations occurring outside the boardroom that impact how the board operates. And often, that dysfunction in the boardroom has an impact on the executive team.
4. Make your purpose and values genuine
Purpose is a statement of the good the organisation wants to do in the world or in their locale. Values provide emotional connection — a statement of the kind of people you want and how you’ll build a culture that generates belonging.
But too often, these exercises are simply a box-ticking process. “Oh, we need a purpose, let’s just create one. And we need a set of values.” It’s almost a case of paying lip service to the ideas. The values of most organisations I work with to help refresh their culture aren’t even values, they’re just three or four behaviours. Values can never be a “set and forget” exercise. As the business grows and employees’ views evolve, then so should the values.
5. Provide feedback, listen and act
I don’t believe anybody comes to work to be the worst version of themselves. A big part of being the conscience of an organisation is developing the muscle and skill to provide consistent feedback, good and bad. This is an opportunity all boards have — to provide praise when they see good, but also to direct feedback when they see behaviours they don’t agree with. Giving feedback is a skill requiring time and effort to develop.
Without jeopardy there is no accountability. So if the CEO at no stage feels their job is on the line, they will probably continue to behave in a way that harms the organisation’s culture. Boards need to insist on reading detailed engagement surveys to get a sense of what the culture is really like — and to mitigate the risk of the executive team presenting an unrealistic view of the situation.
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