Toxic Environments

You know these people:

"How's it going?"
"Oh, I'm gettin' by."

"What's up?"
"Well, I'm hangin' in there."

"So how's your day?"
"Let me tell you what that no-good dirtbag in Accounting did..."

These people (the second ones in each example, not the first, in case you missed that) have got very negative attitudes. They subscribe to the "ain't it awful" school of conversation, where the only subject they can come up with is a negative one, as if that's supposed to offer a common topic for them and others. They often appear beaten down and just barely making it through life. For many, this makes them feel important, since only a truly important person would be working as hard as they do, right? There are folks out there who would rather exaggerate the work they do than actually do their work, and one way to get away with that is to always seem to be weighed down by problems. Their negativity has the unfortunate effect of spilling over into the rest of the workplace, creating a toxic work environment as their negativity spreads.

How do you deal with these folks? Step 1 is to try to spot them in the interview process before they even come to work for you, weeding out those folks who spend the whole time complaining about their last job. If you don't catch on until they're actually working for you, you definitely need to talk with them and just ask why they're so negative all the time. You can't legislate a good attitude, of course, but you can let them know the impact they're having. And if all else fails, you might suggest to them that if they're perpetually unhappy in this job, perhaps the thing to do is find another one. I've made that suggestion to a couple colleagues and their attitudes have changed for the better...around me, anyway.

Of course, they might truly be unhappy in their job, or might even have some mental health issues that need addressing, so you should look deeper and figure out if there's a reason for all their negativity.

What else creates a toxic environment? Well, in-fighting among leaders will do the trick. Employees don't want to get caught in the middle of office politics, and may very well duck down out of sight, limiting their exposure to your conflict by limiting their contributions. Of course, you don't want your Creatives limiting their contributions, you want them...well, creating. If the leaders below you are having problems that disrupt the organization then meet with them and try to work things out as an objective moderator. If that doesn't work, then be sure you have the facts, and then charge in and take sides and make people play nice. Don't let inter-office conflict go on, especially among the leadership, because it creates so many problems. And if the leader having a conflict is YOU, well, realize you need to resolve it, and quickly.

Another problem leading to an unhappy workplace is malaise. If your Creatives don't have enough to do, or feel they aren't being utilized well, they'll get bored, have no sense of purpose, and spend more time sending out resumes than doing their work. The way to overcome this is to organize your business such that you have the right number of people for the work you do and also that you have the right people in those jobs. Leaving a bunch of creative people sitting around without too much to do is going to absolutely kill morale.

Creatives don't thrive in a toxic environment. Few people in any job do, but creative work requires a more open outlook in order to create innovative ideas...a bunch of unhappy people tends to dampen the mood. Do what you can to create a high degree of morale in your workplace and aim for a place where people enjoy coming, not where they can't wait to leave.