Last week on Linked In, someone I follow did a poll and asked the question, “Have you ever worked in a toxic environment?”
91% of the people replied they had. Me included.
Wow! That means that many many people have had to endure being belittled, bullied, berated or worse. Many many people have left the workplace at the end of the day feeling defeated, deflated or demeaned.
I know I have.
And what did that mean for the quality of the rest of my life at the time? Or yours?
Less energy to spend with my family, since toxic environments are “energy draining.” More negative emotion, since toxic cultures (or people) breed that, and stress that showed up in my life as ulcers and a neck brace to contain the “pain in my neck.”
Negative environments cause “negative spillover.” Toxic cultures spill over into domestic disputes, bringing anger home to loved ones, and perhaps even into the schools where the children of parents who work in those cultures now bully their classmates.
Emotions are contagious – bad ones and good ones.
While I had experienced some of this for myself, it wasn’t until I heard about the connection between toxic work and bullying that my purpose in life really got galvanized!
Creating happier workplaces was a nice to have, but it wasn’t until I realized how far reaching toxic workplaces went that creating safe and happy workplaces got even more important to me.
Last week after reading the result of that poll and realizing that business – which can be a force for good in the world – had done a lot of bad in the world too.
I instantly got a shot of energy, a shot of determination and a shot of courage. People don’t leave their jobs; they leave their bosses!
No wonder people are leaving organizations in droves. Now wonder so many women are starting their own businesses in record numbers! The gap between men and women in the area of burnout has doubled in the last year.
More than 19 million Americans have quite their jobs since April of this year. According to McKinsey employees are craving investment in the human aspects of work.
The power has shifted. Talent is in charge.
If you are not doing something to invest in the emotional well-being of your employees, if you are not actively working to deliberately create a “Positive Spillover” of your work culture, you could slip into the abyss of believing you company is “good enough.”
The world has changed.
Be like the world-famous hockey player Wayne Gretsky, and skate to where the puck is going to be!
See you soon!
JoAnna
