“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This quote by management consultant Peter Drucker rings true of organizations today as much as it did when he said it. The spirit behind this quote alludes to the entrenched values, beliefs, actions, and attitudes that guide and constrain organizations. Even with the best strategy in place, an organization’s culture determines the success of that strategy. Today, we see many ways in which culture impedes the success of an organization, and worse, is to the detriment of an organization’s constituents. Organizations with toxic or deeply harmful attributes can even negatively impact the communities wherein they are situated.
Even with the best strategy in place, an organization’s culture determines the success of that strategy. Today, we see many ways in which culture impedes the success of an organization. Click To TweetSo, how does one recognize when an organization’s culture is toxic? To follow, I will outline four types of toxic cultures that might be present in your organization.
A Culture of Fear and Intimidation
Many organizations with top-down structures where the bottom line is profit often rely upon fear and intimidation as a way to keep their people in line, costs low, and revenue high. Products and dollars become more important than people, which creates an environment wherein toxicity can thrive. The use of threats, harassment, and even discrimination may run rampant, having deleterious effects on morale and the health of the organization. In many instances, this is where we see the most egregious and overt cases of -isms and phobias emerge.
A Culture of Apathy or Indifference
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously noted: “Your life begins to end the moment you start being silent about the things that matter.” Apathy or indifference takes place in organizations when change is not collective and when individuals feel disconnected from the mission. Fissures emerge and cohesion fractures, producing pockets of individuals who don’t care to care about what’s happening in the organization or its impact. This type of culture is individualistic in nature and subverts change by minimizing compassion and humanization. Apathy thrives in silence and disconnection because when we begin to care deeply about people and the issues they face, silence and disconnection are not options. Organizations with a culture of apathy are hard to change, and then transform, because that would require desire for purpose outside of the individual and that meets a shared goal.
Apathy thrives in silence and disconnection because when we begin to care deeply about people and the issues they face, silence and disconnection are not options. Click To TweetA Culture of Isomorphism
Institutional isomorphism, an organizational theory concept, suggests that an organization is legitimized based upon the “rules” defined and described within its profession and the broader marketplace. As changes occur in the market and/or professions—for legal, political, or social reasons—organizations change to fit the form that has become standard. Organizational behavior is in response to external pressures, in some cases, and in others, to internal eruptions. An organization’s culture becomes toxic and eludes transformation when behaviors are reactive rather than intentional, and in response to constituent needs. When leaders spend more time “keeping up with the Joneses” or catering to the concerns of a select few, there is less opportunity to embrace the change that makes sense for the organization.
An organization’s culture becomes toxic and eludes transformation when behaviors are reactive rather than intentional, and in response to constituent needs. Click To TweetA Culture of Disrespect
I once had a conversation with an associate about impending policy and practice changes in his workplace related to gender identity and expression. His employer was attempting to shift their organization’s culture to recognizing and using people’s pronouns by requesting that employees include them in the signature line of emails. However, my associate was adamant that this new practice was wrong, as it elicited feelings of discomfort for him. So, he insisted that if someone appeared to present as a gender that he “recognized,” that would be how he determined which pronoun to use.
This is one of many examples of how disrespect can manifest in workplace culture, even if intentional efforts toward inclusion are put forth. When an individual makes a decision for another without regard for them, this leads to discord. Writer James Baldwin once said: “We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” A culture of disrespect can look like deception, exclusion, dismissiveness, or degradation and can lead to larger systemic issues like discrimination and oppression.
When an individual makes a decision for another without regard for them, this leads to discord. James Baldwin said: 'We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression.' Click To TweetConcluding Thoughts
Organizations are made up of people who, together, make up the ways in which organizations operate and subsequently how they handle change. After the two and half years we’ve had in a global pandemic and wading through the uneven waters of shut-ins, underemployment, and remote work, organizations are no doubt in need of transformative change that leads us to a place better than before COVID-19.
In a time when many are contending with emerging issues related to social and political identities and realities, all while negotiating competing priorities and shifting landscapes, individuals are taking a stronger look at the organizations they navigate. The racial reckoning of 2020 and the Great Resignation of 2021 are a couple of highly visible examples in which we can see a broad call to action from individuals to organizations to reconcile the ways in which oppression, discrimination, and a lack of care have been institutionalized.
While every organization is different, a large part of the reconciliation needed begins with culture — recognizing, reimagining, and reshaping values, beliefs, actions, and attitudes that create environments wherein all can thrive.
