7 Leadership Moves That Can Turn Around a Toxic Workplace

By: Andrew A. DeMuth Jr.

 

Toxic workplace cultures rarely develop overnight, and they rarely disappear because someone announces that things are going to change.

They develop gradually. Problems are ignored. Poor behavior goes unchallenged. Cliques form. Standards become inconsistent. Employees stop trusting one another. Negativity becomes normal. Eventually, behaviors that once would have been unacceptable simply become part of working there.

Over time, something especially damaging can happen: these behaviors begin showing up in employees who were never known for being toxic. Our people will adapt to the environment around them.

Negativity, gossip, selfishness, defensiveness, and unhealthy alliances can become forms of self-preservation. Employees begin behaving in ways they might never have considered acceptable elsewhere because, in that workplace, those behaviors start to feel necessary simply to survive.

Turning that around requires much more than a meeting, a new policy, or a team-building exercise.

It requires leadership and a lot of work.

Leaders attempting to repair a dysfunctional workplace do not have to fix everything on the first day. But they do have to begin moving the organization in a different direction—and employees have to see evidence that the change is real.

Here are seven leadership moves that can begin that turnaround.

 

1. Listen Before You Lead the Change

One of the biggest mistakes a new leader can make is entering a troubled workplace already convinced they know what is wrong.

It is important that leaders properly diagnose the problem before prescribing the treatment.

The absolute best way to accomplish this is by meeting individually with employees. Ask what is working and what is not. Ask what frustrates them. Ask what has been tolerated for too long. Ask what they would change if they were suddenly placed in charge.

Then listen. Do not become distracted by every individual complaint. Look for patterns.

If one employee complains about communication, that may be an individual concern. If twelve employees independently describe the same communication problem, you probably have something that needs attention.

The same is true of favoritism, inconsistent standards, poor supervision, workplace conflict, broken equipment, outdated policies, or a particular employee who continually damages relationships.

A leader who listens carefully may discover that much of the turnaround plan is already sitting inside the organization.

 

2. Let Leadership Go First

After gathering information, leaders are often tempted to bring everyone together and explain what employees need to start doing differently.

Not yet. Leadership should go first. Fix something.

Address an unfair policy that everyone has complained about for years. Repair equipment that should have been replaced months ago. Improve a neglected work area. Correct a communication problem. Recognize someone who has been quietly performing excellent work.

Then on the following week, do it again.  Some improvements may be significant. Others may be remarkably small.

What matters initially is that employees begin seeing evidence. They need to believe that the cultural turnaround is not another management slogan or short-lived morale campaign. Visible improvements demonstrate that leadership is willing to invest effort before asking employees to do the same.

Credibility grows when people see promises becoming action.

 

3. Reset the Standard

Once employees understand that leadership is serious about improvement, it is time to establish what the workplace will look like moving forward.

It is best to do this in an all-hands meeting. Obviously, depending on the size of the unit, division or organization you are managing, you may have to scale how this is done.

But make it clear that we are having a meeting to discuss some changes and the future.

Be specific.

How are people expected to treat one another?

What level of professionalism is expected?

How will disagreements be handled?

What behavior will no longer be accepted?

What does teamwork look like?

What does accountability look like?

What standard of performance is expected?

The leader must make it clear that these expectations are non-negotiable. This does not have to be delivered in a harsh or confrontational manner, but it must be unmistakably clear that things are changing. The goal is to create an environment where everyone supports, encourages, and helps bring out the best in one another, and nothing less will be acceptable.

 

The New Standards Must Be Enforced

Organizations frequently have excellent policies, comprehensive SOPs, and mandatory training. Those things matter. But the actual workplace standard is ultimately established by what leaders reinforce and what they allow to continue.

Employees watch what happens after the meeting.

If gossip is condemned on Monday and ignored on Tuesday, Tuesday becomes the real policy.

If leaders announce that professionalism matters but continue tolerating employees who humiliate coworkers, the organization has learned what the true standard is.

Standards become real only when leadership consistently supports them.

 

4. Model the Culture You Want

Leaders cannot demand from employees what they refuse to demonstrate themselves.

A leader cannot ask for optimism while constantly complaining. A leader cannot preach teamwork while creating favorites. A leader cannot demand respectful communication while publicly embarrassing employees. A leader cannot condemn gossip and then participate in it.

People notice contradictions quickly.

Culture is influenced far more by repeated leadership behaviors than by posters, mission statements, or presentations. Employees continually observe how leaders respond to mistakes, conflict, bad news, strong performance, disagreement, and pressure.

If leaders want professionalism, they have to model professionalism. If they want accountability, they must accept accountability themselves. If they want employees to treat each other well, they need to demonstrate what that treatment looks like.

The leader must become the clearest example of the culture the organization is trying to create. There is an old saying, “It’s always showtime.” This is absolutely true in leadership; our people notice everything.

 

5. Confront Behavior That Damages the Workplace

A cultural turnaround eventually requires difficult conversations.

Some employees will adapt quickly to a healthier environment. Others may have developed negative habits because negativity was simply how people survived in the old culture.

Give people an opportunity to change, but do not confuse patience with avoidance.

When behavior continues to undermine the workplace, address it quickly and specifically. Explain what happened, why the behavior is unacceptable, how it affects others, and what needs to change. Avoid vague statements such as, “You have a bad attitude.” Describe the behavior.

An employee may be highly productive yet still damage the organization. Someone can generate exceptional numbers while simultaneously creating conflict, undermining coworkers, spreading negativity, or destroying morale.

Performance is more than production. The question is not simply, “What does this person accomplish?” It is also, “What effect does this person have on everyone around them?”

Under no circumstances should toxic behavior be accepted because someone is a high performer. That will undo everything you are trying to accomplish.

Great cultures cannot be built while destructive behavior receives a permanent exemption. (See also Workplace Culture in Law Enforcement.)

 

6. Change What People Talk About

Listen carefully inside a toxic workplace, and you will often hear the culture: the same complaints, the same rumors, the same personalities, the same grievances, the same negative stories repeated again and again.

Leaders should never suppress legitimate concerns or manufacture artificial positivity. Problems need to be discussed honestly.

But problems cannot be allowed to become the only conversation.

Give positive contribution oxygen. Talk about the employee who handled a difficult situation exceptionally well. Celebrate improvement. Discuss accomplishments. Recognize someone helping a colleague. Share positive feedback. Talk about where the organization is going. Remind employees who benefits when the organization performs at a high level. Reintroduce purpose.

Healthy cultures do not pretend problems do not exist. They simply refuse to allow dysfunction to monopolize everyone’s attention.

Leaders have tremendous influence over what receives organizational attention.

Use it.

 

7. Protect the People Building the New Culture

One of the most common mistakes during a turnaround is spending nearly all of leadership’s energy on the people resisting change. Do not forget the people helping create it.

Recognize them. Support them. Ask for their ideas. Give them opportunities. Encourage their contribution. (See also Reward, Recognition, and Appreciation in Law Enforcement.)

These employees can eventually become informal guardians of the culture. They begin reinforcing standards without waiting for management. They welcome new employees into the organization the right way. They celebrate one another’s accomplishments. They challenge destructive behavior. They take pride in what the team is becoming.

That is an important turning point.

Culture change becomes far more durable when employees stop viewing culture as something leadership is responsible for creating and begin understanding that everyone contributes to it.

The goal is not simply to replace a negative culture with a positive one. The goal is to create a culture strong enough to begin sustaining itself.

 

Culture Change Is Leadership Work

A toxic workplace can recover.

People who had become cynical can become engaged again. Relationships can improve. Standards can rise. Pride can return. Employees who had given up on the organization can begin believing in it again. (See also Pride: A Key Component of a Strong Workplace Culture.)

But none of that happens because leadership announces a culture initiative.

It happens because leaders listen, act, establish standards, model the behavior they expect, confront what is damaging the workplace, redirect attention toward contribution and purpose, and support the people who are trying to make the organization better.

Culture is not something leaders work on occasionally. Creating a workplace where good people can succeed is part of the job of leadership.

 

Andrew A. DeMuth Jr. is a nationally recognized leadership speaker, educator, and founder of Leading Blue. He presents throughout the country on leadership, supervision, workplace culture, professional development, and organizational performance, helping leaders build stronger people, stronger teams, and stronger organizations.

Andrew brings more than three decades of law enforcement experience across four agencies, including extensive service as a frontline supervisor, investigations commander, training officer, and manager of New Jersey’s statewide CODIS compliance program. He has also served as an adjunct professor and is an IADLEST Nationally Certified Instructor.

Organizations, academies, associations, and conferences bring Andrew in for keynote presentations, leadership programs, and agency training throughout the country. Through Leading Blue, he works with law enforcement, public-safety, and private-sector audiences seeking practical, high-impact approaches to leadership and workplace culture. Learn more about Leading Blue’s law enforcement leadership training or hosting a leadership training program.