Identifying and Preventing Toxic Work Culture
It All Comes Down to Choices
Agency is one of those words that has become a recurring standard in my life. When I say Agency, I refer to the ability of a person to control their direction in life and by extension achieve outcomes they desire. It may be referred to elsewhere; as freedom, choice, or opportunity. I prefer agency as it seems to capture the essence of a world dominated by accumulation of wealth, hyper-localized bureaucratic power, and unprecedented innovation and change. I bring this up because I want to highlight that we always have a choice in how we deal with other people. In work environments, particularly in startups, we have small teams and limited resources (typically time). Those teams and resources tend to need guidance and strong leadership. Unfortunately many leaders end up making choices in these mission critical times that harm the company or the product. It is very easy for any us to be lured astray. It is also easy to choose a path of kindness, or a middle path of acceptance and professionalism. I feel this is highlighted by the lovely image above taken by Devin Edwards.
On Tribalization
Many intelligent and eloquent individuals have mentioned how our culture has become more tribal, and therefor more divided, in recent times. I think this is a bit unfair to tribes, as there are many positive attributes such as can be inferred from Tim Ferris’ Tribe of Mentors, or tribes as social organizations in their original context of organized and safe communities. But there is a particular type of tribalization that occurs frequently in modern times that I wish to highlight. It is characterized by an “Us or Them” mentality. Sometimes it is packaged as wisdom, other times it has more to do with progressing selfish or partisan objectives.
Many of us have some semblance of agency. We can use our agency to decide how we wish to act in relation to this burgeoning popularity of tribal narratives. We could choose to accept the words of dividers and demagogues. Or we can put forth our best effort to become a bastion of agents who realize our moral and social responsibilities but don’t weaponize those things to the detriment of others. Ultimately, forming a tribe is not a negative thing for start ups, nor for companies in general. In fact you may reference team building, employee bonding, or company culture as potentially positive ways of engaging a tribal mindset. These are not universally lauded, and are complex and developing processes that require patience and dedication. The trouble arises when the tribes we form within our companies are exclusive to the point of distraction or resentment.
The Fundamental Problem With an Inner Circle
Firstly, this is not a knock on having friends. It is not an attack on delegating, or org charts, or anything like that. What I find problematic is tribalizing the Inner Circle so that the company becomes stratified the way a caste system is stratified. This goes beyond hierarchy and tends to involve things like nepotism or favoritism. When your employees or coworkers see you spending time and energy to advance people that you want to surround you for selfish reasons, alienation occurs. Sometimes this is just a case of not having clear messaging or transparency. If that is the case, the solution is quite simple. Explain your decisions when they directly impact an employee or the entire company. For example, bringing a new core team member onboard without talking to the other cofounders being informed seems like it would fall within the purview of the CEO. This is where we have to dissect this a bit. The decision belongs to the CEO, the responsibility belongs to everyone. This is why it is very important not to create an inner circle based on only the people that agree with the CEO. Is it challenging to make a team that is cohesive and that appeals to the company as a whole? Yes. Do it anyways.
So, we know what not to do. But are we sure we can avoid this situation? Here are some suggestions to get you on track in this regard.
- Talk to your core team before hiring.
- Ask for feedback.
- Tell people their feedback is valuable, and that honesty will never be punished in the context of a one to one meeting.
- Ask yourself what it would be like if you were an intern, or a new associate joining your company. If you can’t put yourself in that place, you need to get out of your office or board room and find out. The people that work for you deserve a leader that knows how to run a company the right way. You can be that leader.
To me it is as simple as this. Will this take a bit of time and energy? Sure. Will it sometimes feel like an inconvenience? Maybe. But the result is that your team is healthy and people do not feel alienated or excluded. I’ve met a lot of CEOs in the last few years. While they are often competent in many areas, one common weakness is how long it takes them to learn how to manage their inner circle. It is so important to have support and to feel safe in your company. But getting those things can be accomplished while also honoring your responsibility to your entire company and team.
Today I have featured Devin Edwards’ photography! Check out his website, it is nice to look at!
As always, thank you for reading. Feedback is always appreciated. I’m updating my process somewhat related to the imagery I use in my articles. While my educational content may still feature visuals I construct using Canva, I have run out of compelling photos of my own to use for my content on a regular basis. What that means is, I will start featuring an artist’s work. Typically 1–3 photos or other visual works. These are some fabulously skilled people and I hope to give them what tiny bit of exposure my writing can provide!
Tribalization of the Inner Circle was originally published in The Ascent on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
