If our business is experiencing a high incidence of mental ill health, including depression, stress, anxiety or burnout, this is often shown in turnover of high performers, absenteeism, and collaboration and productivity challenges. These factors often signal the prevalence of destructive behaviours in the workplace.
Destructive leadership behaviour is defined as the systematic and repeated behaviour by a leader, supervisor or manager that violates the legitimate interest of the organisation by undermining and / or sabotaging the organisation’s goals, tasks, resources, and effectiveness and / or the motivation, wellbeing or job satisfaction of his / her subordinates (1).
To maximise our ability to deliver on projects, accomplish strategic goals, and ultimately achieve organisational strategy, we need to address destructive behaviours, set expectations of what behaviours are expected, and ensure our leaders are equipped to encourage the right behaviours and manage those that are not accepted.
Understand the current culture
Work to define and build culture that supports productive behaviours and creates an environment for wellness must be deliberate if we are to achieve change.
The starting point is to understand the current culture and wrap our minds around both the productive and destructive behaviours at play within the business.
This important work is incorporated into The Integrated Approach during the Culture Strategy phase.
Assessing culture and identifying goals serves as a platform for building a strong lever for change.
Understanding what we are up against in the existing culture brings important context and reality to the table – this acts as a basis to have powerful discussions about it as a leadership team and set a new, deliberate direction.
“Only 1 in 8 people (13.1%) have a workplace culture that encourages open discussion about issues that affect mental health wellbeing.”
Promote the desired culture
To effect cultural change, we have established that behaviours are at the core. Once desired behaviours are established, for these to become engrained, there must be:
Absolute clarity of what is expected
Persistent visibility so people become familiar with new behavioural standards
Articulation of both accepted and inappropriate behaviours
A way of knowing how we are tracking against this.
Call To Action
Leaders must commit to a need for culture and behaviours to change.
To engender this, a culture / behavioural assessment will evaluate whether your people are highly engaged and empowered, or disconnected and afraid to speak up.
This can be assessed informally within the business, or it can add significant value to undertake an evidence-based culture survey as a benchmark.
Regularly audit your organisation’s performance, through follow-up surveys taken each twelve-months. Then provide tangible feedback of progress within the business and increase accountability for change.
This input forms the basis for important strategy work that needs to be undertaken by the team and allows them to enter this forum with an open mindset acknowledging the need for change and reform.
Once a new culture and requisite behaviours are defined, the work doesn’t stop. The communication strategy with everyone within your organisation is pivotal so they understand and buy into the need for new behaviours to prevail.
Taking it Further
The successful management of behaviours in your organisation is a continuous and ongoing effort that must be integrated into day-to-day business operations.
Leaders play a pivotal role by influencing others through their own behaviours, decisions and actions. Trust in leadership and team performance drives a positive workplace culture.
Workplaces that are successful in improving workplace culture have strong leaders who communicate transparently across the organisation to become more collaborative.
Creating and maintaining a positive workplace culture can be challenging, so it’s important to continually review and monitor your organisation by engaging your people in the discussion through surveys, open communication with leadership and forums to raise and address problematic behaviours before they become destructive.
Though for many this feels like a ‘bit of a leap’, with application and diligence it is achievable.
Where to Now?
Sources
Destructive leadership behaviour: A definition and conceptual model - Ståle Einarsen ⁎, Merethe Schanke Aasland, Anders Skogstad (University of Bergen, Norway, Department of Psychosocial Science, Christiesgate 12, N-5015 Bergen, Norway)
Superfriend, 2019 Indicators of a Thriving Workplace Survey