Contagious Toxicity


     Have you ever wonder why many times you wake up in the morning very excited and determined to work relentlessly and hit as many targets and goals as possible during the day. And once you reach your workplace, all of a sudden you meet and discuss with a toxic colleague or you see an incident that changes your mood and sucks your energy. If you have gone through such situations you have to know these toxic situations are contagious and you are most likely going to spread these negative energy among your colleagues and coworkers. This highly contagious toxicity might be in the form of complaining, gossip, lack of concentration, unhealthy arguments and debates etc;

    As a result of that, the organization would be discredited and known with a bad reputation, the workplace won't be appealing for creative minds and talents, gaps between higher managers and employees will become bigger with time, team spirit would be lost between unnecessary gossip and debates. Therefore, this article demystifies the source of toxicity in workplaces and how to behave to avoid them to be more productive and a source of positive vibe for others.


Source of Toxicity

Coworkers and Managers

    According to the American author Donald Miller that employees in any environment paly one of the following roles, they either play a victim role, a villain role, a Hero role or a Guide role. Before deciding which of these roles are toxic let's first unpack each of these roles:

၀ a victim: who believes all the time in the conspiracy theory and everyone is unfair with their decisions. A victim tends to be insecure about themselves, very sceptical and predominantly gossipy.  

၀ a villain: from my perspective victims attract villains and vice versa. A villain tends to be very directive, dictator, hard to be convinced and would do anything including lying and intimidating others to prove that he is right or he is doing the right thing. The villain might be a bad-mouthing or joules from the subordinate.

၀ a hero: who is able to turn loses into winnings, setbacks into breakthroughs and problems into opportunities. A hero leads others by bringing back the synergy with his positive energy. 

၀ a guide: the reference for the hero who might provide the experience and the guidance for others.

    In the aftermath of understanding the different four roles, it's clear that both a Victim and a Villain are so toxic and by their attitude, they could poison the environment and sucks others energy and enthusiasm.

The World is your Mirror

    The second source of toxicity is the employee himself or herself. You have to know that if don't appreciate your achievements and know your value, no one would. So, whatever we see around us is a reflection about what we feel about ourselves.

Customers

    If you are dealing directly with customers then be ready to get bombarded with unexpected replies, lack of appreciation at times or even disrespect in some situations. However, you have to be empathetic for them without taking any situation personally. If you receive wonderful feedback then take it to push you forward, on the other hand, be rational once you receive negative feedback in order to boost your provided services.  

Work and Market Nature

    The nature of the market and the high competition there might cause a stressful working environment. Managers might overreact and coworkers might be selfish in hitting their own target even if they harm others. Then this attitude becomes the culture of the organization.

Dealing with Toxic Environment

    After knowing the source of toxicity now we can distance ourselves by adhering to the following steps:

Know yourself

    First and foremost, you have to know yourself and what floats your boat and boost your productivity. In addition, don't leave your achievements without celebration or without highspot them for others, Because self-care is self-worth.

Be Mindful

    Today everyone has a fight we don't know about. So, generalize conflicts and misunderstandings by focusing on what bring people together rather than focusing on our differences.

Seek Opportunities

    After any conflict ask yourself what did I learn from such experience what kind of opportunities we can generate out of this conflict. Sometimes going through a setback might open doors and light new ways for us.

Change Close Colleagues

    Remember that colleagues are not friends so if you can feel free to change where you set or even change your team or department. Especially if you are surrounded with haters, jealous or naysayers who criticize and objects any new opportunities or ideas.

Get out of Death Spirals

    Remember misery loves company which means people who are unhappy may get some consolation from knowing that others are unhappy too. Moreover, problems and difficulties attract each other. That brings to mind the concept of death spirals in which the organization encounter one failure after another till they go out of business. That's why you have to be very mindful when things start to collapse, and the first recommended action is to appreciate any small achievement and know by focusing on those small wins you are going to get more of them till you get out of the bigger death spiral.


By Abdulrhaman Al-Deijy
عبدالرحمن غازي الدعيجي

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