Toxic Culture Will Kill a Startup
Three Ways to Call Out and Address Incivility
Toxic culture proliferates when we fail to address it swiftly and firmly. But what about when we simply don’t recognize what toxic culture is? Startups are poised to define and identify toxicity early and before it becomes pervasive.
What Is Toxic Culture?
Consider these familiar workplace scenarios:
Scenario 1: Nicole is part of a large marketing team in a technology company. Nicole hates to be wrong. She hates it so much that if anyone even suggests such a thing, she raises her voice, snaps at others, and derails conversations. At the team’s last meeting, Nicole became so angry at a team member for disagreeing with her that she refuses to speak to or interact with that team member.
Scenario 2: Brad works in a busy IT department. He purposely works slowly so that he never has to take on larger and harder projects. Brad’s manager won’t intervene because she maintains that Brad and his co-workers must figure out how to work together. Brad openly brags about how little he does.
Scenario 3: Gary and Brooke share a small office. Whenever Gary has a question or a comment, he interrupts Brooke, regardless of what she’s doing. She’s tried wearing headphones, but he just spoke…
