One of the common problems encountered in many start-ups is “Toxic Positivity”. The desire for good news or forcing a positive aspect on any situation can lead to the ruination of a company’s culture and the creation of a toxic environment.
Here are five ways to prevent this ailment.
1. Financial issues, revenue or funding shortfalls, or overspending versus plan are common in the early days of a business. Hiding these facts or trying to invent positive “spins” on what are clearly bad news events are easily spotted by today’s workforce. It is far better to share the key financial parameters of the business with all employees on a regular basis. Add a commentary to aid understanding, but only highlight fact and do not mix these with opinions.
2. Avoid senior and junior managers communicating in platitudes to their staff. Phrases such as “It will be fine”, or “every cloud has a silver lining” have no place in discussions about business, personal performance or prospects. Bad news and good news must be treated similarly. Celebrating success is good for a business and its people, it allows them to recognise and be resilient against those times when bad news arises. Senior staff must not try and pretend a major client being lost or a massive hike in energy bills that will increase costs and threaten profit are anything but bad news to be addressed and resolved. Recognising the gravity of a problem before it becomes a crisis are fundamental management skills that help to drive solutions.
3. Recognise that your team will not all be happy all the time. Doing this you will be giving yourself permission not to seek, spin or invent good news stories or engage in fabrications that your team will rapidly challenge and see through.
4. Communicate facts and plans clearly to your team. In this way you will provide hope, which is a fundamental requirement of people. But when doing this be realistic, do not create false hope or a false sense of security. Test your arguments and your information before you share it and ensure that it stands up to independent scrutiny.
5. When you are made aware of negativity in your workplace, do not attempt to squash or crush it. Use it as a means by which problems can be aired and discussions can be had. These will often lead to improvements in processes, the working environment or staff relations. Recognise that some of these discussions could be emotionally charged and train staff to deal with situations such as this.
As a business is being built emotions amongst the founders, their investors, the staff and perhaps even customers will be high. The pressures caused by making things up as you go along or putting temporary fixes in place are real.
But if a workforce is told the truth, is not misled or made false promises to. Is treated as adult and is engaged in addressing and resolving issues it will become more mature. They will work with each other, bringing authenticity to their workplace and their colleagues who in turn will interact in similar ways ensuring that the working environment is both inclusive and welcoming. This will in turn lead to a truly positive and happy workplace.