Because nonprofit organizations like yours survive and thrive with a different set of expectations than public or private organizations, there is a temptation to assume that issues in those sectors are unlikely to emerge at nonprofits. After all, many team members join a nonprofit because they care about the mission — not just for a paycheck, and they’d never do anything to limit the organization with personal disputes or toxic behavior, right? Unfortunately, this is the opposite of what many nonprofit teams experience.
Even the most dedicated organizations and teams can deal with some level of toxicity. There are a number of reasons for this, but toxicity is one of the most common factors in high turnover at nonprofit organizations. However, because it can be difficult to uncover, define, or measure, toxicity is often handled poorly, or not at all, by nonprofit managers. Being able to detect toxic habits or tendencies and handling them with care can seem daunting or uncomfortable, but it might be the difference between staff moving on or staying at your organization long-term. If you are concerned about this sort of culture emerging at your organization or you simply want to be prepared, here are some key things that might contribute to the emergence or growth of toxic behavior:
What is toxic behavior?
Possibly the biggest challenge in dealing with a toxic workplace culture is that everyone has a unique definition of what “toxic” means. Different people will have sometimes wildly different expectations and ideas of what constitutes toxicity, which can make it difficult to know what, if anything, needs to change. You might define it as any sort of interpersonal behavior that impacts a team member’s ability to be comfortable or productive in the workplace. Common examples you see are:
- Judgmental or highly-critical workplace interactions or feedback
- Frequent and uncomfortable levels of gossip
- Micromanagement, overloading team members with work, or expecting team members to regularly work beyond their capacity or outside agreed-upon expectations
- Bullying, harassment, or uncomfortable topics of discussion, especially when tied to attempts at humor
As you might imagine, some of these can be easier to tackle than others but being able to address them could require a certain amount of organizational communication and footwork. A key thing you could keep in mind is that most employees are not willing or interested in speaking with their boss about a workplace issue, even at organizations which welcome this kind of behavior. This means that someone coming to you or other leaders with a concern could have been dealing with the issue for a long time and might be at a critical point of feeling frustrated or disempowered.
Part of the reason this sort of issue is so significant at nonprofits is that many people work at nonprofits for reasons outside of remuneration. Knowingly earning less money or working more for a cause you believe in can make interpersonal issues in the workplace feel even more distressing, as there is more personal investment in the organization and work than there might be in other sectors. For a nonprofit like yours, this could make addressing these issues with care and consistency a key part of your employee productivity and retention strategy.
How does toxicity come about?
Because the exact definition of toxicity can differ from person to person and organization to organization, there is no catch-all solution to addressing it. However, it can be helpful to look at some of the most common reasons workers and managers point to when discussing toxicity:
- Hands-off management, or an unwillingness to listen to concerns or issues
- Poor communication between employees and management, between managers, and between teams
- Differing social norms and a lack of cohesive workplace rules around acceptable conduct
- An inconsistent response to issues that isn’t well understood or documented
Addressing these issues
Hands-off management
This can be a challenging one to work through, because being too hands-on as manager can create another set of issues. However, this feeling can come from the perception that employees are more or less on their own when dealing with toxicity or other workplace issues. One approach is to empower managers to take these issues seriously, and provide a documented process for discussing problems and solutions. If employees trust the process you have in place, they will feel more willing to speak up and be heard.
Poor communication
This can be a major source of stress, as even minor organizational changes can be misinterpreted as a sign of future problems. Communicating poorly or not at all about things like organizational health, goals, and priorities can give team members room to speculate and draw inaccurate or worrying conclusions. Taking the time to consider each announcement carefully and reinforcing that each of your team members can approach you to speak informally about concerns might help you address potential issues before they impact morale.
Differing social norms
If this is a frequent issue or something you wish to head off, you could start by examining what resources you have that point to expected workplace behavior. This doesn’t just mean the employee handbook — onboarding, team meetings, and management leadership styles are all important places where this set of expectations might be established. Changing norms can be difficult, but it may be helpful to frame toxic conduct as detrimental to the organization’s mission in order to help increase team buy-in.
Inconsistent response
Being inconsistent in the ways you address workplace toxicity can fuel the issue, as it creates room for speculation about favoritism and other issues. Your policy and approach can address this by working to always offer the same support and expectations to every team member, irrespective of their role, seniority, or other factors.
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The information contained in this article is not a substitute for legal advice or counsel and has been pulled from multiple sources.
(Image by Łukasz Dyłka from Pixabay)
