Welcome back!
Dysfunctional cultures have one hallmark feature: there is some kind of poison running through the system. That poison may be one person who is allowed to disrupt the work environment without consequences. The poison may be a good old boys or good old girls club that squelches other people’s opportunities for success.The poison may be one really bad leader who has a stranglehold on the power in the organizations. The poison may be immature behavior or shirking of duties that goes unchecked. The poison may be skimming money off of company accounts. The poison may be ripping off the public, or defrauding the stakeholders. The poison may be abuse of those you are charged with looking after. The poison may be an addiction that compromises personal judgment and interferes with the functioning of the organization. The poison may be outright corruption.
Whatever form the poison takes, it will contaminate the culture and nothing good will survive in that toxic soil. A toxic culture will damage people in their heart, mind, and spirit. It will corrode their careers and seep into their personal lives. It will claim marriages as its victims, and spill over into child and animal abuse. It will compromise community and diminish dreams that would have otherwise come true. It will steal hope one piece at a time until someone takes their own life. Do you really want to be responsible for those kinds of outcomes? Because if you are causing or allowing poison to flow through your workplace, you will be.
Until next time, I’ll be praying for your gut level assessment of the poisons flowing up and down your hallways.