Use leadership training to address toxicity in the workplace.

When discussing shaping the work environment and culture of an organization, the first thing that comes to mind is leadership.

Competent leaders are able to bring out the best abilities in their teams while motivating them to work toward a common goal. They are responsible for setting the agenda, prioritizing work, managing, and delegating while providing a clear vision, purpose, mentorship, and inspiration to their team members.

It’s on leadership to foster healthy work relationships and a positive work culture. Without effective leadership, organizations might face the prevailing problem of toxicity, which can cause tremendous damage.

For example, according to a TalentLMS and CultureAmp survey, 43% of employees who work in tech companies with a toxic culture believe that management and leadership training would help eliminate a toxic work environment. But, at the same time, 47% agree there’s a lack of leadership and accountability within their company.

Thus, investing in thorough leadership training is a key tool to address the problem of the prevailing toxic work culture.

What Are The Benefits Of  Leadership Training?

Leadership inspires true transformation and the creation of a healthy work environment where people can grow, develop, and provide for the success of the organization.

By offering leadership training to your employees, you maximize the chances of eliminating a toxic workplace culture.

During leadership training, people will be able to evaluate strategies, go over examples of poor and strong leadership, as well as analyze how to perform better as leaders. The ultimate goal of leadership training is to assist employees in building these skills to become future leaders.

Let’s delve into the main benefits of leadership training for your business:

• Increased employee retention: People who work alongside inspirational and competent leaders are more likely to be engaged and, as a result, stay in their current position. Great leaders keep team members truly engaged and motivated at work on a daily basis;
• Better management of challenging situations: With effective leadership, problem-solving isn’t an issue. Successful leaders know how to handle challenges, work through problems, and not create chaos and stress among employees;
• Improved collaboration: Leadership training assists with soft skills development, like interacting with others, handling conflict, and communicating at work. Competent leaders can transfer such qualities and skills to their teams, and people will find working together much easier, with patience and empathy and not with a toxic mindset; and
• Higher productivity: In a healthy workplace, people know how to do their job well, comfortably, and clearly. Great leaders discover through leadership training how to help their teams achieve their fullest potential with joy, productivity, and satisfaction.

Signs that leadership training is essential for your teams

Our survey findings suggest that organizations should invest more in leadership training to steer clear of toxic work culture and employee dissatisfaction.

Let’s go through the areas organizations need to improve with leadership training based on the weak spots our research has uncovered that allow toxicity to spread and thrive.

• Fostering collaboration in place of antagonism: 45% say that senior executives promote unhealthy competition among managers and employees;
• Improving accountability: 47% agree there’s a lack of leadership and accountability within their company;
• Being more clear and transparent: A lack of transparency and clarity in communication from leadership is a runner-up contributor to toxicity, according to employees;
• Promoting respectful behavior: In our survey, 42% of respondents said that managers in tech companies with toxic work cultures are frequently inconsiderate and disrespectful of employees; and
• Rooting out discrimination: Discrimination and unfair treatment because of employees’ age, race, or gender frequently happen in tech companies with toxic work culture, according to over 40% of respondents.

How leadership training can help eliminate a toxic work culture

Leadership training helps build and deepen skills to help leaders combat toxicity at the workplace and create an inclusive and healthy work environment where your teams can succeed.

Let’s examine in detail how this is possible:

1. Cultivate intentional leadership

Without leadership training, intentional leadership wouldn’t exist. Unintentional leaders would contribute to creating a toxic work culture, as they would be vague in their vision-goal connection, spend too much time in meetings, and avoid taking responsibility or taking action.

But intentional leaders are clear about their goals and purposes. They ensure they are deliberate in their actions and align with a well-articulated vision. When your leaders get leadership training, they learn how not to allow things to just improve by themselves and discover how to intervene without having to micromanage or control.

2. Inspire and engage employees

According to a McKinsey study, five key qualities of “centered leadership” can offer more effective leadership when combined:

• Finding meaning in work;
• Leveraging connection and community;
• Turning stress or fear into opportunity;
• Taking action no matter the risks; and
• Keeping the energy of others high through motivation.

These five qualities are necessary for leaders to achieve increased performance and employee engagement in their teams. This optimistic and collaborative approach will empower employees to perform at their best in the framework of a healthy work environment.

3. Deepen emotional intelligence

When thinking of the “perfect leader,” it’s common to picture a person who never loses their temper, no matter the situation, completely trusts their teams, listens to them, is approachable, and makes informed decisions.

EI (emotional intelligence) is essential for leaders so that they can manage their own emotions and the emotions of their teams effectively. Through leadership training, people learn to address their emotions and how these can affect other people, contributing to the elimination of toxic work culture.

4. Nurture and develop talent

Organizations with high-performing, talented employees possess a competitive advantage in their industry. So, it’s on leadership to effectively develop and sustain employee talent.

Well-trained leaders that focus on the development of their teams should:

• Encourage critical thinking;
• Encourage open and honest communication;
• Accept differences in opinions;
• Offer training and development opportunities; and
• Provide effective feedback.

These are assets that all competent leaders should have and develop through leadership training, to foster a healthy culture of learning and development among their teams.

5. Unlearn outdated information

One of the most important skills leaders should develop is the ability to unlearn.

Leaders must understand that certain beliefs, assumptions, or habits no longer belong in a modern, healthy workplace. To steer clear of a toxic work culture, leadership must be trained to follow the unlearning process.

At the same time, by unlearning, leaders are able to create a culture of continuous learning within the organization. They can encourage their teams to learn from their mistakes and be open to fresh ideas.

With leadership training, it’s also possible for leaders to discover how to experiment with new approaches and seek out diverse perspectives.

Pro tip on creating a successful leadership training program

Leaders need to commit to leadership training to reach maximum results. Through effective leadership training, organizations will nurture competent leaders who contribute to eliminating toxic work culture.

They should be dedicated to leadership training during the program duration for a lifetime. And that’s because knowledge may quickly evaporate before new habits are formed and solidified.

So, after the training program is completed, HR and L&D experts of the organizations should make sure they offer follow-up training. Hence, leaders won’t just forget about it, but rather take refresher training to stay on top and make learning stick.

Steering clear from toxic work culture with leadership training

Leadership training helps build a thriving work environment with purpose and meaningful relationships among teams and employees.

Businesses can greatly benefit from a fruitful and healthy work culture by assisting leaders with training to reach their fullest potential, whether focused on hard or soft skills.

Finally, it’s worth considering how leadership and employee training ties into a wider L&D strategy as a part of an upskilling and talent development program.

Organizations should never ignore toxic signs in their culture. A toxic workplace can have serious and damaging consequences. It is hence up to leadership to assist in fixing the situation.

All they need to do is trust, develop, and put into practice their abilities and contribute to the creation of a healthy, positive, and inclusive culture.

Christina Gialleli is Director of People Operations at Epignosis since 2018. She built the function from the ground up and fuelled the company’s rapid growth from a startup of 35 people to a 200-strong scale up. She is responsible for all things People Ops from onboarding to offboarding and, facilitating the company’s ambitious team growth plans.

She has over a decade-long experience in HR functions both in Europe and the United States. Starting off her career in big multinationals in the FMCG and the Oil and Gas industries, she made the transition to the world of tech in 2016. Christina holds a MSc in Human Resources Management from Florida International University.