Com­mon signs of a dys­func­tion­al work­place include:

• absence of trust
• fear of conflict
• lack of commitment
• avoid­ance of accountability
• gos­sip
• poor com­mu­ni­ca­tion
• high turnover
• inat­ten­tion to results
• lack of empathy
• dis­re­spect of boundaries
• inat­ten­tion to team objectives
• unclear expec­ta­tions
• con­fu­sion
• con­trol
• exces­sive criticism
• fear and unpredictability
• low­er morale
• work imbal­ance
• poor trans­paren­cy
• yelling
• a tyran­ni­cal boss.
  

Just the thought of walk­ing into a work­place such as this can make you feel guard­ed, hyper­vig­i­lant, fear­ful, and emo­tion­al­ly drained at the start of the day, let alone at the end of it.

Some­times we are in the posi­tion to fix things, or at least con­tribute to cre­at­ing a work­place cul­ture that is health­i­er and pos­i­tive, and where employ­ees feel safe, sup­port­ed, engaged and motivated.

This can often be a chal­leng­ing time, yet it is high­ly reward­ing as you watch your col­leagues tran­si­tion from sur­viv­ing to thriving.

At oth­er times, this tox­ic cul­ture is so embed­ded with­in the work­place, and we are pow­er­less in our abil­i­ty to change it; we just need to sur­vive it until we decide to either leave or see out the contract.

This is a time when we need to dig deep with­in our­selves and imple­ment the fol­low­ing strate­gies to keep you tem­porar­i­ly func­tion­ing in this workplace:

Stay focused

Focus on the tasks in front of you and how you per­form your job. Rise above all else that is hap­pen­ing around you and mind­ful­ly per­form each task. Take it one task at a time.

Keep your distance

Don’t par­tic­i­pate in gos­sip or neg­a­tiv­i­ty. If you see it hap­pen­ing, turn away and find anoth­er task to com­plete or find some­thing else to do.

Find allies

This is not about find­ing some­one to whinge with. It’s about find­ing some­one you can talk to and con­sult with about your work or patients with­out the fear and negativity.

Tune it out

If you hear or see poor behav­iour that you know you’re not going to change, mind­ful­ly attend to what you are doing and tune out what you are hear­ing or see­ing. How­ev­er, if this involves a safe­ty or dis­crim­i­na­to­ry issue, don’t be afraid to speak up, but be aware that you may become the focus of that person’s poor behav­iour, and that will have to be ok for now.

Look for triggers

Observe people’s actions and what trig­gers their poor behav­iours. Like­wise, mind­ful­ly reflect on what behav­iours or obser­va­tions will like­ly trig­ger upset with­in you. Avoid these as much as pos­si­ble by plan­ning what you can do if you find your­self in this sit­u­a­tion, for exam­ple, tak­ing a quick break, going for a walk or ring­ing a friend.

Set an example

The old adage ​“don’t sink to their lev­el” applies here. Align your behav­iour with your val­ues and show peo­ple how you behave, and what behav­iours you would like to see them dis­play. If you expect respect­ful con­ver­sa­tions, engage in respect­ful con­ver­sa­tions and, if it starts to break down, tell the oth­er per­son you’ll leave it there and walk away.

Take your leave

In a sit­u­a­tion where change is futile, and when the first oppor­tu­ni­ty presents itself, leave. If you are being dis­re­spect­ed and your skills are going unap­pre­ci­at­ed, leave and find some­where that is more aligned with your val­ues and where you will be appreciated.

The above are only tem­po­rary strate­gies to help get you through and, whilst the deci­sion to leave can often be extreme­ly dif­fi­cult due to such things as staff short­ages and com­mu­ni­ty con­nec­tions, you also need to ask your­self what con­tin­u­ing to work in such a dys­func­tion­al envi­ron­ment is cost­ing you.

If you sus­pect you’re work­ing in such an envi­ron­ment, ask your­self ques­tions about your well­be­ing, such as, Are you sleep­ing ok? How are you feel­ing with­in your­self? Are you tired most of the time? Tear­ful? Are you eat­ing as well as you could? When you start reflect­ing on all the lit­tle (or big) ways in which your work­place is affect­ing your health and well­be­ing, it’s often a cat­a­lyst for mak­ing those some­times dif­fi­cult deci­sions that need to be made.

Above all, val­ue your­self and what you bring to a work­place. At the end of the day, we all want to have a healthy work envi­ron­ment in which we are val­ued, appre­ci­at­ed and can thrive in. You deserve that.

If you are work­ing in a chal­leng­ing work­place envi­ron­ment, don’t for­get you can call the Bush Sup­port Line at any time on 1800 805 391.

Take care,

Dr Nicole Jef­fery-Dawes
Senior Psy­chol­o­gist
Bush Sup­port Line