Functioning in a dysfunctional workplace

26 Aug 2024

Many of us have worked in a dysfunctional workplace at some point. You know, the workplace that is full of hostility, negativity, cliques, mistrust, inefficiency and selfishness? Along with these toxic traits come power struggles, poor communication and abusive leadership.

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.

Pho­to cred­it: Cheryl / stock​.adobe​.com

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

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