Dealing with a toxic team

It is team work, not an individual effort. It is 'we' and not 'I'. One often hears these statements. But how can one deal with the problems of the individual 'I' so that the venom does not spread to the 'we'. Renuka Vembu writes

One rotten apple spoils the entire basket-this adage personifies the force, impact and power of negative vibes which can spread venom to the positivity around, if not curbed in the initial stage. Even in an attempt to find a perfect fit and maintain an ideal team, things are not bound to have a rosy picture all the time. The ideal setting is going to slide away, giving rise to imperfections, intolerances and discrepancies.

Misunderstanding, lack of communication, grievances, clash of thinking, different styles of working, dissimilar characteristics, personal differences, official tensions—are inevitable in any normal team environment. While minor issues will inevitably creep up in everyday affairs, the turning point arrives when they get out of hand, escalate and spread bad blood in the team, turning a serene ambience into a toxic team environment.

The reasons may vary, the environment may change, people may differ but the outcome should not project negative results. Tripping along the path but not getting distracted from the goal, working out a consensus amicably amidst varied opinions without resorting to a deadlock, and sorting out issues without prolonging or compromising on the results are some virtues that will enable smooth functioning of an individual in a team within an organisation. The race to the finish line will entail all these hindrances, but working to the best of one's ability to fulfil organisational commitment and business needs are mandatory requisites.

The dispute factors

"As employees increasingly rely on each other to generate products and services as a team, the problems and tensions that are fostered by the actively disengaged workers can cause great damage to an organisation's functioning" - Col B S Ahluwalia General Manager-HR Anglo-French Drugs and Industries

The factors for dissatisfaction and disputes may be personal as well as professional. It may be with a particular person an employee or even the boss, or a set of people. Any of these will lead to a glaring impact on work and productivity, as a team involves people of different levels, and it is a joint effort-a collaboration from all ends.

Disputes are inevitable due to difference in attitude and mindsets, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, personality traits, emotional insecurities, maturity and understanding levels, etc.

An individual problem area can be dearth in skills, inexperience, lack of recognition, no channel to share opinions, no mechanism to voice out grievances, lack of cordial relations with team members, work overload, no growth avenues, etc, which can be listed as the probable causes for a team member to spread the virus. These concerns, if persistent for a long period of time and not constructively addressed, may end up maligning the entire team. What needs to be borne in mind is determining if the problem is with how people in the team perceive it, or if there is a real issue lurking in the background.

Colonel B S Ahluwalia, General Manager-HR, Anglo-French Drugs and Industries, says, "The toxic team environment in any organisation could be attributed to low levels of engagement of its employees. Such 'not engaged employees' tend to concentrate on tasks rather than the goals and outcome their expected tasks are likely to accomplish. They focus on accomplishing a task rather than achieving an outcome." He continues, "They hold back and do the minimum because they believe that 'no one cares'. These employees 'lower the bar' for themselves by doing the least amount of work necessary. As employees increasingly rely on each other to generate products and services as a team, the problems and tensions that are fostered by the actively disengaged workers can cause great damage to an organisation's functioning."

But the problem does not lie with members alone. While bosses need to shoulder more responsibility and the onus lies on them to undertake action measures and get issues mended, what gets sidelined in this process is that they themselves can be caught on the wrong foot.

Listed below can be the reasons where the boss needs to keep a check:

• Siding and being partial with certain people in the team
• Shooting down ideas before they are heard
• Not being a team player or leading the path
• Ill-treatment of team members or being too insensitive
• Being too demanding without showing the way
• Lack of recognition or performance appreciation
• A closed-door policy
• An authoritarian rule
• Being inconsiderate or not being accommodative

"By virtue of longevity, seniority, experience or power, many bosses are not able to recognise the virtue of other team members and instead of adding positive value to the team, they act as inhibitors, and create stress situations that affect the team morale" - Surina Iyer General Manager-HR Wanbury

Surina Iyer, General Manager-HR, Wanbury, adds, "By virtue of longevity, seniority, experience or power, many bosses are not able to recognise the virtue of other team members and instead of adding positive value to the team, they act as inhibitors, and create stress situations that affect the team's morale."

Dealing with negativity

Dissatisfied team members reflect dissatisfied customers, which means bad business. Any negative force acts upon the mind of an individual. Through this, it finds a way to seep into the morale of the entire workforce, reflecting on poor productivity and business results. When the signals are quite clear, taking stock of the situation without procrastination will help weed out the problem in the initial stages, when the damage is minimal. The action plan will change according to the demands of the situation, nature of the problem and the people involved in it.

Iyer opines, "A problem needs to be addressed on a case-to-case basis. At the senior level, a company needs to handle these cases very carefully-by providing constant feedback and sometimes even taking the help of professional counsellors. Ask them about their managerial strengths and be sensitive to what they want or with whom they interact with. In the interest of the company, many a times a golden handshake is also advisable."

On a more basic note, being a team player, having common review sessions, recognition for excellence, awarding initiatives, showing tolerance and giving time and space for imperfection to get refined through training, defined career development, flexibility in approach, inviting suggestions and improvement areas and incorporating them and employee engagement are some traits that will help mould a good team. Ahluwalia says, "A skilled and capable manager can use sound theory of management to reduce the frustration, antagonism, anger, fear, hurt, apathy, indifference, anxiety, uncertainty, as these are the main causes of employee disengagement and toxic team environment."

Detecting the problem

Dampening team spirit, dripping performance, dropping quality levels, fall in the dedication and commitment shown by employees towards their work, can be the symptoms which need prescription. Understanding and being accommodative of the working patterns of people, taking feedbacks and considering them for better functioning, a personal relation and an emotional connect with individuals can help managers take heed of the situation. Iyer says, "Follow the instances where several individuals from the same team have left the company in a short period of time; look at the trend wherein one team has higher overtime costs than the others, or the employees in a particular section have been using up all their vacation and more of their sick days than the average, etc." These act as the indicators to identify and amend a toxic team environment.

There may well at many times be no need for a strategy because simple problems have simple solutions. One just needs to have an eye to look at them and a will to solve them. Whatever be the case, communication holds the key. Direct, face-to-face, one-on-one interactions can help tackle day-to-day issues before they spin into bitter arguments and uncomfortable situations.

Iyer suggests, "Clarity in job roles and responsibilities is a must. Different team-led interventions should be constantly introduced depending on the team size, maturity stage and leadership. Teams need to be encouraged to share their moments of joy and celebrate success together, which has been a constant endeavour in our company that has fructified into team camaraderie and to an extent mitigated the problem of toxic team environment."

Ahluwalia asserts, "Managers need to demonstrate a sense of caring among employees and what is important to them. They can help employees refocus on their demands, on their roles and their skills, knowledge and the tail ends they bring to their job. The manager who takes time to have a dialogue about an employee's strength and how these can make a difference in forging essential ties and connections that lead to employee commitment and will safeguard toxic environment taking roots in the organisation. A good manager needs to identify those who are disengaged and explore the reasons behind the disconnect to determine if coaching or other interventions are appropriate and in some cases people in a team inflicted with toxicity will respond favourably to opportunities to reconnect and rekindle their interest and enthusiasm for their jobs. Most people search for ways to make their lives and work meaningful and only disengage when they feel neglected."

The bigger picture

Individuals come together to become a team, and teams tie-up with one another to give shape to an organisation. Individual problems or internal tussles must not lead to organisational intervention. As they say, the problems must remain within the four walls of a house. No outsider, here, viz. customers, stakeholders, etc. must even have a whiff about what is going on inside. Productivity, output, quality, returns, business interests, customer delight, must all remain intact or soar. Individuals and organisations are interdependent, the welfare and well-being of one will reflect on the other. After all, there is no 'I' in the team, only a 'we'.

renuka.vembu@expressindia.com