Detox Your Team!
Perhaps you feel the urge as well to give your body a break after weeks of over-indulgence and kick-start some healthier habits that will make you feel lighter and brighter. You may have even started a detox day or detox diet. Who doesn’t like the idea of getting rid of all unwanted toxins that may be hampering your performance… But have you ever considered that your team might need a detox?
Toxic behaviors can destroy an organization. When not discussed, they will cause dysfunction, unhappiness and poor performance. Many of us have been at the receiving end of toxic behavior at some point in our lives. Everyone knows the awful feeling. What’s often harder to admit, or recognize, is that sometimes we are also guilty of exhibiting toxic behavior ourselves. And we don’t see how we are co-creating toxic behaviors of others. It is a lot easier to point fingers at others.
“ If he would not be such a micro-manager, people might not go into a burnout.” “If she stopped withholding vital information, the team would perform better.” “he puts a negative spin on every initiative I want to implement, off course I try to avoid him as much as possible.
Instead of pointing fingers at others, learn to see things from their point of view.
Let’s take the example of the micro-manager…
Instead of blaming, try to understand what makes him act the way he acts and assess your own behavior. Are you doing anything that could give your manager cause for concern? Are you giving the job your full attention? Perhaps the manager is a stickler for good timekeeping and you take a more relaxed approach. Be careful not to take all responsibility on your shoulders either. Sit together and have an open dialogue about it. Together you can discover how one toxic behavior leads to another toxic behavior and how you’re both caught in viscous circles that are very counter- productive.
These steps might help you to identify toxic behavior : interested?
- Pick a behavior of another team member that you dislike and want to be changed
- Write down what thoughts you have about this behavior
- Observe how you are behaving, now you’re having these thoughts
- Step into the others shoes and write down how the other might think about your behavior
- Write down how the other might behave, now he has these thoughts – circle is round
Are you interested to support teams in reaching the next level in becoming a high performing team, look into our Masterclass Teamcoaching- starting 22 June 2017!
Interested in discovering a wide range of toxic behaviors: check our next posts.