Joy Namdarian, EA to the Chief Technology Officer at AusNet Services, shared her review of the book Detox your Culture by Colin D. Ellis.
“Am I the problem? For most of us, the answer is no. Most of us want to bring the best version of ourselves to work. We want to do the right thing; we want to be professional, and we want to be kind to others. However, it’s helpful to pause and reflect on whether we’re achieving these things on a daily basis.
Detox Your Culture encourages us to take this introspective view, especially if we are a part of the leadership team. Colin, the author, suggests that one cannot assume that people who enter leadership positions come with the necessary soft skills that are the mainstays of a vibrant culture. Indeed, he points out that some managers may require training on how to live the values set out by an organisation. So even if they aren’t the problem, merely lacking soft skills could cause them to contribute ‘to a degradation of working conditions’ and inadvertently create a toxic culture without even realising it.
This begs the question of what exactly toxic culture is. It isn’t simply about people misbehaving. Did you know that setting unrealistic targets, having unclear expectations, poor communication and poor work/life balance can all be attributed to toxic culture? This book shows us ‘how to spot it and call it out’, which I think is particularly relevant to EAs (being the eyes and ears of an organisation). We can play a crucial role in keeping our company’s culture in check by ensuring that when toxic behaviour is observed or reported, we feed this back through the appropriate channels promptly and follow up to ensure that proper action has been taken.
One of the most valuable parts of this book is the section that details what makes up the four different types of cultures – stagnant, pleasant, combatant and vibrant which is handy if you’d like to know where your corporate culture sits. Colin also shares how to tell when a culture turns toxic and, more importantly, the signs to look out for before a culture turns toxic. He reminds us that we all have a role to play in building and maintaining a vibrant culture and that it is something that must be constantly worked on, with teams holding each other to account.
If you’re racking your brain on how to develop a high-performing team, start with this book.”
Also read: Seven culture killers – and how to stop them (part one) | Executive PA Media
