Nurturing your startup’s positive culture
It only takes one person to destroy a team, sometimes even an entire business. They do so by wrecking your culture.
If a superb culture is the pixie dust of entrepreneurship, the rotten apple employee is the poison. That is what they do. They poison your pixie dust.
They may focus on one particular manager or go all out for an entire business. The process is the same. It is not so much a case of Honey I Blew up the Kids, but Honey, I Blew up the Business.
And if you allow that person to get their tentacles sufficiently embedded over time, it may be too late to stop the implosion.
You may think it could never happen to you.
You may be rightly proud of your super-strong and cohesive culture, where everyone is on board with the vision and excited about the future.
But, trust me, it can.
It happened within a company of mine. Initially, I felt a strong sense of unease. Then I noticed a growing tendency of “us and them” thinking, an awareness of whispers and conversations that stop when you enter a room.
It took me to a point where I thought, “I didn’t want to be here anymore”.
The effects of the slithering toxicity of the rot cannot be understated. The early signs are a giveaway, but we often don’t want to see them.
Morale — Previously always positive, starts to slip. The constant negativity takes a toll on everyone.Communications breakdown — Somehow, the things you say and the suggestions you make are misinterpreted. Nothing obvious. Initially, you may even think the odd occasion is your fault. But, gradually, it dawns on you that communication with the whole team is breaking down.Cultural divides start appearing — Divisions are fanned by whatever means possible. Gossip increases. People are either within this new, hallowed inner circle that has been created or outside it.Staff turnover increases — Everyone knows that nothing is as much fun as it used to be. Those outside the circle are made to feel uncomfortable — costs of…