When a Poor Atmosphere Catches Everyone in Its Web
When a poor working atmosphere is left unaddressed, it becomes chronic: even with a change of staff, the difficulty remains, as if soaked into the walls, and is always passed on to newcomers as well.
For about a year, I walked alongside one work community. According to workplace climate surveys, this community had experienced difficulties and poor wellbeing for years, even though there had been an almost complete change of staff in recent years. When a new leader took over from the long-standing one, they also felt the effects of the poor atmosphere first-hand. A few months into the role, they decided to take on the atmosphere challenge.
At the last joint meeting of the work community, I listened with gratitude to what the group brought to the table: people felt light and enthusiastic, even grateful, when coming to work; they felt that others cared; work had been planned together and those plans had also been put into action; and people spoke of receiving support and having strong trust in their colleagues. And laughter rang through the corridors!
It left me wondering: is there something universal here that recurs in almost every successful turnaround?
Everyone's experience must be heard, without judgement.
For each person to be able to let go of the burden they have been carrying, it needs to be spoken aloud and heard by everyone. Not as accusations, nor as a demand to "agree", but as an experience that is allowed to be seen and understood.
We talk about the work and the way it is done.
Talking about emotions alone is not enough. Talking about ways of working alone is not enough. Both are needed for us to find the small triggers that pull us away from shared work and into the trenches of personal hurt.
The leader clarifies the structures of work and sharpens the primary task.
The root cause usually lies somewhere other than in difficult personalities. Often, at the outset, the primary task and its meaning have become blurred, goals and their follow-up are missing, work is unevenly distributed, and ways of working depend heavily on individual personalities.
It must be acknowledged that a leader who puts structures in order may at first arouse suspicion and fear. After all, it always means giving something up as well. Consistently driving this phase forward is critical to success. Without it, nothing else will carry very far.
The leader must be able to take on a containing function.
At the start of the process, the leader is on the receiving end of criticism that often feels unfair. The leader needs the ability to receive criticism, work through their own defensive reactions, and still remain engaged, listening constructively and openly.
The process continues beyond the crisis phase.
Old, challenging dynamics inevitably recur along the way, and at that point there is a temptation to return to what is familiar: to avoid, or to take up the defence of one's own camp. If the supervisor gets scared at this point and backs off, the old pattern only grows stronger. When the work continues beyond the crisis phase, it becomes possible to try out a new way of dealing with challenges in group dynamics, and to reach a shared understanding of where the conflicts truly stem from.
The work community has the willingness and ability to self-reflect.
No challenge is resolved if no one is willing to look at their own part in sustaining it. This usually opens up only once judgement and the search for someone to blame have been stripped away and a safe setting has been created for the conversation. Having learned during the process to listen to others' differing interpretations and experiences of the same situations broadens the way we perceive. The experience of being accepted eases the need to hide weaknesses and creates room to be seen in all one's facets.
Every work community is, of course, its own story. But these six principles have been present surprisingly often when something has genuinely turned around.
This blog was written by our organizational and leadership development specialist Hanna Rainio. Hanna is inspired by supporting people and organizations on their path toward sustainable growth and renewal.
