University of South Africa: Confronting toxic institutionalised culture
Giving context to the much-anticipated webinar, Dr Phasoane Mokgobu, Vice-Principal: Institutional Development, began with a quote from author Diane Kalen-Sukra, who said in her book Save Your City: How Toxic Culture Kills Community & What to Do About It, “Culture is like a forest. The seeds are your core values. Once they take root as behaviours, they can grow into trees, populating your cultural forest. Bad seeds produce unhealthy forests, infertile, and plagued by infestations. Good seeds produce a healthy forest and ecosystems that support life. One is sustainable, the other is simply not.” she said
Mokgobu expressed how important it is to be exemplars to the rest of the institution and help others understand the value of eliminating toxicity. He also encouraged management to follow the rules to the letter and be a benchmark of good seeds, for other staff to strive towards.
Toxic culture, a top-down problem
In her opening address, Naledi Modibedi, Head of the Department of Human Resources at Ekurhuleni Municipality, said she had first-hand experience of enduring a toxic culture when she joined the municipality. “In most cases,” she said, “toxic culture is perpetuated by individuals or cliques who feel more superior than the organisation, and that is where the problem starts”.
Modibedi said people don’t leave the organisation; they leave the managers. “This is the reason you have your high performers leaving as a result of the managers perpetuating a toxic culture.” she continued. “More often than not, every organisation has a climate, be it positive or negative. Individuals assimilate with the climate to fit in, and managers are the ones at the forefront of keeping this negative climate alive in order to maintain the status quo. That is why you see these organisations always on the media for the wrong reasons. One individual catches fire, and the whole unit burns.”
Delving deep into the genesis of unhealthy work practises, Modibedi, describing them as red flags, said these practices include individualism, favouritism, unhealthy communication and a lack of teamwork collaborations with gossip being highest on the agenda.
“There is also the fear of change,” she said, describing how employees may resist new management for fear of losing the old way of doing things. This, she detailed as the element of hostility towards new management, whereby a new manager is appointed to lead a new environment full of people who have been there for, say, more than ten or twenty years, and trying to get them to collaborate, but is met with resistance, which ultimately results in a breakdown of relationships while service delivery crumbles.
Pragmatic ways of fixing a toxic culture
“It is a journey,” continued Modibedi, “and it took us at Ekurhuleni over three years to change behaviours. It will also require you to take into consideration the mental health of other individuals, also considering the dynamics caused by Covid-19. You start with the managers. You take a look at companies that are in the media for the wrong reasons and that shows you it always starts with the management.”
Modibedi said hiring the right people is a good start, but will require a meticulous consideration, because, she said, one thing they always do to protect themselves is to bully others more so when their competence is questioned.
She also discovered that the reinforcement of a positive culture, constant communication between management and employees in the form of feedbacks, and the use of surveys can help to get rid of a toxic environment. She recommended that surveys must be acted upon rather than being shelved, because they provide critical information that can be used to influence future policies and workplace conduct.
“Core values, on which the organisation prides itself, must be at the forefront,” she continued. “Instil the values of Batho Pele principles. Feedback mechanisms are also important.”
She concluded by suggesting a holistic approach to rid an environment of toxicity, stating that there needs to be collaborations and a buy-in, including from the unions. “Removing obstacles also includes removing people,” she said. “A change management process will inevitably be met with resistance, but ultimately it has to be done to transform the workplace towards a healthy and positive direction.”
Different strokes for different folks
John Bailey, Managing Editor of eNCA, began with describing a typical day in the newsroom, where, he says, there are lot of contesting ideas and opinions from different people with different levels of experience and office titles, but all have to work together towards a final product. “The big issue,” he said, “is when you deal with different levels of harassment or bullying.”
He continued: “We are quite transparent with what we do, but obviously there are limitations. We ask managers in their divisions that if there are conflicts, they need to address them as soon as possible to promote transparency. We do not want to find our senior members bullying our junior members.”
According to Bailey, a common cause is personality issues, which is why he encourages managers to come forward with any issues they have within their divisions so that what happens behind the scenes is resolved as amicably as possible before they go on air.
“We also had to restructure eNCA during the full impact of Covid-19,” he continued, “and after staff returned to work, we had to go through each division to find out what their issues are and how best they can be resolved.”
In conclusion, Bailey said eNCA consults with its HR department in order to get guidance on how to resolve issues through policy, and also by giving each party an opportunity to express their concerns so that a solution can be reached as soon as possible.