S1: Welcome back to Building Billions. Let's talk about toxic work cultures.
S1: I just finished our two day People Essentials workshop. It
S1: is two days, jam packed full of talking about people problems,
S1: talking to business owners. There was a couple hundred business
S1: owners who were interested in growing their leadership, understanding what
S1: they're doing wrong in order to be able to grow
S1: their businesses. And I get so many questions at these
S1: events from people with million dollar businesses, $10 million businesses,
S1: and 100 plus million dollar businesses about this thing called culture.
S1: How do you fix a toxic culture? It takes an
S1: aware leader to understand and recognize to begin with that
S1: their work culture is toxic, and it takes an even
S1: stronger leader to fully take responsibility for the fact that
S1: they created and allowed this culture. One of my favorite
S1: quotes from Sharon Lechter is you either create a culture
S1: by design or by default you create a culture. Either
S1: by design or by default. And if you're listening to this,
S1: you've probably created a culture by default, which is why
S1: you're listening to a podcast about toxic work cultures. And
S1: so I want to share with you some really simple
S1: things that you can do in order to fix your culture.
S1: First thing is, you have to realize that it can
S1: be fixed. It can be fixed. You can have and
S1: create an amazing place to work. That is possible. There
S1: are thousands of companies that are examples of this, and
S1: you don't have to think that because Sarah works for you.
S1: Joey works for you. Zach works for you. Bob works
S1: for you. All these people that you know who are drainers,
S1: who are negative, who create the toxicity. You don't have
S1: to get mired down in the thought that you can't
S1: fix it because you can. So the first step is
S1: recognizing and understanding that you can fix your culture. Second
S1: step you have to identify who the toxic people are.
S1: Who is toxic? The best way to do this is
S1: first by looking at people's stats. Not a popular conversation,
S1: but there is no way that people who are productive,
S1: who are positively contributing are able to keep their stats high.
S1: So look at where their numbers are. Are they hitting numbers?
S1: Are their graphs trending up? If they're not, if there's problems?
S1: If there's issues, those are likely your toxic people. I
S1: also believe that business owners just know who's toxic. You know,
S1: the people that are the source of rumors and gossip
S1: and create that environment. So you identify those people and
S1: you have a conversation with them saying, hey, I recognize
S1: that you've been saying x, y, z thing. I've heard
S1: from these people that this is what you're talking about.
S1: This is what you're spreading. I just want to make
S1: sure we're really clear that toxicity, gossip, rumors, that's not
S1: what we're here to do. So you confront the person
S1: head on, you have the conversation head on, you look
S1: at their stats and you say, okay, this is not working.
S1: You confront it. You are accountable. And once you've had
S1: the reset, you say to them, these are my new expectations.
S1: This can no longer happen. And if it does continue
S1: to happen, you get rid of the toxicity, you get
S1: rid of them. They are no longer a part or
S1: able to be a part of what you are creating.
S1: If people are continuing to focus on what's wrong, to
S1: focus on what's negative, to push back on you, to
S1: cause issues, to bring up all of the failures and
S1: they aren't able to make this pivot that you are
S1: trying to make inside your business. You have the wrong people,
S1: so get rid of them. At the same time, you're
S1: getting rid of your wrong people, the toxic people, the
S1: people who are hurting your business. That's when you start
S1: understanding what is wanted and needed from the team members
S1: who are solid on your team. So a really easy conversation.
S1: You sit down with your team members who are strong,
S1: who you want to keep, who you know can be
S1: turned positively in your business, even if they might have
S1: fallen to some of the negativity or gotten caught up
S1: in it. The people who help your clients and show
S1: up on time and create the positivity that you're looking for.
S1: Those people. You sit down and you ask them what
S1: is wanted and needed from me as a leader, what
S1: is wanted and needed from me in this organization. And
S1: then to the extent that you can, you deliver it. Now,
S1: if they make crazy requests, that's a different thing. They're like, oh,
S1: we should be able to, uh, just not really clock
S1: in ever and don't really need to update our daily logs.
S1: Like at some point you don't have to deliver everything
S1: that is wanted and needed, but you do have to
S1: take a listening ear to what's not working and really
S1: assess who am I? Sorry guys. 609 On Sunday evening,
S1: after four days of running an event and I'm a
S1: little tired. But this is something that I just talked
S1: to a lady downstairs about 15 minutes ago, so it's
S1: hot off the press. I want to I want to
S1: share this with you. You take the good people, you
S1: understand what is wanted and needed. You listen and get
S1: feedback on what's not working, and you deliver upon the
S1: solutions to the problems that they're presenting. And you don't
S1: get defensive and you don't justify and you don't rationalize,
S1: and you be humble and you eat shit and you
S1: understand what's not working. This is one of the hardest
S1: parts because it's such an easy thing to get reactionary,
S1: to get defensive. This is one of the things that
S1: I might struggle with the most, where it's like, oh,
S1: but I have a reason for why this happened the
S1: way that it did. And it doesn't matter. It doesn't
S1: matter why things happen the way that it did. It's
S1: not the time to explain. It's the time to fix.
S1: When your house is on fire, it's not the time
S1: to be like, oh, but you know, it was just
S1: because the hair straightener, the button gets stuck sometimes, so
S1: I didn't know if it was off. Like, no, that's
S1: not the time to talk about it. The time to
S1: talk about the process, maybe like it might be later
S1: or maybe never. What you need to do right now
S1: is freaking get a hose or call. I was going
S1: to say the ambulance. Ambulance? Call the fire truck. Do
S1: not call the ambulance. Well, unless somebody is inside. But
S1: you get the point. Call a fire truck. Handle the
S1: fucking fire that's in front of you. Handle that. Don't explain.
S1: Don't rationalize. And I find that good people can recognize
S1: when you care. I really do believe that good people,
S1: your good people on your team can recognize when you care.
S1: So if there is a toxic environment and you're leaning
S1: into your good people and you're coming to them earnestly
S1: where they see that you're handling the negativity, they see
S1: that you're handling the toxicity, and you're asking for their
S1: feedback and their input in order to help make things better.
S1: You're not making them wrong. You're not justifying, justifying, or rationalizing.
S1: You can turn your culture around. And I've seen this
S1: time and time again where this fails is when a
S1: business owner isn't willing to do what it takes. I've
S1: also seen it fail when the team that they think
S1: are the right ones are still the wrong ones. They
S1: are the toxic ones, so they take the wrong feedback
S1: from the wrong people and implement the wrong solutions. So
S1: you have to be discerning in who you talk to,
S1: who you trust, and where you get this feedback from.
S1: I almost made this mistake earlier this week. I recognized
S1: that there was a team member who very publicly posted
S1: on social media that they are, that they just were
S1: super ten X. They did that all through their career.
S1: Loved ten x super ten X, all things Cardone Ventures.
S1: Cardone ventures changed their life. We didn't ask them to
S1: do that. They posted these things on their own volition.
S1: And then they left a while ago. And I saw
S1: that very recently. They left a review and it wasn't
S1: a nice review, and it was actually the correction of
S1: a previous review. I was like, hmm, that's interesting. You know,
S1: I didn't realize that this team member left with such
S1: anger and frustration, and that would never be my intention.
S1: So I reached out to this particular team member via.
S1: Online methods and said, hey, I saw this review. It
S1: makes me really sad to see this. I'm open to
S1: a conversation to hear feedback, and I was met with
S1: like snarkiness and rudeness. And at first I was like, okay,
S1: I can take the initial snarkiness and rudeness. Like, I'd
S1: still like to have a conversation because I really valued
S1: their input. And then again, to the second message, I
S1: was met with snarkiness and rudeness, and at that point
S1: I was like, okay. Like there's no way that this
S1: is going to have a positive outcome. This person isn't
S1: looking to give me feedback. This person is looking to
S1: make me pander and tell me that I'm wrong and
S1: not give me, I mean, the feedback that I'm looking for.
S1: If I'm already asking you what the feedback is, and
S1: I see that there's issues, of course I know that
S1: there's something that I could do. I'm coming to you
S1: to clarify that, but there's nothing that I'm going to
S1: win by asking people who are so far gone and
S1: negative and critical to give me constructive feedback. And I
S1: don't need to subject myself, nor to you, to cruel
S1: feedback or feedback that is intended to sting. And that
S1: was the nature of these messages. So I just realized, hey,
S1: you know, this probably isn't isn't the right direction. This
S1: isn't this. This person is not at a place to
S1: be able to really have this conversation. So once you're
S1: able to assess who those people are that you can
S1: trust to give you feedback and give you honest feedback
S1: about what's not working, then you work like crazy to
S1: implement it. Work like crazy to not let them down,
S1: and to give rationale and reasons for why you're implementing
S1: certain things. When you're implementing those things. Communicate, communicate, communicate
S1: so that they know that the feedback was taken seriously.
S1: Because the last thing that you want to do is
S1: have to do this a second time. And then it's like,
S1: what was that cartoon growing up, little Red Riding Hood.
S1: I think she was the one that cried wolf. Whoever
S1: cried wolf, it's like the girl who cries wolf. Oh,
S1: we're gonna. As soon as there's something bad that happened. Oh,
S1: we're gonna get your feedback. But then nothing happens. No.
S1: You communicate. Hey, this is what I heard. This is
S1: what we're going to do about what we heard. Here
S1: are the things that were pieces of feedback that were
S1: not willing to budge on. This is why I hope
S1: you understand. And after I explain, can just have some
S1: appreciation for why I've thought thoughtfully about these things. And
S1: this is where we're willing to land. And I find
S1: that when you communicate like that, it strengthens it strengthens
S1: your team. When you're going through a culture shock, when
S1: you're going through a culture transition, when things aren't super
S1: great and there's toxicity, those moments of like coming together
S1: and being honest and being transparent really bond team members together.
S1: And it creates this stronger connection because you're both willing
S1: to fix things. They're willing to say some things that
S1: might have felt uncomfortable. They risk potentially losing their job.
S1: If you responded incorrectly and you risk not looking like
S1: you know everything. And if you struggle with that, then
S1: you're going to struggle having these conversations. But they are
S1: some of the greatest conversations that you can have with
S1: your team and that rebuild and will help you forge
S1: the path forward for growth. To be able to make
S1: room for new people who can help you with the
S1: problems that you have. So that's it. Simple as that.
S1: How you handle a toxic culture. Never forget that you
S1: don't have to deal with or allow toxicity. You can
S1: handle it. It can get better. You can create the
S1: business of your dreams. I'm rooting for you. I'm hoping
S1: for you. I'm on your team wanting you to win,
S1: wanting you to be successful with all of this. And
S1: you got this.