The brief was a cultural audit – the board had some big plans for the next 18 months that would rely on a well functioning team and so they wanted to know where they were at.
I certainly didn’t have a bullying investigation within the scope of the project. However, during one on one interviews with some female members of staff for the audit, they described behaviour by their business unit manager (let’s call him Don) that made them feel extremely uncomfortable.
Truthfully, what they told me amounted to allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.
When I debriefed the Program Director responsible for this business unit about the findings of my cultural audit, I also mentioned my concerns about Don’s behaviour.
I had interviewed Don, and whilst it’s hard to offend me (I was raised with five elder brothers), Don managed to do so. Several times. In a 45-minute interview, the first time he had ever met me.
The response I received when I discussed my concerns with the Program Director was along the lines of, the girls need to toughen up and just deal with his behaviour (interestingly, they didn’t deny his behaviour).
The Program Director claimed the behaviour was common in their industry; and also said that because Don came from a tough military background, his behaviour is ‘just the way he is’.
Plus, there was this familiar refrain when it comes to why organisations tolerate inappropriate behaviour:
He’s really good at his job and we need him.
In other words, Don is what is commonly known as a jerk, and possibly falls into what Ariana Huffington infamously coined the ‘brilliant jerk’ category.
What is the problem with brilliant jerks?
Just because one particular individual is the ‘star player’ of your team, or really good at his job and you need him , does not give them a free pass to get away with bad behaviour.
Yep, these jerks destroy stuff. They damage the confidence and even the careers of others. They limit the opportunities for innovation and creativity. They disrupt the potential for healthy team cultures that encourage all team members to thrive. [Smart Company]
In part this is because by allowing the star player to continue to behave badly, it means there is no real consequence for their behaviour.
They get away with it, continually, so why would they bother to stop?
When you have a brilliant jerk in your team, the risk in not dealing with the individual’s poor behaviour is not limited to a lack of accountability for the favoured child.
Other team members watch the star player getting away with atrocious behaviour and wonder why they can’t get away with simple misdemeanours like being five mins late.
Frustration, resentment, and anger can lead to many things: sometimes disgruntled team members will also start misbehaving, or their performance and productivity will decline.
Why should everyone else tow the line, work their butts off, often for lesser rewards, when the misbehaving jerk gets away with so much?
This is how one unchecked, misbehaving d*$#head can be the catalyst for what becomes a dysfunctional and toxic culture.
“The truth is they [jerks] end up affecting the whole culture. Even if they may individually create results, they end up having a negative impact on the business.” [Ariana Huffington}
In other words, no matter how ‘good’ or even ‘great’ are the results your brilliant jerk delivers for you – the negative payoff is never, ever worth it.
Don’t fall victim to the whirlpool effect
Over two decades of experience has consistently shown me that the longer issues and conflict are left alone to fester, the bigger and more widespread the issues become; the more people that are affected, the greater the impact – and ultimately, the harder the issues are to resolve.
Sadly, in most instances the only way an entrenched situation like this will be resolved, is if one or more of any toxic team members exit the organisation.
Another effect of a scenario like this, is what I call the whirlpool effect. Or to bring us back to 2022 – COVID19 super spreaders.
The toxic behaviour of one department, if left unchecked for too long, will start to spread to other units within the organisation.
And then you might be dealing with a culture of bullying, like this:
“One of the most extreme versions [of bullying] I’ve seen was in a government agency where there was bullying at all levels,” says Hirst, an associate professor at the Australian National University, who has advised numerous workplaces about bullying. “It was catastrophic. When bullying becomes part of the climate, you get managers often behaving in a predatory way. In an extreme version, you’ll get sexual harassment, people gaslighting other people. It becomes almost the norm.” [The Age, 5/9.22]
BTW this unknown agency isn’t on its Pat Malone when it comes to being a government agency with a bullying culture. I know this to be an absolute fact.
I’ve said it before and sadly, I will probably need to say it again: this kind of unchecked behaviour is just ticking time bomb waiting to turn into litigation and possibly prosecution.
When inappropriate behaviours occur within an organisation, there’s a misalignment between the organisation’s stated values, and how people actually behave.
‘Care’ is a very common organisational value; your ‘value’ poster on the the wall probably comes with a qualifier along the lines of ‘genuinely empathetic, our wellbeing is at the core of everything we do.’
Yet, a Don-like team member has not only got away with sexist, demeaning and damaging behaviour, he’s been rewarded for it by climbing up the corporate ladder, while the people he’s demeaned have suffered stress and burnout as a direct result of his behaviour.
Starting to understand a little more about why we need to deal with jerks ASAP?
Unchecked and continual misbehaviours also erode trust, which in turn precludes a sense of psychological safety.
Allowing jerks like Don to continue displaying their inappropriate behaviour unchecked is not only damaging to the people on the receiving end of said behaviour, but is ultimately also unfair to Don and his ilk.
Because at some point, the shiz will hit the fan (whether its at your organisation or Don’s next job), and it is going to be ugly.
Don has always believed he was acting appropriately – after all, his behaviour has always been condoned. It can be a brutal wake up call to learn that how he has always acted is actually far from ok.
Need an example? Click here for one example that never fails to anger this self-professed Carlton Tragic (hint: Brendan Fevola).
Tell us more about the negative impact of organisational wide toxic and dysfunctional behaviour
Of course! Here’s an infographic to help do just that.
Now that I have spread my message of doom and gloom, I’m guessing you are wondering what you should do to prevent the virus like spread of these inappropriate and often jerkish behaviours in your business?
The short answer is: Be alert AND act sooner rather than later – and be seen to be taking action (whilst respecting employees right to confidentiality).
You will absolutely need to give feedback to your jerk, which will undoubtedly include having some difficult conversations.
Guess what? The good news is, both of those topics are previous themes in our A – Z of Workplace Culture series.
Check them out:
D is for Difficult Conversations
My final message?
Always be on Jerk Alert.
Don’t buy into the notion that any individual is more important than the sum of all the parts (i.e. the broader team).And don’t forget your legal (and moral) obligation of a duty of care to the people who walk through your door.
If you catch the star player misbehaving, or indeed any team member, be brave. Deal with it sooner rather than later. Don’t let it fester and spread like a whirlpool. Or the ‘Rona.
Update your KPIs and include goals that measure behaviour against the organisation’s values, not just numerical metrics.
But if your culture is already broken due to jerks running wild and unchecked for too long; then give us a call. Fixing dysfunctional culture is our thing.