“Toxic work culture is in the news” Lulu, my parrot said. He was pointing to a news story in the newspaper.

“Now, what’s on your mind, Lulu?” I asked as I lifted the newspaper.

“One creates a toxic work culture where people are humiliated, and those people also have courage to stand together and demand her resignation. Madhabi Buch, I am referring to.”

“Yes. ‘The 400 odd officers staged a silent protest around 11 am outside SEBI headquarters which lasted about 60-70 mins’ – this news report reads. Tell me who has more power? Madhabi Buch or her Officers?”

“That is not the critical question. The toxic work culture stands exposed. The CEO must take the blame. Can she repair it? And how soon, presuming such an agenda will be set by SEBI”

“Toxic work culture! The CEO is the real HR Head. He or she takes the blame for the culture. The issue is how to repair it.”

“Sounds like the famous quote of Karl Marx which is engraved on his tomb stone – ‘Philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it’. Ha ha!”

“How to change it?”

“The first step is to change conversations. This is why some CEOs engage coach where they can talk about their problems, get different views for consideration. All said, the conversations in the company meeting show a certain pattern, and those in toxic culture produce negative feelings and not many insights.”

“I guess the CEO works with open mind with a coach which is a ‘safe environment.’”

“You got it right. CEOs who create toxic culture are usually bad listeners. A good coach helps him/ her discover many of his/ her failings, and their probable causes.”

“True and I guess this is only one of the solutions”

“The other solution is so deep that it takes a great deal of unlearning. The CEO must focus on the process and not on results. Results follow if you set good processes and an eye on their constant improvement. With that, one finds problems and takes measures for rectification through training. Not By blaming people. That’s a huge step towards detoxification of the culture.”

“In order to meet the target sales people do very ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ work. And other departments have their ways too! Goals, they say, are not the ‘end point’, they are ‘reaching point.’ That captures well how we should look at goals.”

“Several Japanese management techniques champion this ‘process orientation’. Even Iga Swiatek understands this, and she surprised me”

“What did she say?”

“She said after her fourth round loss in US Open ‘I don’t expect from myself the results. I’m more expecting that I’m going to work and I’m going to go through some problems and work on them, and that’s it.’”

“That’s interesting”

“Excellence is not pursued, excellence ensues. It is the result of consciously improving processes.  The ways of working and of relating to people”

“Yes ……”

“Viktor Frankl has a clear message for all. There lies the answer to the problem of toxic work culture before Madhabi Buch”

“Tell me ….”

“Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!”

“That’s deep, it will take some time before the full meaning sinks in” I said as I looked at Lulu, my parrot, appreciatively.

Lulu looked at me, fluttered his wings, sat on my shoulder and rubbed his head on mine.

Vivek S Patwardhan

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others/ All work copyrighted.