Pleather f'ing pants

Don't wear pleather pants to your first day of work. That's if you want to be safe, conservative and concerned with everyone's opinions of you.

But if you're anything like me... wear the pants. Let people talk. Let people be concerned about your wardrobe choices.

Because when people start throwing around the "concern" like it's their last chance to use it before Webster's removes it from the dictionary, you have a bigger problem....

Troubled Organizational Culture

Changing organizational culture takes a huge amount of energy to keep working through things as they come. Just as you think you have one issue tied up, another one pops up, potentially bigger, messier or more ridiculous than the last. Organizations mired in legacy slowly decline in toxic behaviour until it becomes an environment much like an abusive relationship. On the surface everything appears fine. People talk about how much they love their co-workers and how well everyone gets along, and that they trust each other, but soon enough, the cracks start to show. Gossip, backstabbing, checking up on one another, distrust. Telling someone we'll "figure it out as we go" inherently translates to, "I'm hiding something from you" and the rumour mill runs so hard it lights itself on fire. The result of this, is that the people who were backstabbing each other a moment ago, are now bonding over a shared enemy... and as a new leader to the organization, that enemy may now be you. Meetings after meetings. Closed door conversations, and more meetings to discuss the other meetings and what may have been meant by that one thing that was said in that other meeting.

It's a lot. And soon you might find yourself fantasizing about jamming a pen in someone's eye, flipping a table and storming out without looking back (or at least acknowledging how quickly we're able to resort to violence).

The constant concern is actually fear. Fear of failing, fear of being left behind, fear of change, fear of things staying the same, fear of history repeating itself. People who feel truly supported by their staff, their peers and their leaders don't fall into drama and concern. They are not afraid to make mistakes or of being judged or ostracized. Because when people are supported, people work as a unit. They are a cohesive, living, breathing ecosystem where everyone learns, tries, fails and succeeds together.

The point is, it has nothing to do with the pants, but it's a good metaphor for the things that other people feel in an organization that struggles with poor culture. In an unhealthy culture, people unfairly judge, discriminate or criticize. People feel undervalued, distrusted and in turn, distrust others too. People point out others' flaws, mistakes or perceived inequities to draw attention away from themselves. It's not any one person's fault. It isn't a specific leader or succession of leaders. It is a system and a culture that goes unchecked, underdeveloped and unhinged for so long, people genuinely can't see their way through it all and as all of us have learned at one time or another,

People-ing can be very, very hard some days.

Toxic Culture is hard. Changing toxic culture is even harder. If you ever get the chance, take the challenge, but first, put on your pleather pants.