Lately, we have heard a lot from our clients about “toxic” coworkers and teammates. This issue isn’t new; there have been bad coworkers since the beginning of organised work. But these days, their impact feels bigger and more destructive. Businesses need teamwork to function. And teams need to be more collaborative, adaptable, and proactive than ever. The days of top-down decision making are long gone in many companies and industries, as it’s replaced by grassroots innovation that’s unleashed through coworkers openly networking and sharing information across boundaries. Because of this new dynamic, dysfunctional teammates can damage the results of a whole team in a way that was much harder to do in the old, siloed models of working.
Read MoreToxic bosses. We have all seen them. They’re screamers, stressed-out micromanagers, volatile, untrustworthy, insecure nightmares to work with. They’re everywhere, and they do tremendous harm to the people around them and their organisations. And it seems that bad behaviour is on the rise. Why? Because people are freaking out about the economy. Our economic systems are careening wildly, not following the rules anymore, and it’s touching all of us, at home, in the grocery store, and at work. It could get a lot worse, and soon. It’s just plain scary.
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