A workplace can be a wonderful thing, and a successful sales culture can make staff feed off each other and perform. But not every agency is set up to succeed – from the top-down, office culture needs to be positive in order for staff to hit the best targets.
HR guru Rex Conner, owner of Mager Consortium, spoke to
Insurance Business about the key warning signs of a toxic work environment.
Celebrate excellence in insurance. Nominate a worthy colleague for the Insurance Business Awards!
Subjectivity in the office – in language, processes, and expectations – should be avoided at all costs, Connor says, as it is “the dangerous root of most evil in the workplace”.
“Anything open to interpretation will turn managers and leaders into ‘judges,’ leading to conflict,” he said. “And conflict is a tremendous obstacle to performance at work.”
These are the top three things to avoid in the office, according to Connor, to keep everyone moving in the same direction. Avoid these pitfalls and keep your staff smiling.
1. Subjective work processes – “Subjective,” meaning open to interpretation. The key processes to notice first are how people are paid, evaluated, recognized, and promoted. If the process is not clear and is left up to someone’s subjective opinion or evaluation, it invites conflict and toxicity.
2. Subjective policies – We have all witnessed sales people who can excel or meet a quota, but their methods are toxic to those around them and/or to the client. If the policies those sales people have to follow are open to interpretation, they will use that subjectivity as a loophole to their advantage, to the detriment of all others.
3. Subjective communication about performance – Subjective communication is interpreted differently by the people involved. Conflicting interpretations invite conflict. Since the sales world is all about relationships and human interaction, which are “soft skills,” it’s easy to be lulled into communication that has different meaning to different people. “Be a team player,” “Take initiative,” “Connect with the client,” are all examples of subjective communication. With a little extra work, all subjective communication, including descriptions of soft skills, can be translated into observable performances. Observing people’s performance leaves very little open to interpretation.
