QUARTERLY BEAT / JULY 2025
perception of their workplace culture. These feelings are strong when there is a lack of consideration, courtesy, and dignity for others. In surveys, respect toward employees rises to the top of the list of cultural elements that matter most. 2 • Unethical: Unethical behavior impacts employees at both the organizational and personal level. Common terms used by employees to capture the emotions of working in an unethical environment include shady, cheat, unethical, mislead, and lying. • Cutthroat: This emotion is present in the workplace when employees feel a lack of collaboration and teamwork at the organizational level. At a personal level, team members felt undermined, describing their environments as ‘dog eat dog’, being thrown under the bus and that teammates stab each other in the back. 2 • Abusive: “Abusive management has been defined as sustained hostile behavior toward employees” 2 by those in leadership positions. Leadership behaviors that are abusive include “bullying, yelling, or shouting at employees, belittling or demeaning subordinates, and talking down to people” 2 .
GETTING PRACTICE CULTURE BACK ON THE RAILS Creating and maintaining a healthy workplace culture is the single most impactful job of practice leadership. It requires commitment and guidance that trickles downward from the practice owner to all employees. It is the responsibility of the owner, manager and all team leaders to model and reinforce the behaviors that are expected in the workplace. Where does a leader start? DEFINE WHAT IS IMPORTANT WITHIN THE PRACTICE What are the organizational core values that define how your team does their work and treats others? Shared core values serve to define the mutual beliefs about the ‘identity’ of the practice, which is the role the practice plays every day and why it is meaningful to pets, clients, employees, the community, and the veterinary profession. Shared core values should serve to guide all actions leaders take every day. MODEL DESIRABLE BEHAVIORS Veterinary team members take their cues about acceptable workplace behaviors by watching what practice leaders do and how they act. This helps team members understand what behaviors are “encouraged, expected and tolerated”. 3 Every leader within the practice has an obligation to reinforce the shared values through their actions. This includes desirable actions as well as regulating emotions that are better off suppressed. An example of this is when a veterinarian or team lead within the practice avoids labeling clients as ‘difficult,’ ‘cheap,’ ‘unreasonable,’ ‘emotional’ or other derogatory terms. When a leader voices these feelings, even behind closed doors, it signals to the team members that it is acceptable to negatively label clients. These attitudes adversely impact the client-practice bond, as well as serving as a source of toxic emotional culture for the entire team.
HOW LEADERS FACILITATE TOXIC WORKPLACE CULTURE The best predictor of toxic culture can be found by looking at leadership. 3 Reshaping practice culture requires that leaders be willing to hold themselves, and all employees, accountable for behaviors that lead to neglected and toxic workplaces. There are three primary drivers of toxic behavior, which are toxic leadership, toxic social norms, and poor work design 3 : TOXIC LEADERSHIP Leaders are rarely accountable for the actions of poorly behaved employees. 4 Leadership actions, either directly or indirectly, may enable poor behavior that violates agreed-upon practice norms. These actions negatively impact individuals who are on the receiving end of coworkers’ abusive communication styles or the target of gossip. The practice can be harmed when an employee fails to adhere to practice policies, creating inconsistencies in how client management and patient care is delivered. SOCIAL NORMS Social norms are behaviors that are desirable and acceptable in the workplace. Norms develop implicitly and if not actively managed they will dictate team dynamics. Examples of unchecked social norms include habits and unspoken ‘rules’ like who sits where and who has the most influence. WORK DESIGN In studies, poor work design has been found to contribute to stress and lead to toxic behaviors. Work design with the highest correlation to toxic cultures include workplaces with role conflict, excessive workloads, and role ambiguity. 3
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