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Defeating Organizational Narcissism: Empowering Employees for a Healthier Workplace

Organizational narcissism is a significant issue that can lead to widespread dysfunction within the workplace. By understanding its characteristics and impacts, and by taking proactive steps to address it, organizations can create a healthier, more supportive environment where employees feel valued and aligned with the organization’s true values.

Navigating the modern workplace can be challenging, especially when deeper issues within the organization make you feel like you’re the problem. This is often the result of organizational narcissism—a pervasive issue where the organization prioritizes its image and success over the well-being of its employees. Let’s delve into what this means, how it manifests, and what you can do if you find yourself in such an environment.

What is Organizational Narcissism?

Imagine working in a place where the company seems obsessed with its image and achievements, often at the expense of its employees. This is what organizational narcissism looks like. In such environments, the focus is on maintaining a positive external image, sometimes to the detriment of the internal culture and employee well-being.

Signs and Symptoms

Self-Centered Leadership: Leaders in narcissistic organizations often care more about their own success and public image than about the health and growth of their team. This can create a toxic environment where employees feel unsupported and undervalued.
Values Misalignment: There’s a stark difference between what the organization claims to value and what it actually practices. This disconnect can leave employees feeling confused and frustrated when their efforts to align with the company’s stated values go unrecognized or are even contradicted by leadership behaviors.
Poor Management Practices: Micromanagement, lack of support, and constant criticism are common in narcissistic organizations. Such practices stifle creativity and make employees feel like they can never do anything right.
Toxic Culture: The overall atmosphere in a narcissistic organization can be incredibly negative. Employees might face unrealistic expectations and a pervasive blame culture, leading to high turnover rates and widespread dissatisfaction.

The Emotional Toll on Employees

Working in a narcissistic organization can take a serious toll on your mental and emotional well-being. Here’s how:

Self-Doubt and Blame: When problems arise, you might be led to believe it’s your fault, even if the issues are systemic. This constant self-doubt can erode your confidence and make you question your abilities.
Decreased Job Satisfaction: Misalignment between your personal values and the organization’s practices can make you feel disconnected and unfulfilled, leading to disengagement.
Mental Health Struggles: The stress of navigating such a toxic environment can result in anxiety, depression, and burnout.

How to Recognize and Address Organizational Narcissism

It’s important to recognize the signs of organizational narcissism and take steps to protect your well-being. Here are some strategies:

Promote Empathy and Support: If you’re in a leadership position, encourage an empathetic approach that prioritizes the well-being of your team. If you’re an employee, look for ways to support your colleagues and foster a sense of community.
Align Values with Practices: Push for transparency and accountability in how the organization lives up to its stated values. This can help rebuild trust and ensure that the company’s practices reflect its principles.
Foster Open Communication: Advocate for open and honest communication channels where employees can voice their concerns without fear of retribution. This can help address issues before they escalate and create a more supportive environment.
Provide Constructive Feedback: Shift the culture from one of criticism to one of constructive feedback. Helping employees grow by recognizing their strengths and areas for improvement in a supportive manner can make a big difference.

Conclusion

If you find yourself in a narcissistic organization, remember: the problem is not you. Understanding the dynamics at play can help you navigate the situation more effectively and take steps to protect your mental and emotional well-being.

For further reading on the impact of organizational narcissism and strategies to address it, consider exploring these sources:

A Manager’s Dilemma – The Ultimate Hypocrisy

Managers are often seen as responsible for their team’s performance, and when employees fail, it can be seen as a reflection of poor management or leadership. On the other hand, when employees succeed, it is often attributed to their individual skills and abilities rather than the guidance or support their manager provides.

Here is an issue that I feel is the apex of hypocrisy. “People Don’t Leave Bad Jobs, They Leave Bad Bosses”

Why do I hate it? One possible reason is that people tend to focus on negative outcomes more than positive outcomes, which means that when things go wrong, there is a greater tendency to assign blame to someone rather than give credit to someone when things go well.

You can’t both blame the manager for subpar performance but not acknowledge the manager’s influence when a team member is successful.

I fall into the trap myself sometimes. If my hourly team struggles, it is easy to assign the struggles to their supervisors – my direct reports. Yet, when there is a “rockstar” on the shift, I too quickly can respond with praise for their initiative and totally skip the fact that the most probable cause is an empowering leader that has recognized their talent and rightly released them to be successful.

The role of a manager is to provide direction, support, and resources to their team to enable them to achieve their goals. As such, it could be argued that managers are expected to ensure that their team members succeed, and that failure reflects a lack of effective management or leadership. However, success/failure may be a natural outcome of the skills and abilities, or lack thereof, of the employees, rather than the efforts of the manager.

Effective managers provide guidance, support, and resources that enable their team members to perform at their best and achieve their goals. Therefore, it is important to recognize the contributions of managers when their team members succeed and to avoid assigning blame when things don’t go as planned.

So how can we avoid perpetuating the hypocrisy?

A leader can ensure that they give both credit for low performance and credit for high performance appropriately by establishing clear performance expectations and providing regular feedback and recognition to their team members. Here are some strategies a leader could use:

Establish clear expectations: A leader should set clear performance expectations for their team members, including specific goals and metrics for success. This can help ensure that everyone is on the same page and has a shared understanding of what success looks like.
Provide regular feedback: A leader should provide regular feedback to their team members about their performance. This can include constructive criticism when things don’t go well, but also positive feedback and recognition when things are going well. By providing regular feedback, a leader can help their team members understand where they need to improve and what they are doing well.
Recognize individual and team achievements: A leader should recognize both individual and team achievements, and give credit where credit is due. This can include public recognition in team meetings or through other communication channels, such as a company newsletter or social media. By recognizing individual and team achievements, a leader can build morale and motivation, and encourage their team members to continue striving for excellence.
Take responsibility for failures: A leader should take responsibility for failures that occur under their watch, and work to identify the root cause of the failure and develop a plan to address it. This can help build trust and credibility with team members, and demonstrate that the leader is willing to take accountability for their actions and decisions.

By implementing these strategies, a leader can ensure that they give credit for both outcomes of their direct reports for how they lead their teams. This can help create a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, where everyone is focused on achieving shared goals and delivering exceptional results.

If You Don’t Have This…..You Are Not Ready To Hire For Culture

Effective onboarding and training programs can help to bridge that gap and ensure that new hires are equipped to succeed in their new position.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” In working with many entrepreneurs, I have found this to be very true, as the culture is the secret sauce that keeps employees motivated and clients happy. “
Jacob M. Engel “Why Does Culture ‘Eat Strategy For Breakfast?” Forbes.com Nov. 2018

Hiring for culture is important because it ensures that new employees fit in well with the existing team and company culture. While skills and experience are certainly important, they are not the only factors to consider when hiring. Here are some reasons why hiring for culture is often prioritized:

Promotes team cohesion: Hiring employees who fit well with the company culture can help promote team cohesion and reduce the chances of conflicts arising due to personality clashes.
Enhances job satisfaction: When employees share the same values and beliefs as their coworkers and the company, they are more likely to feel fulfilled in their work and have higher job satisfaction.
Increases retention rates: Employees who fit in well with the company culture are more likely to stay with the company long-term, reducing turnover and associated costs.
Encourages innovation: When employees share the same values and beliefs, they are more likely to work well together, share ideas, and collaborate. This can lead to greater innovation and creativity.

Of course, it’s important to strike a balance between culture fit and skill level or experience. It’s not enough to hire someone simply because they fit in well with the company culture if they lack the minimum necessary skills and experience for the job. However, when all other factors are equal, culture fit can be the deciding factor in making a successful hire.

3 Ways to Tell If You Are Hiring For Culture

Look for candidates who share your company values: During the interview process, ask questions that are designed to reveal whether or not the candidate shares your company’s core values. For example, if teamwork is a key value at your company, you might ask the candidate to describe a time when they worked collaboratively with others to achieve a common goal.
Assess the candidate’s personality: Personality tests and assessments can be useful tools for determining whether or not a candidate will fit in well with your company culture. These tests can provide insights into a candidate’s communication style, work preferences, and personality traits.
Ask for references from former coworkers or managers: Speaking with former colleagues or managers can give you a better sense of how the candidate has interacted with others in a work setting. Ask questions about the candidate’s teamwork skills, communication style, and ability to fit in with the company culture.

Overall, hiring for culture is about finding candidates who will not only excel at the job but also thrive within the company environment. By focusing on candidates who share your company values, assessing their personality traits, and speaking with former colleagues or managers, you can increase the chances of making a successful cultural fit hire.

The Missing Ingredient to Hiring For Culture

Having effective onboarding, training, and development programs is also crucial for ensuring that new hires can thrive within your company culture. While hiring for culture fit is important, it’s not enough on its own.

Currently, we use a Team Member Training Matrix displayed with the critical Standard Work items along with corresponding SOP’s to ensure each skill set is covered by our training program.

It utilizes an incremental 25% completion criteria for progress tracking.

25% – SOP has been reviewed and signed

50% – Team member participates in the process

75% – Team members can complete the process with little or no supervision

100% – Team member is a subject matter expert and can train others

If you don’t have effective onboarding and training programs, you are not ready to hire for culture.
Richard Rich

Here are a few reasons why:

Ensuring that new hires have the necessary skills: Even if you hire someone who is a great cultural fit, they may not have all of the skills necessary to excel in their new role. Effective onboarding and training programs can help to bridge that gap and ensure that new hires are equipped to succeed in their new position.
Accelerating the learning curve: Even experienced hires may take some time to adjust to your company’s specific processes and workflows. By providing comprehensive training, you can help to accelerate the learning curve and reduce the time it takes for new hires to become fully productive.
Fostering a sense of belonging: Effective onboarding programs can help new hires to feel welcomed and supported within your company culture. This can help to foster a sense of belonging and reduce the chances that the new hire will feel like an outsider.
Supporting ongoing growth and development: Training and development programs can help to support ongoing growth and development for all employees, not just new hires. This can help to keep employees engaged and motivated over the long term.

In short, while hiring for culture fit is important, it’s only the first step in building a successful team. By pairing culture fit with effective onboarding, training, and development programs, you can set your new hires up for success and help to build a thriving company culture over the long term.