5 toxic attitudes of co-workers

What are toxic coworkers like and how can we avoid their bad arts?

In the work environment, spending many hours a week with people with different interests and roles than our own can lead to the emergence of some toxic attitudes.

These are behavioral patterns and predispositions that are detrimental to us and the rest of the team, worsening the work environment and making the work environment worse.The work climate worsens and the performance of the organization is at least partially affected.

Toxic coworkers: have you had to deal with someone like this?

As it is very easy for these toxic attitudes to become chronic, causing all team members to adapt (and resign themselves) to living with them, it is advisable to detect them as soon as possible and nip them in the bud, for the good of all.

Let's see what these toxic peer attitudes are and how to fight them. and how to fight them.

1. The less bad option

Certain coworkers can create a system of basically unintentional manipulation based on their bad moods.based on their bad mood. These people take advantage of their moments of bad temper to create little blackmails that jeopardize the overall functioning of the work team. Basically, what they do is try to get the rest of their colleagues to make sacrifices to appease them, taking on part of their work as in a strategy in which the lesser evil is chosen.

What happens is that, in the first place, the reason why these people are in a bad mood does not necessarily have anything to do with what is happening at work, and therefore often has nothing to do with what is happening at work.Therefore, in many cases, it is not the responsibility of the rest of their colleagues. However, the consequences of their anger do have an impact on the work environment, creating the illusion that it is a company problem.

Thus, others will be willing to "bear" the consequences of the bad mood, others will be willing to "bear" the consequences of the bad mood and will give this person preferential treatment. and will give preferential treatment to this person. In turn, there comes a point where the colleague who is benefiting from this "learns" that his or her bad mood is rewarded.

In the event that we detect this toxic attitude, the ideal is to encourage the Human Resources department to contact this person to explore the origins of his or her emotional state and see how it can be resolved. and see how it can be resolved without negatively affecting the organization as a whole. It is not advisable to confront this person with the same emotional intensity that he/she uses to complain, because it can generate a rebound effect and make him/her even angrier, this time making us share in his/her anger.

• Learn more: "Toxic friendships: 7 signs to detect a bad friend".

2. Causing conflict to spread

Within an organization it is relatively common for friction and conflict to arise between certain people.. The way in which these conflicts are resolved will be decisive in preventing the conflict from affecting the overall functioning of the company, but sometimes people may appear who are willing to inflate the size of these small fights.

The reason is that, in order to break their cornered position in the conflict, some colleagues may want to break their isolation by involving people in the dispute who, because of the role they have in the company, have no reason to position themselves for or against someone.

That is why it is worthwhile to know how to recognize when these cases occur in order to act accordingly according to the nature of the conflict: certain quarrels are resolved in private.

3. Acting as a false manager

In the intrigues and pseudo-conspiracies that can appear within an organization**, one of the most commonly used methods is to try to win over certain people by giving them gifts that they have not asked for**. Thus, for example, some people may act paternalistically towards us.

Condescending comments to us, or even attempts to get us to listen to how these fake managers speak well of us to other colleagues when "they are not supposed to know that we are listening" are classic bad taste that we do not have to tolerate if we suspect that it is not part of the spontaneous behavior of these people and are part of a strategy to win our favor. In these cases, the ideal is to maintain a polite manner but not to show gratitude for these unsolicited gifts.. In these cases, assertiveness is everything.

4. Information traffic

In the globalized world, information is power, and some people may devote a significant some people may spend a significant part of their working day trying to gossip about everything that is going on in the work and personal lives of their colleagues. about everything that is going on in the work and personal lives of their colleagues.

This may be motivated by the usefulness that certain information may have when it comes to moving up in the company, or it may be due to the simple pleasure of prying. In any case, In any case, in the face of this type of behavior, it is good to communicate that there is no valid justification There is no valid justification for believing that you have the right to know everything about what your colleagues are doing. Within organizations, the need for privacy continues to be of utmost importance, despite the existence of teamwork.

5. The machine gun of criticism

Other colleagues can become very insistent with certain criticisms that are basically unfounded. In this case, it is quite possible that the fact of trying to make ourselves accomplices to these criticisms is not part of a planned strategy to turn against someone: there are people who simply like to criticize.

In these cases, the ideal way to ensure that the dynamics of teamwork do not suffer is, first of all, to be clear that the person in question is criticizing for no reason.Secondly, we should politely point out that we do not think the same way as the person in question. It may also be useful to encourage her to formalize her complaints, since, on the one hand, she will clearly state the reasons for her complaints, and secondly, she will be forced to adopt a position in which defending her position will require a certain effort, which will possibly make her question the extent to which she is right.