 A toxic environment is a disease to any business. Unhappy people are demotivated and easily drawn out of the business, which, depending on the industry, can lead to the business having a bad reputation amongst potential employees. So not only is it important that your business doesn't have a toxic culture, it's also imperative to know the symptoms that indicate you might and what you can do to stop the disease from spreading. Here are the five most obvious symptoms and what you can do to remedy them. 1. Dysfunctional relationships among staff. The signs that let you know you have an infection are, clickishness, favoritism, lack of communication, grudge-holding, staff are pitted against each other. And the remedy is, team bonding. As cliched as it sounds, team bonding should never be underestimated. Friday afternoon drinks and other social events such as Christmas parties or a quarterly dinner, with 100% inclusion, will work wonders with turning your bitter group of individuals into a team. To further reinforce this, set team-based rewards and incentives rather than individual ones. This stops team members feeling like the person next to them is their rival and not their teammate. Symptom 2. Your people feel they have a lack of work-home balance. The signs that let you know you have an infection are, team members' personal relationships are suffering due to work. People work longer hours than they should or need to because they either feel like they have to or are forced to. Staff are stressed at work and take it home with them. And the remedy is to be mindful of the mental health of your staff. Assure them it is your number one priority. Be a trusted rock for your staff. If they are having troubles in their personal life, be someone understanding that they can talk to, and if they need it, allow them the time away from work to tend to their personal needs. A happy team member is a lot more effective in an eight hour day than a miserable one is in a 12 or 15 hour one. Symptom 3. Low morale. The signs that let you know you have an infection are, people are unmotivated, people appear downtrodden and frustrated, people openly talk about not wanting to be there. Remedy. Having a high morale will go a long way to ensuring you do not have a toxic work culture. Managing your people with a foundation of positive reinforcement, even when critiquing their performance, is pivotal to curing low morale. Nobody wants to be told they aren't good enough or aren't trying hard enough. Good job. Goes a long way in the good times. We are doing great and we'll get through this. Goes even further in the hard times. Also, be sure to trust your people. Micro-managing them will breed frustration and annoyance among your staff. Trust that they know how to do their job and if and when they could do it better, give them feedback. 4. High turnover of staff. The signs that let you know you have an infection are, new people don't stay very long, you are constantly recruiting and training new employees. High staff turnover is the most obvious sign that something isn't right in your business. Unfortunately, the reasons for it can be multi-layered. It could be due to any of the other symptoms mentioned. And the remedy to this is to cure the other symptoms because constantly having to hire and train new staff will slow your progress and cost you a lot of money. Whereas a happy, experienced team who know the business will get more done, better and faster. 5. You. The signs that let you know you have an infection are, you set unrealistic expectations of your staff. You are cold and unsympathetic. You do not listen to your staff. You instill fear in your staff. You are hypocritical. You scapegoat individuals. And the remedy, being a strong leader who makes decisions and manages their staff from a place of positivity and genuine care, will cure every symptom of a toxic culture that you have. Take the steps to build and nurture your people into a team who work for one another to achieve their goals. Make your staff feel wanted and appreciated through positive reinforcement. Make them stay because they are loyal to you, their team members and the work culture you have built. So, yes, toxic cultures are nasty places to be. But as a leader, wouldn't you like to be part of the cleanup crew? Well, now you can. Hi, I'm Emi Golding, Director of Psychology for the Workplace Mental Health Institute. We hope you liked the video. If you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. We have more and more videos being released each week. So when you subscribe, you'll get a notification letting you know when a new one's just been published. So make sure to hit that subscribe button and don't miss out on this vital information for yourself, your colleagues and your loved ones.