The workplace is not always the most welcoming of spaces, with many people not knowing how to thrive. Career Strategist Jennifer Brick joined Inside South Florida to share how you can persevere through a toxic work environment.
“A toxic work environment is a work environment in which you are missing some level of safety, whether it's psychological safety, safety over your actual job, or the opportunities that you're being given,” says Brick. “And it's something that it's not possible to leave it at work at the end of the day, it's something that really follows you home and starts to impact your confidence and how you feel about your career.”
Brick also listed some of the other effects that a toxic work environment can have on your overall well-being.
“When we look at the behaviors that are happening in a toxic work environment, a lot of it is actually narcissistic manipulation tactics that are taking place,” says Brick. “A lot of the people that I work with that have been in a toxic work environment are dealing with issues such as anxiety and depression. I've even had clients who have been diagnosed with PTSD, so it can be a really serious thing.”
While it feels like there is nothing you can do to make a toxic workplace improve, Brick shared three tips that you can follow to thrive in a difficult environment.
“First and foremost, you really need to understand the environment you're in and exactly what is toxic about it,” says Brick. “Next, I think that it's really important to make sure that you are building positivity into your life, a toxic work environment can be such a drain, like we've just talked about, and it can have all of these really negative and nasty effects on our lives.”
She recommends having positive inputs from support networks, giving yourself positive reinforcement, and acknowledging the good things you are doing.
“When it truly is a toxic work environment. I think that the only real solution is to escape the work environment, especially when it is not just one co-worker,” says Brick. “If it's all of your co-workers or when it is your manager, I like to describe it as if it’s a function of the work culture that is a feature and not a bug.”
For more information, visit YouTube.com/JenniferBrick and careergallopbook.com
