The Toxic Symphony: How Gossip and Mistrust Undermine Team Success

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I was working with a team undergoing a dramatic shift in their structure towards the end of last year.  The idea had been to come back after the break, starting into the new year and with a renewed vigour for the transformation to come. 

They lost about 20 percent of the team over the holidays as nobody trusted the environment, and they chose not to come back into that toxic space.  What a mess!

The problem was there were too many assumptions made by the senior leadership.  They had been discussing the changes for so long, they didn’t really keep an eye on who know what about the whole strategy and just assumed the right people knew enough…  One leader even said to say nothing about the change in case someone gets the wrong idea or jumped to conclusions. 

Of course, the team jumped to conclusions!!  Anybody could tell that some major shift was being planned somewhere by somebody.  When we don’t have the dots to join, we will make up our own dots, just to try make sense of it all.  This is a survival instinct. 

They lost about 30 percent of the team over the holidays as nobody trusted the environment, and some chose not to come back into that toxic space.  What a mess! 

Let's dive into how systems thinking can explain what happened here.  Systems thinking is like looking at the dancers as well as the dance they create.  It may seem obvious that the dance is created by the dancers, but if we don’t see how the inter-relatedness is paramount to the overall result, we miss the very important part of the story. 

Systems thinking is a holistic approach to problem-solving in team disruption.  It can be a game-changer for teams caught in the tough tangle of mistrust, institutional betrayal, and dysfunction. Think of it as putting on a new pair of glasses that helps you see the bigger picture and how everything is interconnected.  

Here are five top points they didn’t consider in this change process: 

1. Everything Is Connected: In a struggling team, it's crucial to recognise that issues aren't standalone. One person's bad day, a missed deadline, or a misunderstood email doesn't exist in a vacuum. Systems thinking nudges us to see how these dots connect, influencing the team's mood and performance. It's like realising that a domino falling over isn't just about that one domino; it's about the whole setup. 

2. Feedback Loops Are Key:  Feedback loops are those recurring cycles of cause and effect. In a team facing mistrust, negative feedback loops can spiral out of control. Think of it as a snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger and faster. By identifying these loops, we can work to interrupt the negative ones (like gossip or blame games) and strengthen positive ones (like recognition and open communication).  Keep the information flowing – even if the information one day is “we don’t have any new information”.  That can be enough to keep everyone in the loop. 

3. Change Is a Process, Not an Event: Systems thinking reminds us that change doesn't happen overnight, especially in teams dealing with deep-seated issues. It's more marathon than sprint. This perspective helps set realistic expectations and patience for the process of rebuilding trust and function. 

4. Leverage Points:  These are spots within a system where a small tweak can lead to big changes. In a team, a leverage point could be improving how information is provided or how feedback is given. Identifying and acting on these can be a strategic way to initiate positive change without needing to overhaul everything at once. 

5. Perspective Matters:  Lastly, systems thinking encourages us to step into others' shoes and see the situation from multiple angles. This can be particularly enlightening in a team fraught with mistrust and dysfunction, as it helps uncover the root causes of issues, not just the symptoms. 

Integrating systems thinking into how we approach team challenges can be a powerful way to navigate through mistrust and dysfunction. It's about seeing both the forest and the trees, recognising patterns, and understanding how small changes can make a big difference in restoring safety, trust and a sense of belonging and mattering.