What PARALLAX can do for your Organisation
TOXIC BEHAVIOUR & NOURISHING BEHAVIOUR
Ask a dozen people to describe Toxic Behaviour. Though the descriptions will differ, some will not recognise the term, some will guess that it has something to do with poison and some will offer an explanation that includes “bullying”. PARALLAX defines Toxic Behaviour as any form of behaviour that causes negative stress or triggers adverse or negative feelings in someone else, including the following: fear, anxiety, guilt, inadequacy, frustration, despair, anger, hostility and low self esteem. For more information, visit: "Toxic Behaviour & Nourishing Behaviour" in our Articles Section.
Toxic behaviour patterns cause negative stress, the kind of stress that inhibits performance and damages relationships. Toxic Behaviour is rampant in some communities and is on the increase in the workplace. Many people are complaining that their working environment has become more demanding and stressful. Although most people do recognise that stress is increasing, they are unable to identify the toxic cause of the stress that they encounter. When asked to explain the cause of the increase of stress in the workplace, they tend to blame some impersonal "notion" like the need to make more profit. Alternatively they might blame someone, frequently the boss, who tends to bully people or make unreasonable demands.
Bullying is in fact the most widely known manifestation of toxic behaviour patterns.
There are many other manifestations of toxic behaviour and all of them are harder to detect.
Key points to note:
- How other people interpret your behaviour determines how they PERCEIVE you.
- Toxic Behaviour always produces stress or adverse FEELINGS in someone else.
- Any toxic interactions that trigger emotional reactions EXACERBATE the likelihood that toxic behaviour will increase UNLESS NEGATED by subsequent nourishing behaviours.
- Without Nourishing Behaviours to negate it, toxicity ESCALATES and spirals out of control.
- IF, AS and WHEN other people perceive your behaviour as toxic, they react emotionally and the emotional response triggers stress within them - "WHATEVER your behavioural intention".
- How people perceive themselves differs from how other people perceive them.
- Any statement or comment, intended as encouragement, can be received as a criticism.
Using the PARALLAX approach, organisations and employers can identify:
- those behaviours that ARE toxic and produce emotional reactions and stress in others.
- those behaviours that ARE NOT toxic, but still produce emotional reactions and stress in others.
- an individual’s PROPENSITY to enact Toxic Behaviours:
- Bullying & Intimidation
- Aggression
- Control Freakery
- Micro-management
- Grandiosity & Narcissism
- Flippancy & Frivolity
- Dissimulation
- Toadyism
Using the PARALLAX approach, organisations and employers can identify:
- those behaviours that ARE nourishing and reduce toxicity and / stress in others
- those behaviours that induce people to FEEL appreciated, valued and respected in the work environment
- an individual’s PROPENSITY to enact Nourishing Behaviours:
- Synergy & Cohesion
- Encouragement & Enthusiasm
- Candour & Purpose
- Clarity & Objectivity
- Empathy & Patience
- Mentoring & Coaching
Contact us for more information on how PARALLAX can help identify Toxic & Nourishing Behaviours.