Thread by @GuildmasterC

When navigating toxic culture, it's key to find tactics that work whether you're in a toxic culture or not. Why? 🧵1/

#agile #toxic #Manager #Leaders

There's two scenarios to consider. One, the "happy" path, is that there's been some miscommunication. Everyone actually wants whats best, its just that someone is overwhelmed. This scenario can be fixed! 2/

The second, the "bad" path, is that someone is attempting to emotionally manipulate the situation. However, you don't actually know "who" the impostor is yet. Using divide and conquer tactics, you may be fighting with a potential ally! 3/

Some "puppet master" behind the scenes may be trying to set folks who'd otherwise work together against each other. Again, we've seen this on the world stage recently. It's not as far fetched as it sounds. 4/

How do you deal with all these varieties of situations you may be in? Using the same thing, in every case. There's a nash equilibrium (best strategy) here no matter what situation or players you find yourself in! 5/

The first is to grey rock. Do not escalate your own emotions, do not escalate your tone of voice. Be like a rock. 6/ medicalnewstoday.com/articles/grey-…

This works because: if you're talking to someone who wants whats best, it will help them de-escalate. If you're talking to someone who's toxic, you'll deny them future ammunition to use against you. "That guy is a loose cannon!" It also frustrates the hell out of them 7/

The second is "assume best intent." BUT ONLY AT FIRST! And it MUST be combined with the third: document, document, document. 8/

Again, if there's a simple misunderstanding, assuming best intent allows folks to find a way forward. That's good. If there's toxic manipulation, assuming best intent ALONG WITH DOCUMENTATION allows you to prove to your superiors you were "good" 9/

If you have to escalate, it's because you're dealing with a toxic person. The documentation isn't to PROVE the person is toxic - it's to PROVE you did everything you could think of to do. 10/

By the time you escalate, you need to start switching tactics to deal with known toxicity. Remember: solidarity, accountability, and power. More on those another time!