Conflicting reports in this incident argue that no such order was given, but the speed with which this story circulated in community forums of Amazon workers implies that even if production halted immediately, its workers have little goodwill towards their organization.
Trust makes or breaks a culture more than anything on this list, and toxic cultures have a marked lack of trust in actions and intentions. Indeed, trust is one of the hardest things for a company to build and one of the easiest to tear down; something as simple as a fast-food CEO struggling to take a bite of his own product can diminish years of trust from consumers, as McDonald’ s recently found out. But take that distrust and put it into something with deeper stakes, such as employee safety, environmental impact or security, and it could take decades. If that distrust reaches a boiling point first, we’ re seeing disastrous consequences in lose-lose situations.
What comes next?
These three questions, simple as they may be, cast a shadow over the way our corporations and organizations are being run and the cultures they promote. As a CEO, I fear that the dismissive reaction to these extreme actions is teaching us the wrong lessons. Without a significant course-correction in what organizations value and how they enforce those values, we’ re only going to see job markets falter and employee satisfaction plummet. I ' m hopeful it’ s not too late, but curing toxic corporate cultures will take far more intentionality than just asking these starting questions, and it needs to start from the top down.
Douglas K. Shaw, founder of Douglas Shaw & Associates, is the author of Curative Culture: Stepping away from a Toxic Workplace. During his 45-year career, he has consulted with hundreds of high-impact leaders and companies. His firm raises hundreds of millions of dollars annually for nonprofit organizations and ministries that change the lives of men, women and children. 15