Moving from Toxic to Curative

Restoring a healthy workplace culture

Toxic work cultures tear people down, demoralize them and leave a lasting negative imprint on the human spirit. It can leave them doubting themselves and questioning their self-worth. If not treated, it can permanently damage them and even further spread the disease.

“You don’t want to work over there. That place is toxic!”

We have all known people who have been caught in an environment that has battered them to the point of tremendous frustration and demoralization. Who hasn’t heard someone say, “You don’t want to work over there. That place is toxic!” Sadly, it may have even been our own personal experience as well.

“Toxic” is an almost universal word to describe things we want to flee from or avoid at all costs. It can be a plastic bottle of something we found under the sink or something stuck to our shoe. Maybe it is a classmate in school or a professor. It can be a relative, an “ex” or a long-time negative relationship. Or, for our purposes, it can be a poisonous work culture.

Toxicity is Insidious

But there’s another, perhaps more important aspect of toxicity. It has importance because of its insidious nature. You and I, as leaders of faith-based organizations, might not even be aware of the toxicity that we, ourselves, are creating or allowing.

Because of its prevalence in the marketplace, it may be all we have ever experienced. Therefore, we’ve recreated this soul-singeing environment in our own ministry or nonprofit organization without even realizing it.

It’s also quite possible that you’ve been tasked with turning around an organization with toxic tendencies. Hopefully, there is useful insight here for you here.

An Antonym for “Toxic”

It’s worth pointing out that while we have all heard or experienced the word toxic, we don’t seem to have a one-word descriptor for a great corporate culture!

Perhaps less familiar to us is to hear a friend or colleague say, “I wouldn’t trade where I work for anything! I feel valued for who I really am!”

So, while in search of a one-word antonym, the most appropriate descriptor out of an extensive list was “curative.” What drew me to this choice was that it suggests a process of recovery or getting over something poisonous or toxic. However, the most applicable definition is simply “serving to cure or heal.”

The etymology of this word, curative, is from the Latin “curare.” It means, to watch over, attend, treat (sick persons), restore to health.

There is another Latin phrase that can lead us to creating a curative culture, “imago Dei,” the image of God. In Genesis 1:26, in the creation story, it says, “And God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” In verse 27, Scripture says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

This is the primary premise of a curative culture.

From the very beginning, our God placed the highest value of his creation upon us! As men and women in leadership, to attempt to see those we lead as our Creator sees us is both an exhilarating and challenging endeavor. This is the primary premise of a curative culture.

Curative Culture

Culture, in our context, is the heart, the feelings of a work community’s body. Culture is most closely aligned with and expressed in corporate values. Values are a statement of who we want to be or become.

Culture, then, reveals the proof of what we really believe.

Vision and mission are generally statements of where we want our organization to be and answer the question, “what do you do?” Values answer the questions, “who are you?” and “how does it feel to work in your company?”

Curative culture is not intended to suggest that all leaders become therapists to those they serve and lead. As coworkers, we are all responsible for our own actions. Rather, curative culture seeks to remove the wall between our work and our value as people made in the image of God.

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Douglas K. Shaw is the Chairman/CEO of Douglas Shaw & Associates, a nationally recognized direct-response fundraising firm. A graduate of both Simpson University and Fuller Seminary, Doug recently authored his fourth book, Curative Culture: Stepping Away from a Toxic Workplace. Learn more at douglasshaw.com.

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