The Importance of Workplace Culture

An unexpected change in jobs teaches me a lot about the importance of good workplace culture.

Eight months ago, I found myself in a work environment that was so toxic that it was all I could do not to walk ‘out the door’ and take early retirement. I was working on an information technology team where the customer thought the best way to manage our contract was to find every possible way to write a deficiency report on our work. To make matters worse, I had a project manager who was ‘brainwashed’ by corporate management in believing that the personnel at our worksite were a bunch of ‘losers.’

I was working two full completely different full-time positions at the same time (while only being compensated for one of them). Because of a sudden management change which I had no control over, I was denied a promised position transfer and promotion by the new program manager (after being promised both by the previous manager). Then, to top everything off, I was asked to move to another worksite 50 miles from where I was living, with only 14 weeks left on our contract.

It was enough to make me walk out the door.

It was only the finality of 14 weeks to the end of the contract, a bonus that depended on me staying until the very last day, and the promise of finally being able to take a break from this toxic environment that kept me ‘in play.’ That, and I kept telling myself I need a few extra dollars as I was headed off to retirement.

That was eight months ago. Today? Life could not be better. By the way, I didn’t retire, either (that’s a story for another time — stay tuned).

Today, I find myself working in a ‘dream job’ — one that I would have never even thought existed in the IT field. I’ve been in the IT for 20 years and haven’t come across one that even remotely resembles the situation I find myself in today.

What changed so drastically?

I had changed jobs. Today, I am a Cybersecurity consultant to a Civil Engineering Squadron in the United States Air Force. I am the ‘trusted advisor’ to the Civil Engineering leadership for all Cybersecurity matters that relate to Industrial Control Systems. These are the computers that manage the water systems, heating and air-conditioning systems, building fire alarms, and even airfield lighting. My job is to assess the threats and vulnerabilities to these computers and make recommendations on how to harden these systems. It’s a unique challenge because most of us don’t think about the importance of keeping our infrastructure ‘grid’ safe from hackers. But the threat is real, I assure you.

I was finally in a job that I had always dreamed about and had spent the better part of 10 years preparing for. But the positive job change was only one part of the ‘dream equation.’ The other part? The super positive work environment.

I’m in a position where my immediate supervisors are more than 6000 miles from my work site. The interview process was rather lengthy because I was going to be ‘on my own,’ and they wanted to be sure that I had what it took to work completely unsupervised. Not only that, but they also warned me that, while not intentional, sometimes it would feel like I was ‘out on my own’ (which has undoubtedly been the case sometimes). After 30 minutes of discussion, I convinced them that being out ‘on my own’ was just the type of position I was seeking.

After I was hired, I had a chance to meet my government sponsor, who was not expecting me to show up for a few more months. Korea was right in the middle of their first COVID wave, and it was all but impossible to get someone into Korea from the United States (something that worked to my advantage, but that’s quite another story).

My sponsor is not my direct customer, but just a great person who helped me navigate all of the pitfalls of processing into a new job in Korea (and there were many). He was the first of many Air Force civilians and military personnel who went out of their way to make me ‘feel at home.’ Whether it was getting my computer set up, getting supplies, helping to get specialized software loaded on my laptop, or anything else, the people in the squadron have had the attitude of ‘how can we help you’? After the daily conflicts that happened in my last position, this attitude makes the job feel like ‘a little bit of heaven.’

Of course, I’ve had to fill my end of the bargain — provide the Cybersecurity expertise needed for the unit to harden these industrial control systems from any future attacks. While there is a lot of work still to accomplish to ‘harden’ these computers, I’ve already provided significant subject matter expertise in industrial control system security issues, and everyone agrees we are making good progress. I have quickly become a valued member of the team because no one else in the entire 600+ person squadron has the professional Cybersecurity expertise that I bring to the table.

The famous contemporary leadership author Daniel Pink talks about this type of work environment in his bestselling book “Drive.” He describes the need to optimize employee productivity by providing them with three things, autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy is giving people the freedom to do the job as they see fit. This implies, of course, that the person in the position has the level of mastery to do the job well. Finally, Daniel talks about the need to give people a sense of purpose; a vision and goals worth striving for. He sums this up in the acronym AMP; A for autonomy, M for mastery, and P for purpose.

When I read this book about two years ago, I thought, “This is great stuff, Mr. Pink, and we sure need some heavy does of this, but I live in the real world. Jobs with AMP don’t exist in the real world.”

But they do exist. The job I’m working in right now is proof of that. I have a high degree of autonomy in this position, a great deal of subject mastery (over ten years of Cybersecurity expertise). I have a high degree of purpose — our industrial control systems need a lot of hardening.

Not only do I have a lot of AMP in the position, but the work environment also couldn’t be better. While there is still some of the petty ‘office politics’ that exist in any organization, the overall tone of the workplace is very positive. Osan Air Base, South Korea, is a ‘hardship’ assignment for the airmen on the base. While the base is pleasant enough, most everyone is here on a ‘remote’ tour for one year, separated from their families for 12 months. As the leadership understands the stresses caused by this family separation, they go out of their way to make the work environment as positive as they can.

This positive attitude seems to be very infectious. It seems everyone understands the need to have as positive a work environment as possible. It’s not some fake mushy ‘touchy-feely’ environment that can be quite toxic; instead, it’s a genuinely positive environment where everyone tries to help out where they’re needed.

Leadership sets the tone of this environment.

Great or lousy workplace environments don’t just ‘happen.’ They exist within the greater leadership framework. Great leaders have a pulse on the work environment; they can sense when there are problems within the work environment and take proactive actions to ‘root-out’ and solve the problems.

In contrast, toxic environments are often the result of leadership neglect; leaders ignore the critical attributes of the workplace (like civility in the workforce, communications, extrinsic motivators, etc.). This neglect too often allows very dysfunctional workplace environments to develop, as the behaviors of the most toxic people in the workplace go left unchecked by poor or apathetic leadership.

The dysfunctional characteristic of the workplace that I recently left was allowed to develop unchecked for many years by several senior leaders. The environment was taken over by some dominant people who only had their interests in mind, not those of the organization. As a result, the workplace became so toxic that moral was became non-existent, resulting in very low levels of productivity and the highest levels of turnover in the workforce I have ever witnessed.

By comparison, my current environment has been a great source of motivation and inspiration. From the program manager, supervisors, the customer, and my great support staff back in the United States, everyone seems to have a very encouraging attitude. They’re looking for my success because they know if I succeed, everyone succeeds. The philosophy of such a workplace goes without saying. Everyone knows that we are all in this together.

As I’ve said, it makes for the ‘dream job.’ Unfortunately, these work environments are far too rare in today’s organizational workplaces. But they do exist!

Actively engaged leadership is the difference between dysfunctional work environments and those great places to work. People need to know that their leadership won’t tolerate the many different forms of dysfunctional behavior that can creep up in the work environment. Good work must be praised and rewarded, and truly toxic people must be dealt with. Engaged leadership that is concerned about the workplace environment shows their people that they care about their well-being.

What difference has it made in my life? This position was one of the biggest reasons I stayed with my company, and one of the biggest reason’s I’m still in the workforce. It is the difference between a day full of purpose and one filled with struggle. Where I felt like I had to drag myself into work before (and often didn’t make it till 8:30 or later), now I’m one of the first ones into work. Don’t get me wrong; I still look forward to my downtime on the weekends. But the workplace has gone from a form of torture to something I look forward to during the week.

It has allowed me to continue to be a valued member of the workplace. It has saved my company considerable time and effort in finding a match for a challenging position to fill. Finally, it’s provided a much-needed service to our customers.

This is what winning looks like.