Welcome, Harmonious Workplaces Listeners! In our 63rd podcast episode, we dove into a critical topic: the shadow side of change management – specifically, toxic positivity. While maintaining a positive outlook is often encouraged during times of organizational change, an overemphasis on upbeat messaging can actually be detrimental. As Host Rich Cruz noted, the goal is to keep your organizational change efforts positive… without being TOO positive.
What is Toxic Positivity in Change Management?
Toxic positivity occurs in change management when there is an overemphasis on positive messaging that dismisses legitimate fear, grief, or resistance among employees. Co-host Sharyl Volpe described it as a dangerous place for a leader or manager to go when trying to gloss over actual difficulties, challenges, shortages of resources, or even grief. While optimism has its place, ignoring the “elephants in the room” makes leaders look tone-deaf and uncaring, sometimes even like a bully if they don’t recognize what people are feeling.
The Negative Impacts
This kind of emotional invalidation can suppress psychological safety. Sharyl Volpe connected it to the current notion of psychological safety, explaining that leaders not being transparent can erode any sense of safety that exists. It can also feel like avoidance, like saying “everything’s fine, everything’s good, everything is awesome” when people know better.
Leaders who frame all resistance to change as negativity or a lack of vision risk alienating employees and obscuring critical feedback. This behavior, sometimes perceived as bullying or even potentially narcissistic, can erode trust and limit adaptive learning, ultimately weakening the change initiative’s success.
Change communications rooted in toxic positivity can signal performative leadership rather than authentic care or competence. Employees are perceptive and can detect incongruence between organizational messaging and their lived experiences, which can deepen cynicism. As a meta-analysis by Oreg et al. (2011) found, employees react negatively to change when they perceive it as poorly managed, inauthentic, or when communication lacks openness.
Emotional regulation strategies that demand constant optimism can lead to burnout and disengagement. When workers aren’t allowed to express uncertainty or skepticism, they may withdraw or become passive in the change process. This disengagement can start when someone decides it’s “not worth speaking up” because no good will come of it. It can even lead to “quiet quitting” and further distrust.
Rich Cruz also brought up the Apple TV show Severance as a pop culture example, where disingenuous reward structures and condescension in the workplace, despite enforced positivity, lead to things going “downhill real fast” once the veneer peels away. Just going through the motions with positive messaging isn’t effective because people can see through it.
Moving Towards Authentic Change
Instead of masking the emotional complexity of change with forced positivity, organizations and leaders should aim to address this complexity directly. Supporting resilience and long-term transformation involves creating spaces where grief, fear, and hope are all normalized and constructively processed. This approach is validated by studies, including research by Van der Kolk (2014) and Kiefer (2005).
Having a culture where leaders promote open conversation about the emotional complexity of change is key to keeping dialogue authentic. Normalizing a two-way conversation is an immediate action people can take. Transparency about the “why” behind change is crucial and often noticed when it’s missing. When the purpose is muddied, and leaders are deflecting or avoiding, it erodes trust quickly.
The relationship between employees and their managers is incredibly important. As Gallup research indicates, a large percentage of job satisfaction comes from this relationship. If this relationship isn’t healthy, it hinders the likelihood of healthy respect for leadership or transformational change growing. Leaders demonstrating authentic behavior, or “walking the walk” rather than just “talking the talk,” through components like modeling the way and encouraging the heart, as discussed by Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge, fosters a sense of doing things together.
To foster authenticity, set clear goals. Authentic celebration comes from achieving these goals, even incremental ones, not from made-up positivity.
Harmonious Workplaces Resources
Rich Cruz also mentioned some resources offered by Harmonious Workplaces, including “Ask Hermie,” where listeners can submit workplace questions to be answered in various formats. Another service discussed is the “Harmonious Health Check,” a two-week process using data and evidence-based resources to help companies understand their culture, identify areas for improvement, and uncover potential toxic positivity. As Sharyl Volpe noted, having someone come in to start these conversations can be a catalyst for culture change.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while positivity is important, it must be genuine and not used to gloss over real challenges or invalidate employee feelings. By embracing the emotional complexity of change, fostering open communication, and demonstrating authentic leadership, organizations can build trust and achieve more successful transformations.
Thank you for listening! Remember, make change your friend.
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