Of course, all of these need to be addressed in order to move the culture away from how passive aggressive forms.
Let me briefly address each one.
Build trust. Our staff is reading a book together which addresses organizational fear, for example. We are trying to build trust and eliminate passive aggression.
Challenge directly. When I have attempted church revitalization, passive aggression is often a leading cause of tension in the church. I’ve learned I have to confront that in order to have any traction. And I must challenge other influencers to do likewise.
Address hurts. People who have been injured need to be cared for, heard, and assisted so they can heal and move forward. This is messy, but too many times we allow broken relationships to continue – even in the church. You can’t sweep conflict under the rug and hope to have a healthy organization.
Communicate better. Communication is one of the most important jobs of a leader. People only know what they know. We must be open to challenge, questions, and invite people into discussions as much and as early as possible.
Passive aggressive cultures are damaging to organizational health. We should do all we can to eliminate this from the teams we lead.
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