Sometimes when I’m reading for pleasure, the prose, concerns, conversations, or challenges that protagonists face offer unwitting help as I navigate my own recovery from workplace harm. Concerns about belonging, discerning safety, navigating freedom, remembering missed chances to make another decision, or meeting people who help us along the way – all show up from […]
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Passive-Aggressive Communication is one of the main causes and manifestions of dysfunctional workplaces. Harmed employees note that one of their main areas of worry and rumination is trying to strategize responses to sarcastic statements, barbs, and other forms of ambivalently harmful communication. The following titles share strategies that may support, cultivate, or model clear communication
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Ongoing exposure to workplace harm, unclear communication tactics, and constant organizational change will result in increased feelings of uncertainty and mistrust, and in the absence of clear directives and/or outcomes, we’re more likely to create internal narratives that may protect us in the short term, but that also decrease our ability to identify positive opportunities
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Dysfunctional organizations are usually understaffed, leaving employees with ever-growing job creep, which, in turn, brings feelings of overwhelm and feelings of always being behind. Here is when multi-tasking or procrastination come in, compounded by unclear or conflicting directives. If you’re navigating these states and are seeking escape, here are some books focusing on, well…focusing. Carlson,
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Perfectionism – that desire to been seen or thought of as beyond reproach – and which drives a great deal of anxiety – is a often-reported outcome of low-morale experiences, and it often presents with people-pleasing behaviors as people attempt to avoid the anger of their abusers. Read participant data that surfaces perfectionism. Books about
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Earlier this year I shared a few books on the Renewals Instagram feed in celebration of Black History Month – I’d like to boost them again here because they are timeless (and to remind you to dig into them in case they are in your current TBR pile). Which of these have you read? Cleaver,
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People who face low-morale often experience emotional conflict – they are generally employed in the career/industry of their choice, and they want to do their jobs well (they are often overperformers). At the same time; however, they find themselves in a tenuous position – they are being abused/neglected at work, and want relief. The resulting
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Low-morale is the outcome of being exposed to abuse and neglect at work – and much of the abuse manifests in the negative behaviors of individuals. From low-grade incivility to intense mobbing, these acts may be fueled by shame, insecurity, or selfishness, and enabled by organizational and cultural influences. The following books address these issues
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A fundamental thread throughout low-morale experience development is how the people involved talk (or don’t) talk with each other. Frameworks like library nice and resilience narratives encourage inauthentic or weaponized performances of civility or toxic positivity; in turn, people engage behaviors of hypervigilance and negative self-talk as they try to predict or decipher what people are
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Grace, M. (2018). How to not always be working: A toolkit for creativity and radical self-care. New York: Morrow Gift. Harris, M. (2014). The end of absence: Reclaiming what we’ve lost in a world of constant connection. New York: Current. Hersey, T. (2022). Rest is resistance: A nap manifesto. New York: Little, Brown Spark. Jaffe, S. (2021).
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