1345: Life in Bloom: How to Fix Company Culture and Stopping Negativity to Boost Team Performance with Corporate Skills Behavioral Coach Debbie Longo

Robert Plank 0:00 Debbie. Hey, we're here with Debbie Longo, who is a corporate skills behavior coach with over 24 years of experience, helping executives and business owners boost their profits by transforming the way their teams work. And today, in today's episode, we're diving into the toxic impact of negativity in the workplace, which includes how it spreads, why it matters, and how shifting to a culture of positivity can truly save a business. Because, according to Debbie, negativity left unchecked doesn't just hurt morale, it can destroy performance and even be the downfall of a company. So with Miss Debbie, long goes help. Let's talk about how to turn that around. Miss Debbie, glad to be speaking with you.

Debbie Longo 0:47 Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Robert Plank 0:49 I appreciate you too. And so as far as us getting a handle on who you are and how you can help, what do we leave out of that bio? What are you all about? What's your current passion and focus?

Debbie Longo 1:00 Well, I've been in this business like I, you know, like you had mentioned a little bit for 24 years, and I have experience in a lot of different types of coaching. But the thing is that after COVID, there was so many issues with companies losing money, going out of business because they didn't know what to do, and they were losing profits, and, you know, they just lost all their money, you know. And they went bankrupt, you know. And then they filed bankruptcy, and that wasn't good enough, you know, so they had to just completely go out of business. So when I saw that, I said to myself, there, I know there's a lot of things that I can do to help companies, you know, different things like that, because these companies did not have to go out of business, but I don't want to, you know, make excuses or anything. But, you know, the way I teach it is, it doesn't matter what's going on in my environment. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world. There's a saying attitude is everything. And if I can do that, and I can succeed at that, whatever is going on in my own environment outside of me has no issue at all. And regardless of all of that, my company will act normal and have their profits and do everything that they would normally do, whether there are outside forces or not, and that's really the whole object to this.

Robert Plank 2:46 I like it focusing on what you can control, and you think about the silliness that happens when you don't adhere to that. Like you mentioned the pandemic a little bit. Remember when that like, there was like a day when that sort of started and you went to the store and everyone was buying toilet paper, not because of a shortage of toilet paper, because of the rumor, which then led to panic buying, which then led to the actual creation of that shortage. And you figured that's was quite a metaphor for just kind of the chaos that ensues when you escape those those bad boundaries, right? When you say, Hey, we're running this company. Here's how we should run it, and we should be logical and think this through and act with integrity and all those things. And so I know that you're big on the people, on the behavior, and so starting with the problem and us understanding it. What are some of these common signs that negativity is taking hold in a workplace, and maybe even signs that appear before the problem is obvious.

Debbie Longo 3:45 right? So there are a lot, and we could talk for hours just on this one question. But to really summarize, it is all of the attitudes and behaviors in the company, every single person, from the CEO to the janitors, okay, are negative. And they just, you know, you know they they they can't handle working there, and they say negative things. They argue with the boss all the time. They always try to take control over the workplace, their job duties, what they do, you know, what they need to do different things like that. They'll say they can't do it, you know? They'll just say, you know, tons and tons of negativity all around. And there's a saying, what goes around, comes around. So if I'm, if I act like that in the workplace, then everybody's going to see that, okay, and everybody's going to work, everybody's going to act like that. And that is infectious. Do. So that will literally infect the workplace, and then it gets to a point where nobody can do anything to help, because it's over the top, you know? And there have been companies where the CEOs have fired their entire workforce all at one time, and they literally had to start over, because the problems and all the issues and everything was so bad that it doesn't matter if, you know, if you bring in, God, it doesn't matter who you bring in. It's not going to help, you know. And the object is not to get to that point. And if I'm positive, then the same thing that's going to affect everybody. So that's one big thing. The other thing is that you're going to see it. So not only will people do it and then other people influence other people, they're going to see it. The CEO will, you'll have little signs, right? Like all of these things that I just said, but once the CEO notices that, that's the time to do something about it, early on, when it can be fixed. And that's the whole thing, the employees might notice. But are the employees really going to do anything about it? I mean, they might, they might not. But, I mean, you know, they're just an employee there, you know, the CEO and the the business owner is the one that's responsible for keeping the business afloat. You know, that's the bottom line. So that's really who we're focusing I mean focusing on everybody, basically. But you know, we want the CEOs to be successful, for their company to be successful, so they can maximize their profits and sales.

Robert Plank 6:52 Well, I like it. And your contagion analogy makes a lot of sense, right? When, if there's a virus or there's cancer, you think that there's the early stages where something can be done, but then when it's spread, when it's everywhere, and if the workplace is filled with that negativity, and it's everywhere you look, and it's even just being around that kind of makes you join in on it, then you have to imagine that the good people, the positive people, will be forced out, or will leave, or you bring in a few New people in it, and they're outnumbered by all of the bad stuff. So it makes sense how sometimes the leadership lays off the entire staff, because sometimes there's no fixing it, except for starting from scratch. And so this is a really important problem for us to be focusing on, but then sometimes it's tough to care right about. Well, the how will this affect the results, the outcomes, those good old profits, and so can you tell us about maybe the really bad things that happen if this is left unchecked, this unchecked negativity, how does it impact leadership, team morale and company profits?

Debbie Longo 7:58 Well, there's a lot of examples, but if a CEO or a manager, or you know, an executive, um, gives orders, or, you know, tries to enforce an employee's job duties, and the employee says, I can't do it, and then maybe the manager or executive gives them some extra work and expects them to insert that work into their normal day. And the first thing that the employee says is, I can't do it. I'm not, I don't have time for this today. Okay, when they can easily do it, it's a little bit of extra work. It's no big deal. Okay, they can easily do it, okay? And then, you know, you might see so, so, um, they're constantly telling the bosses, okay that they are not listening. They cannot listen to them. They cannot do what the bosses are asking them to do, and that is difficult for a company to operate like that. So we need to find ways that to help the boss or executive whoever, to allow to help the company to function. Okay? Because the boss's job is to tell the employees basically what to do, you know, or what their job is, or to enforce their job duties, different things like that, right? But if the employees are so negative where they just say they can't do it, they can't do it, then that's not gonna, that's just gonna bring the company down. And then also, you know, gossip, you know, coffee, clutch, different things like that. You know, with the water cooler, you. You know, different things like that. That is also very infectious, too. And then gossip is one person tells another person, but then that person doesn't keep it a secret. Then they go and they tell another person, you know, so. And then there's the telephone game, you know, I like all these sayings, you know, right, where one person says something, and then by the time it gets to the 10th person, it's a completely different story. And then if it gets to the boss, then, you know, and if it's about the boss or about the company, which there's a very good chance it could be, then, you know, then he's got, you know, he could start firing people, you know, different things like that. So it can really, get really, really serious. And then also, the way I act at home is the way I act at work, and the way I act at work is the way I act at home. So, you know, it goes both ways. So that's the whole thing. And I don't want to be able to bring negativity into the workplace. So there's a lot of things, you know, it really depends on the situation, because there's a lot of different situations.

Robert Plank 11:14 of course, and I'd love to get into some of those situations with you in a moment. But just to properly digest what you said. You said a lot of amazing things. It seems like a lot of it comes down to your habits and your simplicity in the way that you function, right? It's it is hard to unlearn some of these things, right? The water cooler gossip, and this habit is saying no, and I can't do it, and I'll do just enough. And it is tough to unlearn those bad behaviors, especially because nobody wants to be that one overachiever. And then everyone else is doing the bare minimum. You're thinking, why am I working myself so hard? And everyone else is is having it really easy? And then this whole idea of, then you end up, like, just driving yourself crazy, right? And I'm thinking too hard and working too hard. And if we just say, hey, here's what I'm about. Here are my boundaries, here are the rules I abide by. I've definitely been in situations where I before I knew better, I would kind of try to gossip with like one person in particular, and he just wouldn't even engage, wouldn't even respond. And I tried being a little more vague, and he just he wasn't about that, right? He was about solutions and positivity and getting it done, and how can we be productive? And as we you and I said right before we recorded that you'll make a book about this someday, right because you've seen so many things, you've been in so many situations. And what do you think is valid or appropriate or timely for our conversation? Here? Can you share a story or an example where a negative workplace culture was turned around successfully?

Debbie Longo 12:48 Well, there's one issue, also one example, I should say, about respect. So if the manager or the executive respects the employee, then the employee is going to respect the manager, and vice versa. Okay, so if the let's say, for example, lunch is at 12 o'clock, lunch is always at 12 o'clock. And then the manager says, I have work extra work this morning, and lunch is going to be at one o'clock. Now it's not going to be 12 o'clock anymore. And the employee doesn't like that, okay? And the employee says, you know, I'm not going to accept that. You know, lunch is going to be at 12 o'clock, okay? Because I have to, you know, you know, eat my lunch. And, you know, I'm hungry, okay? And my energy level is low, and I could get this done in the afternoon, like, do you need it in the morning? You know you need it at the end of the day, you know you don't need it right the second? So the manager is just being a little bit controlling. So now the employee is sticking up for themselves, and the employee is saying, this is the time that we agreed. When I first started working here, we made an agreement, we signed the contract, okay? Or we made a verbal agreement that lunch is going to be at 12 o'clock, you know, and that's when I'm going to go. And that's it, you know. It's not like an urgent thing. So the manager says, Okay, you can go to lunch at 12 o'clock now, the manager knows that he is not controlling that employee anymore, that he cannot control that employee at all, ever again. And now, guess what happens now the employee, as long as the employee gives respect back. To the manager when he asked, when she asked, when he asked her to do something, she does it okay, as long as she does that, then the employee now gets whatever she wants, because now the boss respects the employee. So if she wants a day off, or if she's on a vacation and she wants extra time, you know, at the end of the vacation, or she has to go to home early to pick up on kids from school, or something like that. The boss would say yes, because now the boss respects her. And that is a way. That's just one example, but that's a way, and that's a big thing, believe it or not, okay, people want to do what the boss tells them, even though they know that it's wrong. They know that they're going to get upset, that that they're not going to be respected, because they think that the boss is going to fire them. Well, you know what? It's the other way around. The boss is not going to fire them. Okay. If they stick up for themselves and they say what they feel okay and what they need to say, the boss is not going to fire them. Instead, the boss will appreciate them and give them respect. And people lose six figure jobs over this they get a resentment, and the boss gets a resentment, okay? And then they say, Oh, something happened. And you know, you're gonna have to leave, you know, and we'll just call it that. We won't fire you. You're just gonna have to leave. You're gonna have to walk out, and that's it, and never come back. And people lose six figure jobs over this. And it doesn't have to be all because they're not knowledgeable enough to know this one simple fact,

Robert Plank 16:50 yes, which is that respect is a two way street, and it seems like there's just a need to think these things through, right as you're explaining this in my head, there's like, there's two buckets, there's the positivity and the negativity, and the negativity is maybe what comes naturally, if you're not careful, right? There's the resentments, there's the revenge, there's the keeping score, all these things that we've all seen it happen in this workplace, and it is logical to say, hey, I don't want that. I don't want to experience that. I don't want to be a part of that. And then what you're mentioning is that that good bucket of it sounds like leadership and responsibility and empathy, and, you know, wanting to make things right and and being careful about other people who do have needs and emotions. And so as far as this, this realm of leadership that we're talking about, what role would you say leaders play in fueling or fixing the toxic energy at work?

Debbie Longo 17:48 They need a coach. You know, they need somebody that's going to show them what to do, that's going to train them and help them. Because here's the thing, if they knew how to do it, they wouldn't have gotten to this point. So they need some type of help somewhere. Okay, now we have, you know, you know, coaches are great, and they help very large companies all the time, very successful companies, Microsoft, Apple, you know, big, big companies. These companies all have coaches, all different types of things that help the employees, behavior, morale, different things like that and that will that's why this type of work is so extremely important, because people don't know what coaching is, and they don't know what this is about, and they don't know how they can help, you know? So they might figure, for example, you know, it's like I said, it's going to get to this point, and I'm just going to fire a whole bunch of people and just get all new people. And what's going to happen then? Well, the behavior is going to stay the same, you know, it's not going to be any different, you know, because the boss's behavior didn't change, you know, different things like that. And nobody's blaming anybody for anything. It's not anybody's fault. This is just natural stuff. This is just what we do, the way that we act. But the point is that we can change it. That's the whole thing. And people don't know, you know, they're uneducated. They don't know that they could change it. They don't know how you know different things like that. And once they learn that, then they could see that this is really helping, and then they'll always be successful, because then they carry that through their whole entire life, wherever they work, whatever they do. You know, it doesn't matter. Outside forces don't matter. They will literally carry this behavior. Or this attitude through all of their jobs, their home, everywhere they go, okay, and everything is going to be a lot better. Some people like, a hard life, you know. Some people like, you know, you know, a life where they're always arguing and, you know, getting upset and you know, but some people don't want that. Some people want to change. And you know, that's just completely up to the person. If they like a hard life and they want to always run into problems, then that's fine with me. That's up to them. That's their decision, not mine. You know, I'm interested in helping people who want to change them their workplace, and that will help to help the company in a million different ways. And in the end, that's going to not only increase sales and profits, but the company will be skyrocketed totally into another dimension, way beyond all the other companies in their industry. And nobody's going to know what's going on, but they're going to know exactly what's going on.

Robert Plank 21:11 Very nice. You talk about this idea of some people like a hard life or a hard workplace, and there's the saying, choose your hard right, where you can say, Well, I'm not going to focus at all on the root cause. I'll just treat the symptoms, and I'll just, I'll always be working on that, or I could change my behavior and change the way I go about it. Like you think about how the average person that goes on a diet gains back the weight and more, but then this time without the muscle mass that they lost the muscle mass during the diet, and now they're even heavier. You think about the average lottery winner, it is broker than before they won the lottery, or dead from, from compared to years ago, because they didn't change the behavior, right? They they got a stroke of luck, but then they still acted the same old way. And I imagine that this is similar in the workplace, and I love what you're saying here. Of if you change some of these things, it'll carry out to other aspects of your life. It'll ripple out to your personal life, your family life, and other jobs and careers you have. Then it will also be these transferable skills. And so it's great after you and I have swam through all this negativity, and I felt a little bad about like this and that that can happen. But now we're on the upswing. Right now we're talking about what change is possible. So as far as those steps, what are the first three steps that any company can take today to start shifting from negative to a more positive, productive culture?

Debbie Longo 22:37 Well, they can do a little audit. They're the manager, the executive. They know everything about their company. They know how they operate. They know their employees. They know everybody's personality. They know what employees are doing and what they're not doing. So they can do a little audit. They can make an outline for themselves about what they need to improve and what's good so they could make, take a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle, positive and negative, and write all the things that they think are negative in their workplace, everything they see, Just go about a normal day, you know, and then at the end of the day, just fill out the sheet the paper, you know, and then write down everything they see that day that's negative, and write down everything they see that day that's positive. And they can actually do that every single day, okay, but the bottom line is that that's just one thing. There's a lot of things they could do. They could make goals, okay? They can make weekly goals, daily goals, you know, for their employees, and that will help them, okay? That will help the employees to get motivated, different things like that. But the thing is, most of those things, it's nice to do those things, but we want to give them a permanent solution where this is not something that is just going to help them in one situation, because these same situations are going to keep coming up. Unless they fix the problem. They realize what's going on. They get rid of the negativity, the negative part of that problem or issue, and change it to a positive. You know, now they've learned the lesson. And if they don't do that, and this is just one example out of many, okay, but if they don't do that, then that thing, that issue, that problem, whatever it is, is going to keep coming up again and again, okay? And that is one of the things that's so toxic. So it's like banging your head against the wall, you know. And then you want to just start, you know, you know. You that hurts so much that, you know, you just want to, like, take a hammer and, you know, start banging your foot, you know, because then your foot will get hurt, and then you'll forget about the pain in your head, you know. So it's, it's real insanity, but that's really a fact, and that's what many companies do, and then they lose so much money, they're so used to losing money, and, you know, then they're stuck, you know, and then everybody loses money. And then what if they can't pay their bills? They have companies going to go bankrupt. That's going to be the first problem.

Robert Plank 25:39 Great. They got too used to the misery, it sounds like, right? Just settling too much and saying, Oh well, this problem, well, it's, it's not too bad yet. Oh well, it's, it's okay. We have a few bad apples in the workplace. And you're saying, well, fix the problem before it becomes bigger, before it becomes unmanageable. So I love what you're saying here. You're saying to draw that, that vertical line on a piece of paper and write down, well, what do I see that's negative? What do I see that's positive? And then also, what are my goals? And then to work on identifying the toxicity, and that way you know what problem that there is to be solved. And in a moment here, I want to make sure that we mention you and the services you provide, because we mentioned a lot of things here, and people do need help, and book learning and podcast learning is a great start, but nothing beats, as you said earlier, having a coach, having a real life person to jump in and help out. But before we get to all that, I want to make sure that we cover all the bases. And as far as anything you think that is left out of our conversation, do you think could there be a missing, hidden question about all of this that we're discussing that I should be asking you, I just don't know what to ask you.

Debbie Longo 26:51 The really, the only thing that I could think of that would really be the end shocker to this would be that every executive on this earth, every boss, knows everything I just said for the past 27 Minutes, and they know it 100% but to know something and to take action, to take it from your brain to your hands, that's a completely different thing. So what is stopping you from actually taking action? Okay, and that's something that everybody should be thinking about. We're talking about business owners, right? So, because we're talking about the workplace, but that's, you know? You know that, that that's what we're talking about here. Um, so think about what's stopping you from taking action, and are you used to being Are you used to your company declining? Because if you are, then you most likely are not going to take action. That's the whole thing. So to really see, I believe that everybody, every single executive owner, knows you know that there are all these problems and issues, and their company is going down because of it, and they know that there is a solution, okay? They know that it doesn't have to be this way, okay, but for a million reasons, they don't take action. And that's a problem, that's a very big problem, and COVID is an example of that,

Robert Plank 28:40 right? And whenever you have these economic upheavals, right? COVID, recession, whatever happens, it just shakes things up, right? And it brings a lot of things to life that maybe should have been dealt with long ago. It weeds out the weak companies. And if something has been shaken up, then maybe it's a chance to say, hey, now I'll be aware of this problem, and there is still time to turn this around and not be so used to that slow decline like you think about, why haven't I implemented this? Debbie, you think, well, maybe I didn't think it was a priority. I gave myself some excuses. I didn't believe I could solve the problem. I didn't have the right people on my team helping me with this. And you know, there's a million reasons, a lot of them just can be dealt with. Right? We deal with the problems and we start making progress on this kind of thing. And how can we make progress? If someone said, Okay, I agree with everything, Debbie said, I know something needs to happen. For some reason, the change hasn't occurred yet, but with Debbie's help, it can so what are some of those next steps? Where should someone go? How can someone get in touch with you?

Debbie Longo 29:47 Well, my website, social media, there's a lot of places for them to get in touch with me, but what I offer them is free. Okay. Right? So from the time that they listen to this podcast until the time that they have a whole entire program, detailed time, what we're going to do every single day, what their issue is, how to solve it, all of that is free, okay? And then I give it to them, and then that's their decision, whether they want to take action or not after they have all this information. So now it's like, you know, it's not only they don't know. Now they know, you know. And I'm not charging for that, because I want to educate people, for them to see what is going on, and it's not necessarily a problem, you know? It's just things are happening Okay, and so they don't know. So now they'll know okay, because I'm going to explain it, not only am I going to explain it, I'm going to exactly show them in detail what is going to happen and, you know, what will happen. So they kind of like have to work on blind faith a little bit, because they don't know that it's going to work, you know. So, so that's the thing, but it that's just the way it is. And even when you run a business, you take chances, you know, that's to me, that's part of being successful in a business. You know, if you're not willing to make advanced advancements and take chances, you know, and spend money, you know, and different things, then you know, a lot of times, to me, that's just part of the business. So they will know by the time, you know, by the time they're ready to take action, 100%

Robert Plank 31:51 of course, you take calculated risks in business, and you do little micro commitments. That way it's not so overwhelming. So micro commitment number one is listening to this podcast, and we're near to the end, and that was easy enough, right? Okay, well, I I'm concerned about this idea of workplace negativity and the toxic culture, and I've heard a lot that helped me and impressed me from Debbie. And then the next step is to go to life in bloom. Ny.net, and that's another micro commitment, right? You go there, and you click a button that says, book a strategy call, and you just meet with Debbie. And as you said, no pressure, no commitment. You go and meet, and you have this conversation, and you express some of these ideas. And so many times it helps to just talk to this neutral third party, right? You complain to your family about the workplace culture. They don't care about it. You tell employees or your boss, you're worried you got fired. You're worried about the gossip train starting. So you talk to someone like Debbie, who knows this, who eats, breathe and sleeps this stuff and loves it, and she's all about empowering your workforce. She offers these transformative coaching services where you can just get this new, fresh perspective and take new different actions, and you can unlock your team's potential and transform skills and behaviors for workplace success. And that website you mentioned is life in bloom, ny.net and that is Debbie. Long ago, we've been speaking to last name L, O, N, G, O. Her phone number is 3212708, 212708713, if you're a phone person or email, is info at life in bloom, ny.net, and you mentioned social media there. Debbie, is there a Preferred Are you like a YouTube, Instagram, Facebook person? Where do you prefer someone to contact you on social.

Debbie Longo 33:42 All Facebook is fine.

Robert Plank 33:46 fair enough, and so we can, we can find those comments on the bottom of life in bloom, ny.net, and if you were as impressed with Debbie's experience and stories here today as I was, you need to book that call, because Debbie has many fulfilling career examples, you can create a happy and positive workplace by initiating a culture of trust, inclusivity and appreciation. You can prioritize open communication, recognize employee contributions and promote work life balance. And we've we've been alluding to that and touching on that in many aspects of our conversation today. So that is life in bloom. Ny.net, go there, click the button to book a strategy call. Thank you for being here, Debbie, and educating us, helping us out, telling us what we should stop doing, what we should start doing. I really appreciate you being here and delivering these insights. So thank you.

Debbie Longo 34:37 Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.