Lots of sarcasm in your workplace? Rather than strengthening relationships it may be dragging down morale, attitude and performance.

You may be thinking, hey lighten up, sarcasm makes bosses more human and work more bearable.

The fact is sarcasm is overused in communication. When managers overuse sarcasm they send mixed messages to their people.

If the workplace has too much sarcasm, the strength of relationships will be weaker affecting teamwork, productivity and turnover.

What is sarcasm?

You have heard the expression, “It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.” Sarcasm is when the content of the message and the tone in which it is delivered do not match.

The humor in sarcasm is that you say one thing and mean another. The tone in which you deliver your message conveys negativity even though the words in your message may be positive.

Your brain pays attention to the tone and therefore more emphasis is on the negative part of the message.

Sarcasm is usually funny except that most of us wonder if there is a hint of truth in the underlying negative message.

Sarcasm leads to shallow relationships

Sarcasm is a defensive mechanism to keep people away from deeper conversation. In the workplace, people who are sarcastic often will not develop strong relationships with others. It could be hiding some inadequacies, lack of self esteem and lack of self-confidence.

If the workplace has a lot of sarcasm, then often people will not feel a strong connection to their co-workers, their manager or the organization. This can lead to turnover because people do not feel part of a team.

Action tip of the day

Focus on being less sarcastic and more straightforward when talking to others. Avoid sarcasm when you are delivering praise and recognition to others. And if you want to change someone else’s behavior, tell them specifically what is bothering you and want you want from them. You’ll increase the chance of getting the behavior you want and people will enjoy talking to you more.

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