Beware of a Toxic Leader: How to Identify and Disrupt the Cycle.

No one is born a great leader – we all know it requires significant effect, growth and practice. Therefore, no one is born a toxic leader either, however bad leaders get worse effortlessly.  There is so much research and training focused on effective leadership, we need to ask ourselves how bad or toxic leaders are created and / or still tolerated?  

A toxic leader is like a fire, it needs three elements to survive: fuel (the individual’s behaviours & attributes), heat (the advocates who support the individual or allow bad behaviours to be tolerated) and oxygen (the environment / organisation).  Each element has a significant role to play, and just like the fire, if one element is removed or reduced the fire can not continue to burn indefinitely.

We have all experienced or known a toxic leader at some point in our careers and understand the damaging effects they can have on the team’s morale, employee wellbeing, productivity, individual’s self-esteem, customer experience and organisational culture not to underestimate how stressful, draining and time consuming it can be to manage a toxic person.

According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace 2023 report, 77% of employees are disengaged or actively disengaged which is costing the world an unbelievable $8.8 trillion in lost productivity. In Australia alone, the cost of disengagement is estimated at AU$211 billion annually.  Employee disengagement is one of the strongest correlated measures linked to a toxic leader.

I recall a specific toxic leader who was in a Head of Function position for 5 years, managing a small team of 3.  This leader wasn’t always like that however I observed several themes and various circumstances over his tenure that contributed to his ultimate toxic behaviours.  

Firstly, he had 5 bosses in his 5 years, which meant constructive feedback was rarely provided as no 1 manager knew him long enough.  He was enabled to ‘run his own show’ which everyone thought was fine because his results were fantastic however his growing ego and attributing bad behaviours were overlooked.  Overtime, he developed a ‘Teflon’ style (nothing sticks to him approach) and he began to blame others rather than owning his part in a project.  His direct reports also suffered with a lack of direction, development or support and his cross functional relationships were torched.  There was no doubt the workplace culture was negatively impacted.

As the Head of People and Culture, this was devasting to watch and frustrating at the same time because I couldn’t formally act without a complaint.  It was like death by a thousand cuts.  Of course, no one wanted to speak up and make a formal complaint based on his perceived power and position in the business plus the personal stress it would cause them.

The crunch time finally came when his last boss removed the heat from his fire.  The toxic function manager was told categorically that his career in this company would not progress as his behaviours were unacceptable and had worsened over time.  “Why would we trust you with a larger team and more responsibility when your behaviours are so dysfunctional, and no one wants to work with you”.   It wasn’t immediate, but that direct feedback attributed to him eventually leaving.    

  “The only thing worse than a leader who doesn’t care is a leader who only cares about themselves”.

Simon Sinek

 

In summary, if we are to create safe & thriving workplace environments with high levels of employee engagement, then CEOs, Executives and Heads of HR must uphold positive standards of behaviour, give direct & constructive feedback and above all else ensure the health and safety of their people and environment is protected.  When done well, early signs of smoke will not become fire.

The surviving employees were also supported and allowed time to process this difficult news including the opportunity to ask questions directly to the founder during the ‘Founders Tour’ held within 1 week after the announcement..

Here’s three actions to help avoid toxic behaviours forming:

1. Self-awareness:  reflect on how your behaviours and decisions impact others.

   
   

2. Ask for feedback from a trusted colleague who will speak candidly to you.

   
   

3. Speak last: ask good questions and enable others to share their viewpoints  

Interested to receive a FREE assessment tool to identify early warning signs of toxic behaviours – message me and I’ll send you a copy.