DESCRIPTION:
Most organizations have employees who, on occasion:
- Complain & gossip excessively
- Use inappropriate language
- Are mildly insubordinate
Toxic Employees have interpersonal styles that demonstrate a pattern of counter-productive work behaviors. While
Emotionally Intelligent employees are aware of their feelings and those of others and exhibit a pattern of appropriate self-management.
The toxic employee problem is surprisingly prevalent, with research showing:
- 95% of employees have & 64% are currently working with a toxic employee
- 50% of employees have thought of quitting & 12% did because of a toxic employee
- 25% of employees have reduced their work effort due to a toxic employee
- 20% of employees feel they are a target weekly & 10% of employees see toxic behavior daily
Toxic employees cause significant overt, covert, people-related & financial damage, with their visible behavior just being the tip of the iceberg. For example, in one organization, the day a former employee leaves is considered one of their annual holidays.
AREAS COVERED:
I. Human & Financial Costs Resulting from Toxic Employees Toxic Employees Create:
- Chaos & unnecessary complexity
- Overt damage
- Covert damage
- Strife, stress & emotional damage
- Productivity, quality & financial losses
II. The A, B, and C’s Related to Toxic Employees
- Employee attitudes
- Employee behaviors
- Consequences that managers can exert
III. The Psyche of a Toxic Employee
- Frequently seen toxic behaviors
- Utilize ‘star status’ & technical expertise to intimidate & manipulate
- A chameleon who knows who to flatter & who he/she can abuse Turns their toxicity on & off depending on the impression they wants to make
- Three common forms of toxic behavior
IV. Common Reactions to Toxic Employees That Frequently Don’t Work
- Restructuring his/her job to accommodate the toxic employee
- Tolerating toxic employees who bring rare expertise or experience
- Not assertively seeking feedback from employees as to whether there is toxic behavior in the workplace
- Not communicating to all employees, the specific behaviors that will not be tolerated – with associated consequences
V. Effective Approaches for Addressing & Preventing Toxicity
Organization-wide strategies:
- Making positive interpersonal behavior an organizational value
- Evaluating interpersonal behavior as a part of the performance appraisal system
- Training leaders on how to address toxic behavior
- Using behavioral-based Interview questions to screen toxic Applicants
- Exit interviewing to identify any toxic behavior in the workplace
Departmental & team strategies:
- Defining appropriate interpersonal interactions with behavior-specific descriptions & standards
- Using team discussions & role plays to clarify the application of the behavioral descriptions & standards
- Utilizing a 360-degree feedback process to assess the work environment
One-on-one strategies:
- Stating explicitly that the behavior is not acceptable & why
- Describing both the unacceptable & acceptable behavior
- Asking the employee to commit to & describe how he/she will change his/her behavior
- Frequent, targeted counseling feedback
- Executive coaches
- Progressive discipline
- Termination
But even terminations are not a cure-all because the:
- Toxic-enabling people & organizational culture tendencies may remain
- Employees may still be resentful of the way the employee treated them & the time it took the organization to react
- The expertise & experience of the toxic employee is lost.
WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND:
Clever toxic employees: - Utilize their technical expertise to intimidate & manipulate
Unfortunately, organizations can work against themselves & even promote toxicity by:
- Restructuring his/her job to accommodate a toxic employee
- Tolerating toxic employees who have valued expertise
- Not assertively seeking employee feedback as to whether there is toxic behavior in the
- workplace
- Not communicating to all employees the specific interpersonal behaviors that will not be tolerated – with the associated consequences
Managers sometimes attempt to fix this type of problem by addressing a toxic employee's attitude. And while a toxic employee's attitude certainly affects his/her behavior, managers usually find that controlling an employee's attitude is next to impossible.
Managers can be much more effective by:
- Discussing the specific behaviors that are negatively impacting other employees and/or the organization
- Using positive & negative consequences to influence that behavior.
- Know who to flatter & who they can abuse
- Turn their toxicity on & off depending on the impression they want to make
