Effectively Managing Toxic and Other Employees with Attitude Issues

Description

Many organizations occasionally encounter employees who:

• Frequently complain or gossip
• Use unprofessional or inappropriate language
• Display minor acts of insubordination

But Toxic Employees have interpersonal styles that demonstrate a pattern of counter-productive work behaviors. While Emotionally Intelligent employees being aware of their feelings & those of others exhibit a pattern of appropriate self–management.

The issue of toxic employees is more widespread than many realize. Research reveals that:

• 95% of employees have encountered a toxic coworker, and 64% are currently working with one
• 50% have considered quitting, and 12% actually left their job because of a toxic colleague
• 25% have intentionally reduced their work effort due to a toxic team member
• 20% feel targeted by toxic behavior on a weekly basis, and 10% witness such 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 left the organization is considered one of their annual holidays.

Why should you attend?

Clever toxic employees often:

• Leverage their technical skills to intimidate or manipulate others
• Know exactly who to charm and who they can mistreat
• Adjust their behavior to create a favorable impression when it suits them

Unfortunately, organizations can unintentionally enable or even reinforce toxic behavior by:

• Restructuring roles to accommodate a toxic individual
• Overlooking toxic behavior in employees who possess valuable skills
• Failing to proactively seek employee input on workplace toxicity
• Not clearly defining unacceptable interpersonal behavior or outlining the consequences for such actions

Managers may try to address toxicity by focusing on an employee’s attitude. While attitude plays a role in behavior, attempting to change someone’s mindset is often ineffective and unrealistic. A more effective approach for managers is to:

• Address the specific behaviors that are harming team morale or organizational performance
• Apply consistent positive and negative consequences to shape those behaviors

Session Highlights:

I. Human and Financial Impact of Toxic Employees

Toxic employees contribute to:

• Disruption and needless complexity
• Visible harm to people or processes
• Hidden or indirect damage
• Conflict, stress, and emotional strain
• Declines in productivity, work quality, and overall financial performance

II. The A, B, C’s Related to Toxic Employees

• Employee attitudes
• Employee behaviors
• Consequences that managers can exert

III. Understanding the Mindset of a Toxic Employee

Common Toxic Behaviors Include:

• Exploiting their reputation or technical skills to manipulate and intimidate
• Acting like a social chameleon—knowing exactly who to impress and who they can mistreat
• Switching their toxic behavior on and off based on the image they want to project
• Toxic behavior typically appears in three key forms

IV. Common Responses to Toxic Employees That Often Prove Ineffective

• Adjusting the toxic employee’s role to fit their behavior
• Allowing toxic employees to continue due to their unique skills or experience
• Failing to actively gather employee feedback about toxic behavior in the workplace
• Not clearly communicating to all staff which behaviors are unacceptable and the consequences that follow

V. Effective Strategies for Addressing and Preventing Toxicity

Organization-Wide Approaches:

• Embedding positive interpersonal behavior as a core organizational value
• Including interpersonal skills in performance evaluations
• Training leaders to recognize and address toxic behavior
• Incorporating behavior-based questions during hiring to screen out potentially toxic candidates
• Conducting exit interviews to uncover any toxic workplace issues

Departmental and Team Approaches:

• Clearly defining acceptable interpersonal behaviors with specific examples and standards
• Using team discussions and role-playing exercises to reinforce these behavioral expectations
• Implementing 360-degree feedback to gauge the workplace environment

Individual Approaches:

• Clearly communicating which behaviors are unacceptable and explaining why
• Describing both inappropriate and appropriate behaviors explicitly
• Requesting the employee’s commitment to change and their plan for doing so
• Providing frequent, focused coaching and feedback
• Engaging executive coaches when needed
• Applying progressive disciplinary measures
• Proceeding with termination if necessary

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 they were treated by the employee & the time it took the organization to react
• Expertise & experience of the toxic employee are lost

Who should attend?

Anyone with managerial or leadership responsibility