Managing Toxic & Other Employees Who Have Attitude Issues

Most organizations have employees who on occasion: 

•  Complain & gossip excessively 
•  Use inappropriate language
•  Are mildly insubordinate  

But Toxic Employees have interpersonal styles that demonstrate a pattern of counter-productive work behaviors. While Emotionally Intelligent employees are aware of their feelings &those of others 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 the organization is considered one of their annual holidays.

Session Highlights:

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 Turn their toxicity on & off  depending on the impression they want 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 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 play 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 counselling 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 they were treated by the employee & the time it took the organization to react 
• The expertise & experience of the toxic employee are lost
  

Why you should attend:

Clever toxic employees: 

•  Utilize their technical expertise to intimidate & manipulate 
•  Know who to flatter & who they can abuse 
•  Turn their toxicity on & off depending on the impression they want to make 

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 the organization 
•  Using positive & negative consequences to influence that behavior
  

Who should attend:

• Anyone with managerial or leadership responsibility