What's your strategy for dealing with toxic people at work?

1. **Set Boundaries:** Clearly define your limits and stick to them when interacting with toxic individuals. 2. **Limit Interaction:** Minimize contact with toxic colleagues by focusing on your tasks and avoiding unnecessary conversations. 3. **Stay Neutral:** Keep conversations professional and neutral, avoiding personal topics that might trigger negativity. 4. **Choose Your Battles:** Not every situation requires a response. Pick your battles wisely to conserve your energy. 5. **Seek Support:** Connect with positive coworkers who can provide emotional support and counteract the negativity.

Toxic behavior can be subjective and vary from person to person. There are a few common toxic behaviors that many people find difficult to deal with in the workplace. Here are three examples. 1. Gossiping: Engaging in negative or harmful conversations about coworkers can create a toxic environment. 2. Constant negativity: When someone consistently displays a negative attitude, it can bring down the morale of the entire team. 3. Lack of accountability: A toxic individual might frequently shift blame onto others, avoid taking responsibility for their actions, or refuse to admit their mistakes. Open communication, setting clear expectations, and promoting a supportive work culture can help mitigate these issues.

In my experience I have came across people with toxicity. First thing is communication. Most of them get misunderstood for toxicity. Communication is a key, try to talk to people and understand why they are in such situations, if we can deal it with sensitivity and talk to them, people will definitely open up. So when you understand what is the root cause of them behaving like that, you understand you always felt wrong about the person, it was never about the toxicity, it was just they didn’t like few things being in certain way. So communicate everything with everyone get hold of root cause, consider their toxicity and actions rather than firing or mistreating them. This will change the game! Good leaders always consider the things!

I had to work with a toxic person who reported to me. She took advantage of our union and HR and used them to further her cause, which was to make my life as miserable as she could. I was accused of things I didn't do, and her emails were rude and disrespectful. I learned to set boundaries. I kept copies of everything, and I would not engage with her over the phone if she was rude. I decided not to work in the field with her (we were in sales) because I didn't trust her. My protection and self-care was way more important than helping her productivity. She gave up the privilege of working with me!

**Speak to HR:** If the toxicity persists, consider discussing the issue with your HR department to find a resolution. **Consider Change:** If the toxicity becomes unbearable, explore options such as transferring teams or seeking new opportunities.

From experience, toxic people definitely tend to activate our emotional "triggers," which often stem from unresolved, deeply rooted, painful experience(s) from our past. Recognizing these triggers and being willing to invest the time and work to find the trigger source(s) can be valuable (you are worth that investment in yourself)! When you work towards self-development from the inside out, you become better equipped to manage how you engage in conflict-related situations.

You also need the support of your manager, as well as HR. Toxic people must be dealt with swiftly and authoritatively. There cannot be any deference to their behavior, and it must be called out and dealt with appropriately and quickly. Otherwise it will poison the moral of the remaining team members and create a disrespectful workplace.