The Poisonous Pitfalls of Toxic Leadership - How to Protect Yourself and Your Team

Welcome to "Mind the steps" newsletter where we?navigate &?elevate your leadership journey one step at a time!

This week Britney's "Don't you know that you're toxic" is playing in the background of this newsletter!

The emotional reality of organisations.

I see this repeatedly in my work as a leadership coach: when teams take a hard look at their collective emotional reality, rather than focusing first on an ideal vision, the magic happens. In fact, it works the opposite way to?the journey of an individual who usually finds energy and commitment to change their behaviour when they tap into their dreams and ideal visions of their lives.?

And why is that? It's a question of motivation. The ideal vision of a group is often a much more distant concept, and often doesn't provide enough motivation to trigger change. Take the language from company's mission statement, does it feel close your your day-to-day experience at work?

When there is no understanding of the emotional reality, there is a huge white space for toxicity. Toxic leadership is in the cracks of every organisation. It sucks the motivation and inspiration of every individual that carries it or comes into contact with it.

Let's explore it in 3 steps and then reflect about our own experience, shall we?

STEP 1: Understanding what toxic leadership is.

I've asked my neighbour's 8 year-old kid to explain what this is to me, here was Aidan's answer:?"It's when?the boss does or say things that hurt other people and make them feel bad. They are mean, not fair,?and they don't want to listen to others.?They make people feel sad and scared. I really hope?my parents don't work with people like that!"

It's amazing how children simplify what we sometimes make very convoluted. Yes, Aidan's right. Toxic leadership essentially is characterized by behaviours that harm individuals, teams and organisations. Here are 8 examples?where toxicity spreads:

1. Lack of transparency: it gets toxic when?leaders?withhold information, are secretive, or make decisions without involving others.
2. Micromanagement: leaders get toxic when they?excessively control and monitor their employees, and may be unwilling to delegate responsibilities.
3. Blaming and criticizing: toxic leaders typically are comfortable?blaming others for their own mistakes, criticizing employees publicly, and taking credit for the work of others.
4. Bullying and intimidation:?if they use fear and intimidation to control their employees, and may be verbally abusive or threatening, we're in?harmful leadership territory.
5. Lack of empathy: these toxic leaders are?insensitive to the needs and concerns of their employees, and may not take the time to listen or provide support.
6. High turnover rates: as a result, people come and go - they actually leave rather fast because?they may feel unsupported, undervalued, or mistreated, and all of the above. A great area to ask about in an interview process you might be in... understand why so many people have left the team in such a short period of time.
7. Unhealthy competition: competition is healthy. When leaders pit?employees?against each other rather than fostering collaboration and teamwork, or when they play favourites,?this is a big big?red flag.
8. Lack of accountability: spot when leaders repeatedly?fail to take responsibility for their own actions or decisions, and may blame others for their failures. There you have it. Toxic.?

STEP 2: What's the impact of toxic leadership?

Toxic leadership can have a significant impact on individuals and organizations.

• For the individual:?it can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout. People may withdraw as a result, get unusually emotional during meetings?as on edge, fail?to be assertive as their confidence levels down through the floor. Sadly, individuals often question themselves and their competencies or abilities to be a performing professional as opposed to assessing whether the behaviours of?the leader in question are appropriate. Some others know it's not right, but feel they are alone in this situation, and singled out or not believed if they speak about it out loud. They usually don't really know who to turn to. Then here come the sleepless nights and anxiety.
• For teams: it can lead to low morale, high turnover rates, and a lack of productivity. It also comes with a lower sense of belief in the organisation and its integrity as the team's?emotional reality is very different from their experience and the values the organisation publicly carries.
• For organizations:?it can lead to a negative reputation, loss of profits, and legal issues, high recruitment cost. People talk. A negative reputation and word of mouth takes 20x more efforts to rectify and fix than putting the efforts in dealing with the toxicity in the first place. But hey, profits come first, right? Mmmmm ... don't get me started there.

Is any of the above ringing true??What other negative impact have you experience or observed in the workplace due to toxic leadership?

STEP 3: Dealing with it

The final step in addressing toxic leadership is to develop strategies for dealing with it. Beware, a bad leader is all fine. We've all been bad leaders at times. But we know it, we continue to develop our awareness and strategies to grow our skills and abilities. Toxic leaders lack self-awareness, meaning there is no awareness either of the impact they have on individuals, their teams, their organisation whatsoever.?

Addressing toxic leadership?may involve seeking support from colleagues, HR, or outside experts. It may also involve developing communication skills to address toxic behaviour, setting boundaries, and developing a positive workplace culture. This is not done overnight, mind you.?However, it is necessary. If it spreads, your organisation is essentially doomed. So costly to revert back, to fix, to improve, to handle the cracks.

By the way, I'm Mags and transform FMCG leadership with EI and self-discovery: from self-doubting to inspiring leaders via 1:1 & Group Coaching | Workshops | Team away-day. This also includes helping leaders deal with toxic leadership at work.?

So if you have found this newsletter very, very familiar and the descriptions strangely close to your current experience, it might be time to finally address this. Simply send me a message to get in touch about your or your team's challenges and see how I may be able to help you? Here ???? [email protected]