3-day Virtual Seminar

Managing Toxic & Other Employees Who have Attitude Issues

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Overview

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.

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 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

Why you should Attend

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.

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 being 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

Areas Covered in the Session

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

The A, B, C's Related to Toxic Employees

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

The Psyche of a Toxic Employee

• Frequently seen toxic behaviors
• Utilize 'star status' & technical expertise to intimidate & manipulate
• 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

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

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

Who Will Benefit

• Anyone with Managerial or Leadership Responsibility