Confronting Toxic Leadership: Strategies for Human-Centric Management

Unlock the secrets to effective leadership as we confront the dark side of management in our latest episode. I'm Colby Morris, and I'll guide you through the toxic wasteland of authoritarian leadership styles that prioritize results over the human element. We navigate together through the suffocating grip of micromanagement, the dearth of empathy, and the maelstrom of miscommunication. Armed with poignant anecdotes and a critical eye, I dissect the devastating impact these behaviors have on team morale and productivity, providing an urgent call to action for leaders everywhere to recognize and reform.

As we peel back the layers, we also shed light on how these destructive traits resonate differently across generations, from Baby Boomers to Gen Xers, potentially fracturing workplace culture. Our conversation is not just about identifying problems but fostering adaptability in leadership approaches and embracing the diverse values and work ethics that define our teams. Discover how to cultivate a nurturing environment that promotes growth and well-being for all, illustrating that true leadership is not just about the endgame—it's about the people who help you get there.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that uncovers the secrets of becoming an extraordinary leader. If you're a leader who's constantly seeking growth, inspiration and tangible ways to level up your leadership, then you've come to the right place. Remember, the world needs exceptional leaders, and that leader is you. Now here's your host, colby Morris.

Speaker 2: 0:31

Hey leaders, welcome back and welcome to today's episode of the TOD podcast, where I give you the tools to become a better leader faster. I'm your host, colby Morris. Today we're diving into what I consider a crucial topic that's going to affect organizations literally across the board the impact of toxic leadership. Now, hang on, I know the term toxic has been thrown out there quite a bit, so I want to clarify a few things. Toxic leaders can be of any race, sex, religion or any other category you want to use. So when I talk about toxic leadership, I'm not just talking about the stereotypical bad boss. I'm exploring the deeper, more insidious aspects of leadership that can undermine a team's morale. Leadership that can undermine a team's morale, productivity even. I mean their overall well-being. Specifically, we're going to examine the consequences of a results-driven, authoritarian leadership style and how it affects generations in the workplace. So let's get started. First, let's talk about what toxic leadership looks like. What exactly is this?

Speaker 2: 1:50

Toxic leadership comes often in the form of results-driven, authoritarian style that places outcomes over everything else, including the well-being of team members. This type of leadership is marked by a few key characteristics. For instance, micromanagement is a common trait. Leaders who micromanage tend to create an environment of distrust, they feel the need to control every aspect of their team's work, stifling creativity, killing innovation. Imagine an employee who constantly feels watched and second-guessed. It's not only stressful but demoralizing. Miles Anthony Smith put it this way Love this quote. Micromanagement is the destroyer of momentum. You need to write that one down. Another hallmark of toxic leadership is aer of momentum. You need to write that one down.

Speaker 2: 2:46

Another hallmark of toxic leadership is a lack of empathy. Authoritarian leaders might ignore personal issues affecting their employees and, of course, again, that leads to decreased morale and increased turnover. Think of a leader who dismisses an employee's need for flexibility during a family crisis. Not only does this alienate the employee, but also sends a message to the entire team that personal well-being is not a priority. I've personally seen a leader refuse to let an employee take bereavement after losing a parent. What message do you think that sent to the people he led? Yes, that was past tense. He no longer leads that team. Long story, poor communication. That's another significant issue. Toxic leaders often fail to provide any sort of clear direction or constructive feedback, and of course, that leads to confusion, frustration. An example would be a leader who frequently changes goals without letting the team know. Of course, that causes unnecessary stress, obviously missed deadlines, and leaves employees feeling like they're just always playing catch up. That's not a way to lead. Now let's take this a little different direction than what you're probably used to me doing.

Speaker 2: 4:06

I want to discuss how those toxic leadership traits impacts different generations in the workplace. The effects can vary pretty widely, exacerbating generational divides. It can impact the overall health of an entire organization. So for boomers, who often value royalty, long-term employment, toxic leadership can really eat at their trust and the boomers will just turn to early retirement or they're not going to be real happy with their job. A boomer who feels their experience and their contributions are overlooked in favor of some rigid adherence to procedures will not be engaged. It'll only frustrate them and it's going to really diminish their sense of purpose and belonging.

Speaker 2: 5:00

Next, that's me, maybe some of you out there. We are known for our independence and skepticism. We become engaged, we become cynical under toxic leadership and, yes, that will lead to decreased productivity because we won't care at that point. You've heard of quiet quitting Gen X. We did what was called mailing it in. We tend to resist micromanagement. Now I'm going to rephrase that we definitely resist micromanagement because it gives us that feeling that our expertise and our autonomy are being completely undermined.

Speaker 2: 5:44

If you take a Gen X employee and realize they start to do the bare minimum, it's usually because they feel undervalued or micromanaged. And then there's millennials and Gen Z, on the other hand, who prioritize purpose, work-life balance, positive work environments. Those are good things, but toxic leadership can lead to high turnover rates among these groups. They are more likely to leave jobs that do not align with their values, and you know why. We've talked about this before. Because they will go DoorDash, they will go Uber, they will go Uber Eats, they will do whatever it is to pay some bills until they find the job that they're looking for, with the boss they want to work with or a goal that they align with. They don't want to work in toxic environments. I've seen a millennial quit a job when they felt their mental health was at risk due to an overbearing boss, so they looked for a more supportive workplace, a better boss.

Speaker 2: 6:53

Now let's look at the broader organizational impact and long-term effects of toxic leadership. The presence of toxic leadership is going to have a far-reaching and lasting consequence on a company's culture, performance and reputation. One major consequence is decreased employee engagement. When employees are disengaged due to toxic leadership, yeah, they're going to be less productive, more likely to take sick leave. Yeah, they're going to be less productive, more likely to take sick leave and less inclined to go above and beyond in their roles. And that's no surprise. When your culture starts to break down, your teams break down, your people break down. Nobody wants to work in that culture.

Speaker 2: 7:40

This, of course, obviously creates a culture of mediocrity. It's a place where the bare minimum becomes the norm and then the inevitable high turnover rates become a significant issue. Constant turnover leads to increased recruitment training costs. There's that carryover of institutional knowledge, disruption of team dynamics. It just eats at the organization. A company with a high turnover rate will struggle to maintain consistent performance. It'll struggle to try to keep service quality high. And then you start getting this constant influx of new employees and that it starts to erode at that that team dynamic, the team cohesion, the team productivity, because your team doesn't know each other. Additionally, that toxic leadership is going to severely damage a company's reputation. How Come on? It's 2024. It's going to be posted everywhere. It's going to be on LinkedIn negative reviews on Glassdoor, fishbowl, whatever, it's all over the place and potential employees read that and, even worse, potential clients go and read that, and that's going to make it really hard to try to get top talent or great customers. Once word gets out that an organization has reached that known toxic place to work, it's going to be incredibly challenging to change that perception Incredibly difficult.

Speaker 2: 9:18

So the question is what can leaders do to prevent themselves from being toxic leaders? So you know how this podcast usually works. I usually give you a tool. So today I'm going to give you a tool. The one impactful tool that they can use that I recommend is 360 degree feedback. The reason this works is that it is a comprehensive feedback process because you're going to get information from your subordinates, your colleagues, your peers, your supervisors, and you're also going to do a self-evaluation. Here's how it works. First, feedback is collected anonymously from team members, peers, supervisors. They're all going to fill out this information anonymously because they don't want any fear of retribution, revenge, etc. There's questions on this that cover areas like communication, empathy, decision-making, overall leadership style. Okay, this provides a well-rounded view of the leader's behavior and their impact on others. The leader is going to review the feedback okay, really looking for patterns, areas for improvement, and then it's important that that leader kind of reflects on this feedback for a while, because that's going to help the leader understand how their behavior affects their team and the organization.

Speaker 2: 10:59

Now, hear me, you have to humble yourself a little bit in this. If you don't humble yourself, you're going to read this with an air of disdain. Are you going to be argumentative? You're not going to read this in the right frame of mind because inevitably somebody is going to say something that you don't like or you don't agree with. But you've really got to get vulnerable in this moment and say is there truth to that?

Speaker 2: 11:26

Okay, now, based on the feedback that you get, you then develop an action plan to address the identified issues. Okay, this plan should be specific, it should be smart goals and you should have a timeline for achieving them. Okay, smart, you should have regular follow-ups. Why, that's essential to track your progress. Okay, and you may need to make some adjustments. There are some things that you may need to change, but by using 360 degree feedback, you're going to gain insights on how your actions are perceived by others. Okay, it'll foster self-awareness, promote positive change. Okay, this is one of those tools that's going to encourage a culture of openness, okay, continuous improvement and that's essential for preventing toxic leadership behaviors. Okay, when, once you start really working on fixing the issues and your team sees that you're fixing the issues, that they didn't just give you the information and you were argumentative and you didn't do anything about it. But if you get that information and you make change, wow, they realize you listen and they will respect you because you own it and you want to own it. You want that feedback so you can become a better leader.

Speaker 2: 12:58

Toxic leadership is a significant issue that can have detrimental effects on employees and organizations, companies alike. See, by understanding the characteristics of toxic leadership, recognizing its impact on different generations, addressing its long-term consequences, you're going to be able to take proactive steps to create a healthier, more supportive work environment. Remember, leadership is not just about achieving results. It's about how you achieve those results. Results it's about how you achieve those results. The way you treat your team members matters, has a huge impact on their engagement, their productivity and their wellbeing.

Speaker 2: 13:44

Well, thank you for tuning into today's episode of Things Leaders Do. If you found this discussion valuable, please subscribe and share it with others who might benefit from it. Take a screenshot, just share it with them or hit the share button, copy the link, send it to somebody, post it on LinkedIn, whatever, and, as always, feel free to reach out. If you have any questions or topics you'd like to discuss, you can do that by connecting with me on LinkedIn or the Instagram page. Both links are in the show notes. I'd love to do it. I'm having some great conversations with some of you there. It's been really insightful and I appreciate that. Well, leaders, until next time, keep leading with empathy and integrity. And you know why? Because those are the things that leaders do.

Speaker 1: 14:38

Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do. If you're looking for more tips on how to be a better leader, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and listen to next week's episode. Until next time, keep working on being a better leader by doing the things that leaders do.