Have you ever worked with an toxic employee, one that used intimidation, control and power as their modus operandi? It’s awful, isn’t it? What makes it even worse is when this unacceptable behavior is not dealt with appropriately by team members or management.

For five years I worked with a Type A woman who we will call “Sherry.” (FYI – “Type A” is defined by Wikipedia as an individual that is impatient, excessively time-conscious, insecure about their status, highly competitive, hostile and aggressive, and incapable of relaxation.)  Sherry was excellent at creating results but HOW she created those results and the people that she left lying in her wake was a sight to behold.  We avoided Sherry like the plague unless it was absolutely necessary to do business with her.

Sherry was what I would describe as a TOXIC EMPLOYEE and for the years that her behavior was ignored or mismanaged, she caused tremendous inefficiencies and cost the company a TON of money, time and resources.

Listed below are ideas that you can immediately implement with your team to address the behavior of toxic employees in the workplace.

Ideas To Address a TOXIC EMPLOYEE

1. Collaboratively set clear expectations with your team on how to work together.
2. Let your team define and agree on what respect and a professionally working environment looks like.
3. Identify how team members will hold each other accountable for creating a respectful environment.
4. As a team, discuss and practice what would be an appropriate way to bring up an issue.
5. If a team member continually ignores the the team agreement that was developed ~ you now have a performance problem to address. Deal with it quickly in order to send a clear  message to the rest of team that disrespectful behavior is not acceptable.
6. Remember that silence signals acceptance.

Thought for the Day
“Even if toxic people are right about what is ‘good,’ they are wrong if the approach is not healthy.”
– John L. Lund