Don’t let one bad apple ruin the bunch: How to deal with toxic team members
We’ve all had that one team member who doesn’t play ball like the rest. The one person who doesn’t work well with others, ruffles feathers, sets a negative tone for every meeting, and hinders every group effort. It’s downright frustrating. But more than a mere annoyance, this behavior is detrimental to business success – especially if this person is a toxic worker.
Unlike your run-of-the-mill difficult employee, a team member who is toxic tends to have a negative impact on the team and their behavior as a group. Their actions may distract, de-energize, de-motivate and compromise the quality of workflow and output. Oftentimes, this kind of frustrating culture and environment leads to resignations.
And beyond just impacting team morale and productivity, there can be financial hits, too. According to a Harvard Business School analysis of 50,000 employees found “aside from hurting performance, such workers can generate enormous regulatory and legal fees and liabilities for a company.”
Now, this toxic worker may be acutely aware of their bad behavior and how it impacts the team, or they could have NO idea how dysfunctional and destructive it is. So it’s important for you to not only recognize when you’ve got a toxic worker on your hands, but to implement the right steps to try to turn the situation around. So says the same Harvard Business School analysis mentioned above, “avoiding a toxic worker (or converting him to an average worker) enhances performance to a much greater extent than replacing an average worker with a superstar worker.”
Here are some of the tools and techniques you can use to identify and manage a toxic worker:
Know the signs
When it comes to a toxic team member, it’s likely you’ll have staff coming to you to alert you to the fact. But that won’t always be the case, so you need to be able to read the room and see the red flags for yourself. Take note if a particular team member:
- Constantly tears down team members and their ideas
- Always has negative responses
- Sabotages team success
- Encourages self-doubt and negative self-thoughts in others
- Micromanages others
- Interferes when working together and collaborating
- Bullies, harrasses or intimidates other team members
Whether subtle or overt, a toxic worker’s behavior creates havoc and unrest, so the sooner you recognize the signs, the better.
Get your facts straight (and document it!)
Before you directly address your toxic employee, it’s essential to make sure you have the right (and enough) information on hand. You won’t always be present for every instance of a toxic worker’s bad behavior, so it’s important to listen to staff to get an idea about how they have been impacted.
Documenting instances of bad behavior in a concise way will be important when discussing it with the toxic worker, so keep specific records when incidents occur. If you don’t have concrete examples of their negative actions and impact, then it’s going to be a very big challenge for them to see their bad behavior, and then have any desire to make the necessary changes.
Also, above all else, documentation and record-keeping will likely also be required in adhering to business protocols and procedures for managing this situation, so this is an important part of the entire process.
Have a frank, transparent conversation
No-one likes confrontation, but as a manager you need to tackle this head on and address the team member. But don’t go in guns blazing. Who reacts well when your back’s up against the wall?
Start by asking about how they are, and try to gauge if there’s a specific motivator for their behavior. Are they unhappy with their job and tasks? Having personal issues outside of work? Taking the time to see their perspective and showing empathy and understanding will help build trust, which is essential in changing behavior.
When raising the issue of their actions, give feedback that’s clear, direct, and specific (this is where your documentation will come in handy). Focus more on the impact on the team and business, rather than making it feel like a personal attack.
Create an action plan
Raising the issue alone just won’t cut it. You need to work together to create an action plan for development and change. Let them know what you expect from them, and set out clear, defined, and measurable goals, and suggest some tools and actions that may help solve toxic behavior – whether that’s counseling, training, or resources and materials to read. This concept of “feedforward” championed by business educator and coach Marshall Goldsmith can help inspire and motivate a high-performing employee as it gives them the goals to achieve success. And not only does it give them the chance to strive to be better and do better, it’s also an essential tool for helping you monitor if change is actually happening.
An important part of this goal-setting session is to explain potential consequences. While you need to show you’re there to help and give them the tools to improve, your toxic employee needs to be very clear on what could happen if behavior isn’t improved within a specific timeline.
Once a plan is set, you need to set out regular meetings and check-ins to hold them accountable for following the plan, and to assess whether learning and growth is happening.
Stop the spread
Toxic workers are infectious, whether because they inspire toxicity in others, or because they negatively impact other team members to the point that it affects their own well-being and performance. So while changing toxic behavior is a top priority, you also need to focus on keeping some distance between toxic workers and the rest of the team. Remote working has its benefits here in terms of ensuring physical distance, but you may need to think about reassigning projects and responsibilities, or scheduling meetings differently.
Recognize that some people may not change
The hope is that your toxic worker will make every effort to change. The sad reality is that some people are unable or unwilling to change. According to research by Christine Porath, “4% of people engage in this kind of behavior just because it’s fun and they believe they can get away with it.” And if you’ve got one of those 4% who thrives on creating chaos and actively hampering business success, you need to recognize when it’s time to investigate more drastic actions, and consider cutting ties completely. Again, this is where documentation and sticking to the business process will help with termination.
Speak to us at Play4Business for more information and practical examples in action. Our training is in a blended format: we combine virtual classes and self paced learning for team leaders. And what’s more we provide you with a toolkit of easy to use activities including our famous ‘what the duck’ set of techniques. These are built for team leaders so that they maintain engagement in their teams – during every team meeting, stand-up session, morning ‘buzz’ session or any time your team gets together.
