“Toxic rock stars” exist in almost every team.
Leaders often tolerate these behaviours without acknowledging how detrimental they are to the team environment.
What you tolerate as a leader becomes the norm.
“Toxic rock stars” usually evade consequences for their actions because of their high performance.
Sometimes, the team leader can’t even recognise them without intentional effort (especially if toxicity hides behind the scenes).
Even if they recognise them, they believe they can’t afford to lose their significant contributions.
In the short term, goals may be achieved. In the long run, though, their toxic behaviour will ruin the atmosphere and undermine the team's results 📈
This is just one example of toxic behaviour within a team.
But why do leaders tolerate or ignore such behaviours?
⚠️ Difficult conversations are one of the biggest challenges for leaders. There can be many reasons for this: fear of conflict, not knowing how to, unwillingness, or fear of projecting a negative team image to top management.
⚠️ If toxicity does not affect them directly, leaders may not realise the negative impact, or they may choose to have one less problem to tackle.
⚠️ Other times, leaders believe, “This is how things are done” (especially if they are new to the team or organisation).
In any case, leaders themselves may not be to blame.
It appears that many lack the necessary skills to identify and tackle toxicity.
Becoming a versatile leader includes having a deep understanding of your own emotions, strengths and limitations.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is essential to versatile leadership. It allows you to manage your own emotions and understand others' emotions.
With EQ as your guiding force, you can identify toxic patterns and take intentional action to bring harmony back to the team.
Here are a few ways to reverse the situation:
✔️ Clarify and communicate expectations about team behaviours and values.
✔️ Hold people accountable for their actions and make it crystal clear that toxic behaviours will not be tolerated.
✔️ Encourage open and honest communication so that your team members know they can come to you with their concerns.
✔️ Take prompt action and address issues immediately without letting toxicity solidify and become the norm.
Relationships are the foundation of any team’s success, and as a leader, you must invest the time to strengthen and build these connections.
Above all, you need to provide support to those affected and lead by example 💎
By exhibiting the behaviours you want to see in your team, you can restore harmony and retain talent that would otherwise leave because of the toxicity.
If you’re ready to transform your leadership style from reactive to proactive and achieve greater impact with your team(s) - with personalised, context-specific support, let's talk ⤵️
It’s free and can provide immediate insights and actionable next steps, regardless of your decision to work with me as your coach.
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