So what happens when you have a boss or a leader who is in charge of you, that is completely toxic? You can run, but what about the people underneath you? You can fight fire with fire, but in most cases that never works and only cuts the wound deeper. In many organizations there are toxic leaders out there that are doing terrible things to their organization and workforce and most of them don’t even know it. I have had my fair share of experiences with toxic leaders and I will do my best to share an example of them, what they did wrong compared to how they were supposed to act, and how I was able to overcome it.
You are new to your job and the boss is a task master, meaning they carry around a notebook all day catching and giving tasks like it is their sole purpose in life. Regardless of your inexperience or already full plate, you are told to suck it up and push through with no sign of it ending. There is no training offered and you are expected to figure it out and be spectacular at it. You are also told that just because they have a full plate and is over flowing, yours should be too and not to question it. On top of which, you have made many tries at becoming more efficient, but never get anywhere because the task master is always right. This leader also practices Management by Exception and that involves corrective criticism, negative feedback, and negative reinforcements which is a form of Transactional Leadership.This will also include how tasks are given to the individual, which are usually directed and never able to be questioned or given further explanation instead of trying the 4 principles of Situational Leadership learned which is coaching, directing, supporting and delegating.
Toxic leader #1 could salvage this poor working relationship by switching to a more transformational leadership style. They could practice in using Individualized consideration which is a skill called listening or being more sensitive to their subordinates. Also giving the subordinate intellectual stimulation by encoura ging them to find better ways of doing it, instead of feeding them tasks all the time.As a task master, their job is to write it down and do it and the most important thing to do is to build relationships with their subordinates. There is no consideration to the amount on the other persons plate or how much time it will take to accomplish each task ranging from highly critical to very easy. Also, in the case of being new to the job, they can use Coaching as a form of teaching the new person about the job so they can quickly get spun up and in the ball game.
Another aspect that can be used is Servant Leadership and that would be to go through the tasks and put a time line on them and range them from difficult to easy. If noticing the workload of the subordinates is already hectic, they would probably try to knock out a few of those tasks for them. Another thing that could salvage this relationship would be Authentic Leadership and the leader or boss giving the subordinate hope or being optimistic by saying, this is only temporary, or I hear what you are saying and we will get through it together. This also plays in the the Reward Power that the boss has by saying, I notice you have been working crazy hours for us lately, how about you leave early on Friday or don’t come in on Monday or even submit them for an award. These things could possibly help even out the task master and the endless list of tasks.
Some things the subordinate can do and should do is remember, no matter what job you have, you are on a team and the health of that team is important, they call this culture. If the culture is healthy, there are positive results and you can learn about how to create that by reading an article like this one which gives steps and guidelines to follow.
http://tribehr.com/blog/creating-a-culture-of-workplace-health-and-wellness
The effects of a toxic leader can have long lasting affects even years after their time has passed and that is why it is important to voice concerns up using the channels that are provided to you. When there are climate assessments, that is your time to voice your opinion and it should be constructive criticism, not single pointedly, this person sucks. A lot of workplaces may have comment boxes or their bosses boss may have an open door policy. When given the opportunity, give examples and be courteous, who knows, maybe one day that person being criticized is you. Even when you have bosses that won’t recognize that your boss is toxic, the most important thing to do is to continue to stay positive. Even good performing workers will never make great bosses and that is why it is important to hire the right person for the job. If you are the boss, you may want to put the person who is toxic in a place where they will have a smaller impact on subordinates. In one case at work now, we have one of those types and they continue to leave them where they are because there is no place else for them to go. In the military, you can’t fire someone, but you can move them in a smaller impacting role.
(Northouse 2013; Leadership Theory and Practice)
http://tribehr.com/blog/creating-a-culture-of-workplace-health-and-wellness