How to Deal with toxic people in your organization...
Every organization has three types of people. On one hand you have leaders who promote harmony and cooperation. On the other, you have toxic people. They discourage, play politics and mislead others for selfish purpose. The remaining third class of people go with the tide.
It is therefore necessary to keep toxic people quarantined till you are either not able to clean them up or fire them. These Nine tips will help you control toxic people in your business, without disturbing the flow of operations:
1. Establish Professional Boundaries: In professional settings, there is a fine line between "being friendly" and "being a friend". Employees develop close relationship with colleagues. They share personal problems with them as a matter of daily conversation. Toxic people around, use such private information as a means to exploit their coworker's vulnerabilities for their own benefit.
So caution your staff about possible toxic behavior. Ask them to maintain professional distance, in order to prevent poisonous people from entering into their private space.
2. Watch out for Gossip and Criticism: It is a psychological fact that those who gossip with you, will gossip about you behind your back. Toxic employees have low-self esteem. They criticize peers in order to overcome their own insecurities and fears. Holding others in low regard makes them feel good about themselves. Such people can damage the productivity of your business. A poisonous work environment can result in high-performing employees leaving their job.
Spot the main gossipers first and keep an eye on them. Once caught in the act, call a private meeting and show them how their behavior is damaging the productivity and work culture. Warn them that they can be demoted or fired if such a behavior continues. Hold a meeting with your entire team from time to time to resolve internal conflicts. It will also keep gossipers from spreading false rumors.
3. Explicitly Define Work Ethics: Ethical code of a company determines its authenticity. Studies show that organizations with established code of conduct have higher employee response to unethical practices. When work ethics are clearly mentioned, employees are likely to follow them as a rule. Toxic people will not thrive in an environment where all the people respect workplace ethics.
4. Beware of Psychological Manipulation: Psychological manipulation has been the most overlooked problem in professional and personal relationships. Only because it's difficult to spot such a behavior easily.
Manipulative employees identify psychological vulnerabilities of coworkers. They control them using different tactics. No wonder conscientious people are their ideal targets. They are easily influenced when manipulators pretend to be working for greater good with "Company/society first" as their favorite catchphrase. This way, toxic employees win trust of honest people and exploit them for personal motives.
To control emotional abuse in the office, keep a check on manipulative behaviors. Allow employees to contact the management anonymously, to build a strong ethics reporting system. Conflicts between staff members and diminished productivity of top performing employees can be a signal that there is something wrong. Spreading awareness about social manipulation also helps to recognize manipulators and report their behavior.
5. Don't let Negativity Flourish: Toxic people thrive in a negative atmosphere. They take maximum advantage of conflicts between others for personal gain.
A hostile work environment results in more people adopting immoral behavior. It dramatically affects the productivity and profitability. Make sure that your workforce is motivated and satisfied enough that there is no room left for office politics. When there is harmony and cooperation between employees, toxic people are unable to pull strings.
6. Be a helping hand, instead of a Competitor: Internal competition in organization can be nasty, especially if people have big egos. Encourage healthy competition between employees to get the best out of them is a good exercise. But it can boomerang and result in organizational conflicts as some people tend to take workplace competition personally.
Promoting internal competition in organization is a passe now. Each employee has his own unique strengths and skill set. To prevent toxic behavior from permeating, unite the workforce. Show them examples of how your business competitors accomplished goals through teamwork and cooperation.
7. Turn their Negative Habits into Positive: Not all toxic people are essentially evil. If managed in a constructive way, their skills can be utilized in a positive way. As a business leader, channelize their negative thinking in right direction. It will inspire them to achieve targets without trying to beat others. Instead of contesting with coworkers, use their shrewdness against the business competitors. Once they realize that they can find ways to recognition, without harmful behavior, they are likely to focus on their own capabilities instead of other people's weaknesses.
8. Conduct Ethics and Personality Test of Professionals: Toxic employees are difficult to recognize in the beginning. But as time goes by, they show true colors. To prevent them from spoiling your staff, conduct ethics test. Pre-employment personality tests, help identify possibility of negative traits in the candidate. It helps to determine how an employee will respond to different circumstances. On that basis, you hire the right people who have integrity and reliability and are more likely to cooperate than compete.
9. Develop Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is an ability to manage your feelings better, as well as understand other people's emotional responses. It is an effective tool to defeat toxic people at their own game. Through developing emotional intelligence, you can understand toxic people's reactions and hidden motives. In addition, it helps you to master your emotions. You will be better able to handle yourself when you encounter a toxic individual. You should explain the importance of emotional intelligence to employees so as to improve staff efficiency and reduce workplace conflicts.
With the help of these nine tips, I'm sure we can eliminate negative behavior and improve employee well being in our organization.
Best wishes
Dr A Jagan Mohan Reddy
Every organization has three types of people. On one hand you have leaders who promote harmony and cooperation. On the other, you have toxic people. They discourage, play politics and mislead others for selfish purpose. The remaining third class of people go with the tide.
It is therefore necessary to keep toxic people quarantined till you are either not able to clean them up or fire them. These Nine tips will help you control toxic people in your business, without disturbing the flow of operations:
1. Establish Professional Boundaries: In professional settings, there is a fine line between "being friendly" and "being a friend". Employees develop close relationship with colleagues. They share personal problems with them as a matter of daily conversation. Toxic people around, use such private information as a means to exploit their coworker's vulnerabilities for their own benefit.
So caution your staff about possible toxic behavior. Ask them to maintain professional distance, in order to prevent poisonous people from entering into their private space.
2. Watch out for Gossip and Criticism: It is a psychological fact that those who gossip with you, will gossip about you behind your back. Toxic employees have low-self esteem. They criticize peers in order to overcome their own insecurities and fears. Holding others in low regard makes them feel good about themselves. Such people can damage the productivity of your business. A poisonous work environment can result in high-performing employees leaving their job.
Spot the main gossipers first and keep an eye on them. Once caught in the act, call a private meeting and show them how their behavior is damaging the productivity and work culture. Warn them that they can be demoted or fired if such a behavior continues. Hold a meeting with your entire team from time to time to resolve internal conflicts. It will also keep gossipers from spreading false rumors.
3. Explicitly Define Work Ethics: Ethical code of a company determines its authenticity. Studies show that organizations with established code of conduct have higher employee response to unethical practices. When work ethics are clearly mentioned, employees are likely to follow them as a rule. Toxic people will not thrive in an environment where all the people respect workplace ethics.
4. Beware of Psychological Manipulation: Psychological manipulation has been the most overlooked problem in professional and personal relationships. Only because it's difficult to spot such a behavior easily.
Manipulative employees identify psychological vulnerabilities of coworkers. They control them using different tactics. No wonder conscientious people are their ideal targets. They are easily influenced when manipulators pretend to be working for greater good with "Company/society first" as their favorite catchphrase. This way, toxic employees win trust of honest people and exploit them for personal motives.
To control emotional abuse in the office, keep a check on manipulative behaviors. Allow employees to contact the management anonymously, to build a strong ethics reporting system. Conflicts between staff members and diminished productivity of top performing employees can be a signal that there is something wrong. Spreading awareness about social manipulation also helps to recognize manipulators and report their behavior.
5. Don't let Negativity Flourish: Toxic people thrive in a negative atmosphere. They take maximum advantage of conflicts between others for personal gain.
A hostile work environment results in more people adopting immoral behavior. It dramatically affects the productivity and profitability. Make sure that your workforce is motivated and satisfied enough that there is no room left for office politics. When there is harmony and cooperation between employees, toxic people are unable to pull strings.
6. Be a helping hand, instead of a Competitor: Internal competition in organization can be nasty, especially if people have big egos. Encourage healthy competition between employees to get the best out of them is a good exercise. But it can boomerang and result in organizational conflicts as some people tend to take workplace competition personally.
Promoting internal competition in organization is a passe now. Each employee has his own unique strengths and skill set. To prevent toxic behavior from permeating, unite the workforce. Show them examples of how your business competitors accomplished goals through teamwork and cooperation.
7. Turn their Negative Habits into Positive: Not all toxic people are essentially evil. If managed in a constructive way, their skills can be utilized in a positive way. As a business leader, channelize their negative thinking in right direction. It will inspire them to achieve targets without trying to beat others. Instead of contesting with coworkers, use their shrewdness against the business competitors. Once they realize that they can find ways to recognition, without harmful behavior, they are likely to focus on their own capabilities instead of other people's weaknesses.
8. Conduct Ethics and Personality Test of Professionals: Toxic employees are difficult to recognize in the beginning. But as time goes by, they show true colors. To prevent them from spoiling your staff, conduct ethics test. Pre-employment personality tests, help identify possibility of negative traits in the candidate. It helps to determine how an employee will respond to different circumstances. On that basis, you hire the right people who have integrity and reliability and are more likely to cooperate than compete.
9. Develop Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is an ability to manage your feelings better, as well as understand other people's emotional responses. It is an effective tool to defeat toxic people at their own game. Through developing emotional intelligence, you can understand toxic people's reactions and hidden motives. In addition, it helps you to master your emotions. You will be better able to handle yourself when you encounter a toxic individual. You should explain the importance of emotional intelligence to employees so as to improve staff efficiency and reduce workplace conflicts.
With the help of these nine tips, I'm sure we can eliminate negative behavior and improve employee well being in our organization.
Best wishes
Dr A Jagan Mohan Reddy
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