Toxic Leadership, HR and Challenges

-

UPDATE: When Employees Volunteer to Fight Toxicity

© PatAhern_AdVision


The subject of toxic leadership is endless. I owe this update to Pat Ahern of AdVision  who brought up the issue of team, leadership and toxicity. Thanks, Pat for reminding me of the importance of this subject. Incidentally, concurrent circumstances made me rethink about the leadership role in team growth. So, yes, toxic leadership can generate quite a toxic environment and harm team spirit in one way or another. As managers become enablers of resistance to change for fear of losing long-time employees, they have a tendency to become irrelevant themselves. Relevancy is not measured by tenure. It is about adaptability, agility, understanding of changed and evolving principles, practices and needs. As a side note, could irrelevancy also be linked to subordination? The terms that define subordination status could certainly impact leadership relevancy. In a way, one can be only as good as he/she is allowed to be. When it comes to leadership I think that not only self-relevancy but also adequacy of interventions matter. My article referring to Netflix and its approach to transformation reminds us that sometimes different steps are needed to move along and bring about change if capacities or mindsets become irrelevant. On the bright side, when employees come to you and voluntarily commit to fight negativity and toxicity in the workplace in your support, it tells you three things:
  1. You have an engaged, and potentially successful employee. You also have a team player. Think talent pipeline and succession planning. 
  2. You must have done something right. So, keep on building your strengths and don't be deterred by internal partners who cannot overcome old managerial practices. If you are the HRM, think coaching , and coaching. If it does not work, then maybe time to reassess?
  3.  Feel free to move forward, however it could be in your case. Break through!
-----------------------------------------------


© 2014 AR_HRCom_WorkLife

Toxic leadership does exist. It is often due to lack of training or experience, or all too simply office/organization politics.

Personality could also matter, but more important is the ability to handle people and situations in the correct fashion. One cannot blame company culture for toxic leadership although many employees would see it as such.


All too often, leaders are part of the managerial team, or lead the managerial team. If you have the time, you may listen to this enlightening video of Marcus Buckingham on team performance and strengths (Highly recommended if you are in the service industry). And team performance depends not on the organization but on the unit, which unit is led by some leader. That's when we can be facing various outcomes, and maybe problems. That's when we come to talk about toxicity, which inhibits people's strengths.

SHRM Marcus Buckingham on Leadership 

     

Marcus Buckingham
Marcus Buckingham
Marcus Buckingham
Marcus Buckingham
Unfortunately enough, ineffective leadership could "over-stay" in large companies because despite objective metrics criteria, they are able to manipulate metrics or their interpretation. Toxic leadership knows how to scapegoat, survival oblige. Sadly, in smaller organizations, there is often a certain sense or "obligation" of loyalty that delays any separation. Consequently, toxic leadership prevails and can be seriously detrimental to business operations.

HR and Toxic Leaders


How should we deal with leaders who fail at managing?  It is not always easy. HR can be blamed for "partnering" with toxic leaders.


SO   WHAT   NOW ? Again, a proactive approach is the best one. The Global Leadership Forecast 2014-2015 survey has gathered responses from over 13,000 leaders,  1,500 global HR executives and 2,000 organizations from 48 countries and 32 industry groups. Impressive pool!

Here you will find about the proactive role of HR in the matter, from partner to anticipator.
According to the survey, today's HR has three distinctives faces: 22% Reactor, 60% Partner, and 18% Anticipator.

Have you witnessed toxic leadership? And what face of today's HR are you? Time for reflection?

En Synthèse... 



Des leaders toxiques. Un environnement toxique. Qui peut encore supporter cela? Merci bien, trop peu pour moi diriez-vous.
 
Table Ronde
A tort ou à raison les RH peuvent être accusés de complicité avec les leaders toxiques. Souvent, parce que les employés voient les RH comme principaux responsables. Pourquoi ces RH ne font-ils rien? Qu'est-ce qu'ils attendent? Ne savent-ils pas ce qui se passe tous les jours? Oh! Ils ne sont là que pour les paperasses... (une autre vidéo si vous avez le temps: échanges avec des experts)
 
Les Leaders, les Filiales ce n'est pas la Compagnie
Eh bien voila! Ce vidéo de Marc Buckingham est un incontournable si l'on veut parler des possibles variations dans une même entreprise. Ce qui se passe dans les filiales, ce n'est pas l'entreprise, c'est l’équipe. Et qui est le "chef d’équipe"? C'est le patron, le leader de la filiale. Si le leader est toxique que se passe-t-il? En fin de compte, des tas de données RH sont en jeu dans le succès des équipes, des filiales. Cela tourne autour du leader.

Cette étude sur le "Global Leadership Forecast 2014-2015" est tout aussi révélatrice de l'importance du rôle des RH en matière de support au leadership. Plus de 13,000 leaders,  1,500  HR executives internationaux and 2,000 organisations éparpillés sur 48 pays et 32 industries ont participé. 


Alors, quel genre de RH êtes-vous? Celui de demain? Comment réagissez-vous face aux leaders toxiques?

 

 


Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 11, 2015 at 1:35 AM

    Your work is very simple art of work its really a helpful.
    Human capital research

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HRComatrixFebruary 16, 2015 at 8:36 PM

      Toxic Leadership is present in many organizations. The best protection is awareness. Thank you for reading! You also can find me on twitter @AR_HRCom

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

COMMUNICATION, SAFETY & WORKPLACE: "Je suis Charlie"

-
Image
©AR_HRComatrix_SCharlie C ommunication is powerful, today more than ever, with social media . Frontiers are erased . Time elapses. Things and situations take a different dimension. Everything is "here and now ". This week, " Je suis Charlie " has been the most recent and poignant picture of the power of communication. All started and ended in the workplace . Chilling for HR and Safety people. P eople all the over the world spend most of their time at work . The typical workday is about six to eight hours in the the US with the new approach to the notion of full time job . In France it is typically eight hours, with often some flexibility, and despite the official 35 hours a week. . How can we protect workers against unexpected violence since they spend most of their time at work? H R is not about damage control ; it is about proactivity . Disturbingly enough, only 31% of workplaces in the US seem to be proactive in emergency preparedness, acco...
Read more

CATCHING FIRE: WORDS of WISDOM ABOUT and FROM MILLENNIALS- LESSONS FROM MILLENNIALS Part II -

-
Image
A lot has been said about Millennials. There are you tube videos , articles , blogs , research and polls... Most of them trying to help us understand this new generation. They appear as aggressive, daring, intimidating,  careless, smart, fast, clueless, in sum "different," regardless on who sees them. They certainly have many faces. Turning a New Leaf With Millennials © 2013 AR_HRCom-Millennials Those of us who have been working side by side with them have most likely experienced mixed feelings. It is basically turning a new leaf. Let's move toward greener fields! These young  partners can be exuberant and very lively and their concerns about professional or personal life can feel overwhelming. Often times you get what you see and hear. Does it make your assessment easier? I doubt. To me the challenge in assessment comes from the necessity to distance oneself from the individual. The ability to intellectualize things in this matter is a real gift. I can dea...
Read more

Holistic HR - Part I: Is Mental Wellness Relevant?

-
Image
Ad_HRComtx_1_620 © A s we are navigating the new ways of work, one aftermath of the pandemic for many of us is the unpleasant discovery of unvisited or neglected matters: our mental wellness. More than ever HR has to embrace its evolving approach to its core responsibility: HR is about "the whole person". T he pandemic has brought to the surface so many elements that neither HR nor the people had thought about, although always existing. To me, the two major concerns about mental wellness are depression and domestic violence. I have to admit that I never seriously thought about it until I lost sleep myself and couldn't understand why I was so inexplicably restless and unfocused. Quite a few people I talked to shared similar occurrences. This can only be exacerbated by the sense of isolation from familiar working environment as we work from home or are still transitioning to go back to work. If any of this happened to you, you are quite normal in highly abnormal ti...
Read more

Holistic HR - Part II: Socially Distant and Staying Relevant

-
Image
Ted_HRComtx_HolisticHR © Carving a Path for 2021 I t is said that silence is death, and that no news is good news. I have to say that I have been like many of us: affected in one way of another by Covid, being socially distant within relevancy. New resolutions? At least, carving a new path... in this icy cold world full of hot topics. It is not easy: it takes daring and willingness.   T he new year - already not feeling so new by now - has to be better in many ways, because it is practically a call to duty. What the pandemic has brought to us is not isolation but the exposure to a global environment that could reveal itself to be highly toxic , as well as the possibility of exacerbation of some situations of at-risk people . As we advance into 2021 we see the emergence of Wellbeing vs. Wellness verbiage because if anything last year has brought to light, it is the awareness of the importance of mental health .  This is more than ever a reason to understand and embrace that...
Read more

WORK LIFE / BALANCE DEBATE- PART II: The Five TOPS by Regions, Countries, Companies and Jobs -

-
Image
The FIVE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES BY REGIONS and COUNTRIES I t is educating to see the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)  map of better life index . The assessment of better life varies by regions and by countries, from life satisfaction to safety through education and environment. OECD better life index responses - 2014 Interesting enough, Health is primary in France, Canada, Australia, the Russian Federation,  and Norway. Life-Work balance is important in Mauritius Island, Mali, Montenegro and Nicaragua. Life Satisfaction prevails in US, Germany, UK, as well as Croatia, Poland and Sweden and Finland. Safety is paramount in Japan, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, and The Bahamas. Education is important in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina The FIVE TOP COMPANIES According to Glassdoor, there are 25 companies that are rated to be the best in work/life balance policies. Employees do love it. Those organizations include non-profit, as w...
Read more

Christmas ..Holidays...Party Season..Why?

-
Image
You Party because You are Expected To .... By now you have your Holiday party planned or maybe you are already over it. Preparation can be hectic . You have been trying to give another nice end-of-year party and your hopes are that it will be. It is amazing when we break it into pieces how many things something as simple and as common as a end-of-year Holiday party could involve. From very small to very large organizations, the idea behind it is to cultivate good employee relations . Employees look forward to this event. Life partners are involved in "shopping" for the occasion. It is indeed the networking event of the year for many, the one coming after social networking . As a child I remember going to business Christmas parties where the whole family was invited and children given very nice presents by Santa Claus! For HR, it falls into a busy period: time for performance reviews, time for seasonal hiring for some, time for reporting, and this year, time for prepar...
Read more