What is a Toxic Manager?

Whether it’s you or your employee, toxic management comes in many forms - and it can cost your business in more ways than one. Toxic management can drain your resources, its drains your staff and it of course drains you. But what is it?

Toxic Managers are identified as those that have unfavourable behaviours when they are in ‘work-mode’. The result is not good for the business overall. That isn’t to say that those than can be identified as ‘toxic managers’ are bad people. Often that is far from the truth, it’s just that they have habits that ultimately prevent your business from growing. Make no mistake, that a toxic manager could even be you.

Let’s take a look at some of the habits of the Toxic Manager:

Absent

A Toxic Manager floats in and out and often has checked out mentally. They aren’t there to see what really goes on every day and tend to just make assumptions. They aren’t really invested in the staff they are leading and are unable to identify issues in their infancy. Because they aren’t really present, they are then unable to diffuse conflicts or situations as they arise.

Looks like: A manager who sits in their office all day, coming out only to give directives. They don’t actually know the job that their staff do, but that won’t stop them from offering an opinion on how it can be done better!

Excuses

Every manager or leader makes bad choices sometimes. The problem is accountability. A Toxic Manager is unable to take accountability for their choices and will work hard to avoid admitting that a mistake was made.

Looks like: A manager who makes a change to a procedure, then if it doesn’t work, throws all the employees under the bus rather than openly admit that they made a bad call.

Conflict

A Toxic Manager doesn’t avoid any conflicts because they are scared or because they don’t know how to handle it. They avoid it because they lack interest or flat our don’t care. Similarly, a really good manager takes an interest in their staff and knows enough about them as individuals and how they work as part of the overall group. This skill allows them to manage any toxic behaviours or conflicts. Because a Toxic Manager won’t take this important step, other team members are then forced to shift their feelings aside, while any toxic behaviours go unchecked, left to grow.

Lack of Communication

Managers should be reasonably open and transparent with their decision making processes. A Toxic Manager point blank refuses to offer any explanation for their decisions and often do not communicate tasks well. This opens up the floor for concerns and leads to speculation and ill-feelings.

Looks like: A manager who walks in, tells others what they want done and walks away. Employees are left with no direction and no reason for the task or change.

Planning

A Toxic Manager doesn’t see overall goals as particularly important and don’t understand why they are even useful. They then don’t consider a strategic plan for the area that they are managing and don’t set real goals with achievable steps. Because every day processes are not predicable and there is no plan on board to mitigate any risks, employees often find themselves ridden with anxiety on the unknown, not knowing what each day will bring for them.

Looks like: Low morale in the working environment as a result of a manager who does not communicate goals and the plan to achieve them.

Keeping up with the The Joneses

A Toxic Manager worries more about how they will look to others, both inside and outside the organisation. They focus primarily on short term payoffs, rather than longer term objectives. It it doesn’t matter to them that the foundation could be crumbling or ineffective, and they will often take credit for anything and everything regardless of who was involved in the success or not. A Toxic Manager who is focused on themselves will often force other members of their team to do what they can to get through the day, rather than encouraging a longer term solution or plan.

Looks like: A team has a small win by achieving a certain output for the day. Despite the Manager being absent all day, they take credit for this win and do not acknowledge the hard work of the team.

No Middle Ground

A Toxic Manager is unable to accept differing opinions or experiences. The only thoughts and opinions that matter in the work context are theirs. A team member disagreeing with a directive can lead a Toxic Manager to issue a ‘for or against’ ultimatum, stifling conversations or constructive brainstorming. As a result, those team members who do speak up or out or often demonised and in a worst case, are pushed out of their position due to workplace bullying and/or feeling unheard.

Looks like: During a team discussion, a team member questions the Toxic Manager’s directive. The manager reacts and makes an example out of the team member and encourages the rest of the team to adopt the same approach.

Playing Favourites

A Toxic Manager who plays favourites will often promote or protect those that adopt a similar thought process to their own. They will promote a toxic team member over others even if they are not suitably qualified in order to enforce their own sense of power within the organisation. Special treatment like this is definitely a morale killer and leads to less achievements within the team and resentment. Additionally, if the toxic employee is not the right fit for their upgraded position alongside the manager, this perpetuates poor management and further brings the organisation down.

Looks like: After the resignation of a team member, another who has been working closely with them puts forward an application to fill this spot. The Toxic Manager ignores this and instead, gives the position to someone new that they already know that will side with them and align with their way of thinking.

Employees Bolting for the Door

Team members leave for a myriad of reasons, but a Toxic Manager does not take the time to understand the reasons why. There is no room in their black and white thinking to consider the reasons and so the outgoing team member is considered as non-committal or unworthy. This thought process is often very vocally communicated to remaining employees, instilling fear and further reducing staff morale.

Looks like: As a result of a previous meeting where a team member felt they were being pushed out, they resigned. The Toxic Manager accepts the resignation without any questions and proceeds to make an example out of them amongst the remaining employees. The Toxic Manager will often be more concerned about the inconvenience rather than the environment within the team.

Can Do No Wrong

Ultimately, all habits (good and bad) can be altered by any manager who has the inclination to work on them. A Toxic Manager refuses to accept that any of their habits or behaviours could be harming the business or their team. A Toxic Manager lives in denial about their own short comings as a manager, and can not accept that their contributions to the workplace are not always great.

How Having (or Being) a Toxic Manager Can Cost Your Business

Now you know some of the basic characteristics of a Toxic Manager, you’ve probably got an image in your head of someone you have worked with (or currently). If not, your brain probably has conjured an image of someone mean and forceful, a tyrant, and most importantly, not you.

The truth is, that Toxic Managers come in all forms: Tyrant, Micromanager, Too Friendly, Incompetent, Too Rigid, Too much or too little vision and the Takeover Manager.

Whether you are a business owner or a manager, toxic characteristics and behaviours are in all of us. The question at the end of the day is whether each person is prepared to identify them, acknowledge them and work on them.

As a business owner, you need to meet and work with a range of different people, and it is your job to oversee your entire operation. Not recognising toxic behaviours or a Toxic Manager can cost your business in an umpteen amount of ways, all resulting in lower customer and staff ratings and morale and then further, reduced income and cash flow, as well as hindering performance.

Scarily, there is a frightening statistic that suggests that dealing with a Toxic Manager can increase your chance of heart attack by up to 50%!

Often, it is a slow burn and the reductions in your business won’t be something that you can recognise straight away, so it is important to keep your finger on the pulse within your own business as a whole. Be present and develop strategies to combat these sorts of behaviours.

A Toxic Manager, whether that is you or a manager that you have employed, can cause irreparable damage to your business, so it is important to identify them as early as you can (if if they are you!).