Curse of the ‘Toxic A Player’
Toxic employees can pose a risk to scaling your business and put your workplace culture at risk.
I recently came across an interview given by Michelle K. Duffy, a professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, where she said, “toxic employees can affect each organisation differently. But in general, they have the ability to destroy the social fabric of the organisation by creating friction, drama, tension and hostility among other employees.”
We all know them, and we have all worked with them, the toxic A player is one of the consistent high performers on your team. But they also take on a number of guises from the classic narcissist, the constant complainer, the passive aggressor, the bully or the professional underminer. Regardless of their MO leaving these people to run amuck in your workplace can have devastating effects when it comes to scaling a business.
Imagine one if your star performers, perhaps your best salesperson, your go-to trouble shooter or a key operations “gun”, has been breaching your company’s core values - the handful of rules that should be lived and breathed throughout your whole company.
You have addressed this team member (a likely Toxic A-player) on a number of occasions, but their behaviours have still not changed. As the CEO/Owner/Executive of the business, what are you going to do?
There is a tool that all our clients use on a quarterly basis called the Talent Assessment Tool. This tool was designed to assess your staff against 2 dimensions:
How capable and productive is the individual in their current role?
To what extent does that individual live and breathe your company’s core values?
A “Toxic A” is typically terrific at their job but does not adequately live the values of the business. The reality is, almost every business I have worked in and with has this dynamic going on within their business. The question for you as the leader is… What are you going to do about it?
My experience has shown that keeping Toxic A Players in your business, will (as the label suggests) infect your business. When the contravention of your company’s core values automatically becomes accepted behaviour, it will unequivocally damage your company’s brand inside and out!
Other “talent” will deem your core values as discretionary or voluntary and will behave the way they like, with little or no orientation for what is best for the company, the rest of the staff, shareholders, customers and the community your company serves.
Your genuine values driven “A Players” will be closely watching how you deal with their counterparts and if they don’t believe their leaders are “entering the danger zone” and leading based on merit and supporting the “will” of the organisation, you will lose them. They will be looking for alternate employment where A Players (people who live the core values and are top performers) are respected and acknowledged. They will seek out a business with leaders who have conviction, resolve and demand high standards.
Furthermore, your staff will (and should) judge your leadership, looking at your willingness to uphold the core elements of your business strategy and watching the way in which you attract, manage and retain your top talent.
A number of our clients have upheld their core values with some of these Toxic A Players. It has required some tough and direct conversations, but on each occasion (bar one that I can think of), the Toxic A Player has left the organisation and the rest of the staff have flourished. The remaining employees have lifted to pick up the slack that the CEO was so fearful could not have been replaced. Comments were even made about “why wasn’t something like this done sooner?”.
The one exception (mentioned above) was a case where the Toxic A Player had lifted their adherence to the company’s core values. I have a view that people either live by the values or they don’t. I think it is either part of their fabric or it is not. In this case, the staff member responded very positively.
There are a few tests for the validity of a company’s core values:
Would you fire an offender that repeatedly breached your core values?
Would you take a financial hit to enforce your core values?
Are your core values alive within your business today?
As a leader, you should consider how rigorous you are in supporting your company’s core values that were originally deemed critical to support the growth and sustenance of your business. If you do not get behind your own core values, I would suggest getting rid of them or eliminating those values that are not alive in your business today.
When used correctly, a company’s core values are a massive “bonding agent”, they underpin the culture across your entire business. They are a lens through which you should make all your company decisions, handle employee matters and guide you in your dealings with customers, shareholders and the community you serve.
C.S Lewis was right when he once said,
“No clever arrangement of bad eggs ever made a good omelette.”
Buon appetite, hope this provided some food for thought!
Want to try our Talent Assessment Tool for yourself? Click here