Gruenter and Whitaker once said, “The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.” Toxic behavior must be immediately dealt with for any leader to be successful.
Recently, Bryan Miles, co-founder and CEO of BELAY Solutions, wrote an incredible post entitled “The True Cost of Toxic Team Members”. As I read their post I knew my audience needed to be made aware of this content.
Before getting to their post, I wanted to let you know BELAY offering 50% off their Implementation Fee during the month of August. The Implementation Fee covers all the up front due diligence required to make a great match between a client and a Virtual Assistant, Bookkeeper, or other service provider. They take the matching process THAT seriously. The IMP Fee is normally $595 and as mentioned, BELAY is offering 50% off this fee for the month of August! If you need staffing or administrative assistance, then at least click HERE and have a conversation with their team. You will be glad you did!
Now as promised, the following are Bryan’s thoughts on The True Cost of Toxic Team Members:
In the past, before we started BELAY, I was part of a couple of toxic company cultures that inhabited toxic employees. Toxic employees can be like the black mold growing behind your walls—they fester and flourish, often without your notice, until suddenly everyone around is sick and distressed and no one really knows why.
Toxic Behaviors
Toxic attitudes manifest themselves in a whole host of different behaviors, ranging from passive-aggressive comments and actions, downright rudeness, and blatant entitlement. These behaviors will sink not only your organization’s culture and morale, but will eventually make their way to your bottom line in terms of lost productivity and the time and effort your managers have to exert in dealing with the destruction these toxic employees leave in their wake.
Listen. Trust me on this. Don’t ignore this. You know, deep down, that toxic employees are costing you. But you might not know how much. That’s why this research from Harvard Business Review needs to sink in, and show you the damage the toxic employees in your midst are doing to the rest of your team:
- 80 percent of employees lost work time worrying about the offending employees’ rudeness
- 78 percent said their commitment to the organization declined in the face of toxic behavior
- 66 percent said their performance declined
- 63 percent lost work time in avoiding the offender
- 48 percent decreased their work effort
You as the leader are the only one who can do anything about toxic behavior in your workplace. And if you don’t, you’re showing your team that you are sanctioning incompetence. When you let behavior like this slide, you’re telling your team that this behavior is OK with you. You’re also compromising your leadership by not acting, and showing your team that they can’t trust you to confront this kind of behavior in your teams. And that will cost you even more.
If you’ve got toxic employees on your team, get rid of them. If they haven’t changed by now, they’re not going to. Take action to defend your team and your culture, and protect your bottom line … your healthy employees will thank you later!
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Entrepreneur magazine recently named BELAY Solutions as the #1 Staff Culture in the United States. Founded by co-CEOs Bryan and his wife Shannon, BELAY provides a full range of virtual services to businesses and local churches including assistants, bookkeeping, web design, and writing assistance.
If you need assistance, do not wait! Click HERE today and start getting solutions to the issues you are facing.