The cause of toxic workplaces

Maybe you are familiar with derailed executives. Some create toxic workplaces that cause good employees to flee.

Others are causing customers to complain in ever increasing numbers. The executive’s peers have become alienated too. Their fellow executives don’t want to speak to this ticking time bomb of a person because they are always abrasive. So they avoid them. This creates a serious lack of communication all over the organization. And for whatever reason their behavior is deteriorating fast.

So why not just fire them?

Ah, that is the dilemma. These are extremely valuable employees. Some bring in millions of dollars to the corporation. If they go, the revenue goes with them. Others have a specialized skill or body of knowledge. They are the best in business and there is no way to replace that kind of expertise.

So what do you do? In my book, The Prodigal Executive, I explained that there are basically two ways to get a derailed executive back on track.

One approach is that a company can internally coach the executive back on track. This involves the HR executive or the CEO sitting down with the executive and providing very clear, crisp, and firm feedback using observational data. He or she gives the individual very clear behavioral expectations, a timeline for them to use, and works with the individual to create a plan of action for how the individual is going to turn around every area.

The second approach is to have an coach from outside the company work with the derailed executive.

If they are creating a toxic workplace, then doing nothing is not an option.