Jack Welch responds to a question on how a leader knows who is being “cut-throat” and who is doing their work. Toxic behaviors need to be handled promptly.

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Viewpoint on Toxic Behaviors

With toxic behaviors present in a group, there is very little chance that people will fully trust each other, speak openly, and work in a collaborative manner. Cut-throat behaviors such as taking credit for work that others have done, backstabbing, gossiping may happen behind a leader’s back so to speak, but the consequences are always visible in the way people talk and act. Toxic behaviors can be detected in the patterns of avoidance in the team’s interactions.

When leaders don’t act and let toxicity fester, people get discouraged and resentful because they experience a lack of fairness. Performance of the team will suffer. The problem is that leaders are often not being explicit about the culture they want to see within their groups and therefore do not have a good benchmark to work with.

We help leaders work with their teams to establish the values and behaviors that will be expected and those that will not be tolerated. To find out more, please contact us here.