Dealing with Toxic A-Players

We all have our ups and downs, good days and bad. Some­times, due to lack of sleep, wor­ries or pres­sures, we are not at our best when inter­act­ing with others.

How­ev­er, there are indi­vid­u­als – under per­form­ers and high per­form­ers – who con­sis­tent­ly dis­play tox­ic behav­ior, cause frus­tra­tion among their peers, dis­rupt team dynam­ics and are detri­men­tal to the over­all culture.

Tox­ic A play­ers (as I call them in my book Your Oxy­gen Mask First) per­form exact­ly how we want, at a high lev­el, but their behav­ior is exact­ly what we don’t want.

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, lead­ers often turn a blind eye. They fear that let­ting go of these Tox­ic A‑Players could result in rev­enue loss, alien­ation of impor­tant cus­tomers, or lead­er­ship gaps that may bur­den them with addi­tion­al work. How­ev­er, if these peo­ple who don’t fit with­in your cul­ture, con­tin­ue to frus­trate col­leagues, and poten­tial­ly dri­ve them away, the con­se­quences will inevitably catch up with the orga­ni­za­tion. In hind­sight, lead­ers often regret not deal­ing with these indi­vid­u­als sooner.

Such fears usu­al­ly make the neg­a­tive impact seem big­ger than it actu­al­ly will be. The cost to the team is too high to allow the sit­u­a­tion to fes­ter and, in the long term, your team will appre­ci­ate your efforts to relieve their stress and frustration.

As a good leader, it is cru­cial to pro­vide Tox­ic A‑Players with a fair chance to cor­rect their behav­ior. Give them an oppor­tu­ni­ty to become aware of the prob­lem and align with the team. It is pos­si­ble that nobody has told them the extent to which their behav­ior is not accept­able and has a neg­a­tive impact on the com­pa­ny. They deserve a chance to improve.

Some­times, you need to make the deci­sion that they are not with you, long-term, and find a way out that’s appro­pri­ate for the busi­ness and respect­ful for them.

What­ev­er you do, tak­ing action is imperative:

• Involve your HR per­son to make sure you pro­ceed appro­pri­ate­ly, based on your respon­si­bil­i­ties as an employer
• Map out a writ­ten, spe­cif­ic per­for­mance plan to con­firm what needs to hap­pen and by when, and the feed­back the per­son needs to hear
• Set a time to review and share the feed­back with them
• If they don’t report to you, arrange for the person’s man­ag­er map out the plan and pro­vide the feed­back the per­son needs to hear. Ver­i­fy the doc­u­ment­ed action plan to make sure the per­son is giv­en a fair shake.

The Chal­lenge:

• Iden­ti­fy any Tox­ic A‑Players with­in your orga­ni­za­tion who require some form of action.
• Ensure that these indi­vid­u­als receive a clear mes­sage about what they need to do to be both pro­duc­tive and a great fit with your culture.

Addi­tion­al Podcasts

• I Have an Inef­fec­tive Key Exec­u­tive. What Do I Do?
• Nec­es­sary Endings
• Five Expen­sive Hir­ing Mistakes

Addi­tion­al Blogs

• Top & Tox­ic Test
• The Hid­den Cost of Not Hav­ing a Team of A‑Players
• How to Make Peo­ple Decisions

Lawrence & Co’s work focus­es on sus­tain­able and enhanced growth for you and your busi­ness. Our diverse and expe­ri­enced group of advi­sors can help your lead­ers and exec­u­tive teams stay com­pet­i­tive through the use of var­i­ous learn­ing tools includ­ing work­shops, webi­na­rs, exec­u­tive retreats, or one-to-one coaching.

We help high-achiev­ing lead­ers to have it all – a great busi­ness and a reward­ing life. Con­tact us for sim­ple and impact­ful advice. No BS. No fluff.