Toxic leadership inflicts severe and enduring harm on employees and organizations and can be found in every industry, including nonprofits. This leadership style erodes the mission of nonprofit organizations and deteriorates the work environment.
Toxic behaviors in nonprofit organizations often result in a non-inclusive, unproductive, impotent and distrustful culture. Toxic leaders trigger negative emotions and moods at work. Employees become physically and emotionally disengaged, resulting in frequent absenteeism and turnover. As deviant conduct becomes more pervasive within the organization, employees experience higher levels of burnout, which could impact their health and well-being.
All this results in low morale and dissatisfaction as the toxicity spreads throughout the organization.
How can you identify a toxic leader in your nonprofit organization?
Courtesy of Leader Essentials Group
Vera Alves, DBA, MA, EMBA is the chief consulting officer at Leader Essentials Group, an executive consulting firm.
Here are some of the attitudes and behaviors toxic leaders frequently display:
• Exclusive focus on the end result. In other words, the end justifies the means. So, any decision or action, regardless of how toxic it is for the organization, is accepted if it produces the desired result. While toxic workers may excel in work performance, they destroy their team’s morale in the long run.
• Strong need for self promotion. Some toxic leaders are attention seekers who wish for more public visibility. They will go to any lengths to be in the spotlight regardless of whether their actions make any real contribution.
• The need for control. Toxic leaders want to gain absolute control over every decision made in the organization. These individuals will do everything to centralize the command chain and not let anyone else pitch in to make better or different decisions. This means that their employees will have little or no chance of professional growth, significantly increasing the chances of losing talented employees.
• Focus on their personal needs. Status and power are everything to toxic leaders. Greed fuels their actions, which can be disastrous for an organization in the long term.
How should non-profit organizations address toxic leadership?
• Align your leadership selection process. Organizations should spend more time scrutinizing candidates for leadership positions. While past performance may have been the reason for considering the candidate for the new position, it is not a guarantee that they will live up to the expectations of a leadership role. Focus less on their past performance and more on their potential for the new position. A recent Harvard Business Review article suggests using science-based assessments to measure key traits like empathy, integrity, curiosity and emotional intelligence.
• Keep an eye on culture. Nonprofits should first look at the culture that is shaping their organization. They can do this by implementing culture surveys and employee experience assessments that are regularly evaluated, on a quarterly or annual basis.
• Implement clear communication channels. Toxic leadership takes over an organization when employees are too afraid to talk. Harmful decisions and actions go unreported when team members live in fear of getting penalized for speaking up or when they fear they will become a problem in their managers’ eyes. Nonprofits should promote secure, anonymous communication channels for employees to report instances of abusive leadership.
• Create a zero tolerance policy. A leader’s toxic behavior requires immediate action. Tolerating toxic leadership just because the manager gets the job done is a dangerous trap, and it can destroy your organization’s culture and morale in the long run. A zero tolerance policy should help employees and leaders identify inappropriate behavior and take decisive action immediately. This is critical to remove toxic workers from the organization.
Your organization’s expectations regarding a climate of respect need to be openly and frequently communicated, reinforced and modelled. Employees should feel safe to speak up and immediate action should be taken in the face of a toxic leader.
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Vera Alves, DBA, MA, EMBA is the chief consulting officer at Leader Essentials Group, an executive consulting firm specializing in developing and executing strategies with their clients. Vera has extensive experience in leadership development, strategic planning, operations management, marketing and organizational behavior, including over 12 years of experience as a C-suite executive. Vera is also a professor of marketing management and leadership.
