"Toxic" Leadership.....Is a Leader truly Toxic or do you just not like the way they lead?

During peace time a lot of silliness happens because people become bored and complacent.<br>

I was actually discussing a similar issue earlier. I have seen both sides of the spectrum. Growing up in the Army over the last decade,I've had leaders that no one liked. I've secretly thought some of these were great leaders. Some of the most unpopular ones were my favorites. I'll be the first to admit that I have a bit of a thin skin. I never like being yelled at, however, if I deserve it, I deserve it (as a result, I always do the right thing so I don't risk it). I think that is called discipline, or something. A good leader inspires and accomplishes the mission. They are someone you can take something from and use it for the rest of your life. I've had leaders that were "screamers" that still showed that they cared about Soldiers. I personally, am a more soft spoken NCO, but I can be strict. As a result, some Soldiers think I can be a pushover. I've seen those that yell and scream, yet they are teddy bears. I've had Soldiers dislike me and complain about me. On one occasion, I had to yell at a Soldier that totally did not get it. I felt kind of bad after the fact, but after my Soldier went to the 1SG and complained about me, I was called in for a talking to. I was then told by my 1SG how he was proud of me and that I should do it more often. To me, it feels to contrived, but when I was still a SPC, I had a super intuitive SGT that helped me learn how to deal with Soldiers. He pointed out each one in our section and taught me how to lead each one. There were different ways to deal with different Soldiers, and some only responded to yelling. I had to learn how to get out of my comfort zone to learn how to be an effective leader. Not all NCO's vary their leadership style to their individual Soldiers, and that is ok. Soldiers also need to learn how to adapt to different leaders.&nbsp;<div><br><div>I've had my fair share of toxic leaders. The traits that set them apart are that they truly do not care for Soldiers. I even think that there are bad leaders out there that truly care for their Soldiers, they just don't know how to properly lead. Toxic leaders are not these. A toxic leader is one that will use anything they can to advance themselves, even if it is at the peril of those they lead. They are the ones that may or may not yell. They are the ones that will do everything they can to break down a Soldier with no intention of building them back up. Abuse comes in many forms. Those that are abusive are toxic, period. They are missing something in their lives that they think they have to step on others to get. These are the ones that may talk a good game and have absolutely nothing to back it up. Those that are self-serving are setting their subordinates up for failure.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;I can see having a blurred line between the two. I can also see Soldiers not knowing the difference. At the end of the day, if you have a Soldier going above and beyond, staying out of trouble and looking for a good example that is not evident in their leader, then you probably have a toxic leader.&nbsp;</div></div>

very good point, its usually people with thin skin who dont like being told no who say their leadership is toxic,, good questions

Perhaps toxic is a word used too much. I see it both ways and I see things for how they are. Enforce the standard of course, but don’t go out purposely trying to ruin people. Yes!! Hold subordinate leaders accountable. You do this by empowering them. It’s basic common sense. Put a Sergeant or Officer in charge and they run it how they run it just so long as they know the end result standard to what ever we’re talking about. Micromanage every aspect and don’t empower them; you can’t really hold them accountable. When they fail which they will if they are not empowered to make decisions there is no one to blame but who ever didn’t empower that subordinate. The ranking echelons naturally crumble if ncos like platoon sergeants/squad leaders are not empowered. Officers of my unit will have maximum time to accomplish their duties they will not have to accomplish mine. This only applies if you gave that nco the opportunity to perform in the first place and empowered them with the responsibility & accountability. An toxic leader will micromanage not empower and when what ever fails blame the subordinate. This applies to all ranks from general going to private. It’s like even exercising commands. If the battalion commander came down to a subordinate company and purposely told that company commander what to circle on company echelon reports or what ever and then of course something goes wrong and blames the captain that’s an example of a toxic leader. Hard nosed leadership like yelling, counseling, insensitive general military demeanor, hurting people’s feelings to me alone doesn’t qualify as toxic leadership. Also being a double edged sword people always talk about toxic leadership as if there was no such thing as a toxic subordinate or toxic Soldier. This is just my peace though. I’ve had toxic leaders, bad leaders, good leaders, and great leaders. All have something in common as time passes and your in longer than a minute. They come and go. Survive the toxic ones and wait them out for one of you leave. Thrive with good leadership and learn something. Lead how you lead and always focus on mission and welfare of soldiers. Anyway good topic.

I’m wondering if maybe the troop should look at themself in the mirror. Could they be the toxic ingredient? Try to look at it
From the leader’s viewpoint. Write down
Your points and be honest. What do you
do that could aggravate others, Is the way you carry out duties? Do you try to
Do that extra 25% or what “just completes the mission”. Do you just say “yes Sergeant” or do you put some gusto into
It; YES SERGEANT!”...or “YES SIR!”..
do you just plod along along and do your
Job assignment or do you attack with gusto and cover all the points, even what
Is not in the open. Uniform clean and pressed? Or just clean ! Are you squared away or got loose ends. ?
So look in the mirror before you go off on that alleged toxic leader over his petty nuances and his overbearing personna.
I’m looking at this from a NCO’s point
Toward another enlisted person, Sir..
i haven’t come across any officers, W.O’s
That could use a dressing down in my time .. well maybe a few.. but the officers
Keep on top of their own pretty good..
I had arrived at abase that had a shakedown and it wsn’t pretty.. A wing Zcmdr snd a Base Cmdr and admin officer were fired as were some section heads..
what went on before I got there, I don’t know, Sir. I showed up and was in the van
And a Capt and CMSG was on the gate
with the Security Police .. they asked everybody to exit and the Capt took the two officers to one side of the vehicle and Chief took us enlisted to the other side.
I got looked over real good, I knew my uniform was right and clean as was my haircut and hygiene. The others were
Acceptable.. one Sgt. He called away from us and gave him a ticket.. I found out later it was for a haircut and worn ribbons.. ..
I seen two officers had citations .. dang!
and their uniforms looked good. We proceeded and Got let off at our respective units. More stuff happened later that I seen as part of the shakedown.
It was a disease called complacency..
and it got stopped ..

The spreading effect is the difference between a bad and a toxic leader. A bad leader is a bad leader. But if a leader is so bad that their behavior causes pervasive negative second and third order effects in the unit, then that spreading effect is what makes them toxic. Bad is bad. But being so bad that you negatively effect everyone around you? That's toxic..

The tools a leader has to lead are those that are represented in the ranks of subordinate officers and NCOs. When there is a break down in good order and discipline in organizations it is sometimes due to the failure at lower levels which in turn forces senior leaders to do the jobs of the front line leaders.

@ SSG James Gammage, you are spot on with your examples of indicators. As Brian Oberg stated, just because someone raised their voice at you (without doing those things identified in SSG Gammage's indicators below) and you get your feelings hurt, does not mean the leader is toxic.

As I truly believe NO soldier gets up in the morning and says "I can't wait to screw up today". Having said that leaders must be able to discipline subordinates and then subordinates have to recognize what they did wrong, correct the behavior and continue on to complete your mission. All of which can be done without being "Toxic".

Ken Blanchard wrote a book called the one minute manager. If you read his teachings, he states that you can be mad, but be made for only 5 minutes and be done with it and there is no need to hold a grudge.

In the end, this all comes down to the organizational culture and how it is fostered by leaders. Bad culture = bad environment = problems and we all have a part to play in it.

All I know is that you gain respect by showing respect. I would never have my Soldiers (when I was Platoon Sgt. and or Squad leader etc.) do things that I wouldn't do. If I asked them to do certain "chores", then I would do them right along side them...which at times blew them away. But they also understood that there were times I couldn't and so it was easier on me to do my other job without having this feeling my Troops thinking I was a lazy NCO or something. I would always check on them too. That IS an NCO's job by the way. You don't have to name call or yell your ass off to make a point with them. I got more high moral with my tactics then any other Platoon and it was just simply out of "respect" and "talking" and "caring" and yes and certain way of pushing them to want to better themselves because they wanted too not because someone else was making them....And no, I am a total non-believer of the "stress" cards!! Maybe it's the police officer (former) in me and this is how I deal with folks. I never swore, yelled or any kind crap like that, so I used this method as a SSG. and it really took me far and it worked. Even during war time(s)...We all each have our method's....

It is definitely a buzzword that is over used and misunderstood by many. With that being said, I think their is a lot of it in today's military, the Air Force especially. Most people promoted by a broken or infected system take offense to the fact that it is/may be broken, because it is a system that they succeeded in.

Toxic leaders are those who put their own career or self serving interests before the the mission and unit.

A leader is toxic when they are there because of what power they can project. Granted at the lower levels its not much but I have seen a few that will do the total opposite of what their NCOs and Warrant Officers reccomend just because they are in command. Not just once or twice but many times. Those were the hardest times.
That is toxic.