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

<div>Major Oberg,</div><div><br></div>Verbal, mental, or psychological abuse is unacceptable in any working environment. Period.<div><br></div><div>A truly dynamic leader can accomplish the same sets of tasks, maintain the same standards, lead the same Soldiers, and drive the same missions as someone who berates, belittles, divides, and nitpicks their troops.</div><div><br></div><div>However, I agree with part of what you said - Not every leader who a group of Soldiers dislike deserves the title "Toxic."</div><div><br></div><div>There are some core indicators:</div><div><br></div><div>* Narcissism. &nbsp;</div><div>* Inability to accept responsibility for their mistakes. &nbsp;</div><div>* Workplace division [creating an environment where they attempt to pit people against each other in order to secure their own position.]</div><div>* Verbal abuse.</div><div>* Threats.</div><div>* Lies.</div><div>* Choosing favorites and making those favorites known.</div><div>* Shallow affect toward others.</div><div>* Inability to engage with societal norms. &nbsp;</div><div>*Talking over people and/or at them even when you ask them questions, and/or refusing to listen to someone due to pride.</div><div><br></div><div>I wrote an article concerning this topic. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>http://tekkek.com/entrepreneur/management/2013/04/toxic-leaders-a-guide-to-spotting-and-coping/<br></div><div><br></div><div>In today's age, with the levels of intelligence in the average recruit and the push toward a more educated force - you're rapidly running out of ground to maintain "the old school mentality" when it comes to dealing with people. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>FM 6-22, Chapter Four clearly denotes the character expected out of a leader. &nbsp;Toxicity has no quarter, no place, and no excuse in a professional force - ESPECIALLY - one in which we aren't going to be deployed for a period of time. &nbsp;Especially in one that is focused more on either training, garrison, or office type environments.</div><div><br></div><div>In my opinion - it's more than high time that we start looking to clean out the ranks and allow some of the leaders forged over the past decade of conflict to move up and take the place of these entrenched assholes who honestly? &nbsp;Can't cut it in the civilian world.</div><div><br></div><div>End rant.</div><div><br></div><div>Respectfully, Sir.</div><div><br></div><div>JCG</div><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://tekkek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/toxic-leader-3-300x175.gif"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a target="_blank" href="http://tekkek.com/entrepreneur/management/2013/04/toxic-leaders-a-guide-to-spotting-and-coping/">Toxic Leaders: A Primer - TEKKEK</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">A brief look at Toxic Leaders; what they are, how to spot them, ways to cope with them, followed with a brief commentary on courses of action to take.</div></div><div style="clear:both"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>

Something I have not seen anyone else mention in this discussion that I believe makes up a toxic leader: the do as I say not as I do NCO.&nbsp; All too often I see my peers send their Soldiers out to accomplish a mission&nbsp; that they themselves wouldn't do.

<p>MAJ Oberg,</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Your analysis is right on.&nbsp; I have thought the same thing.&nbsp; There truly are "toxic" leaders out there, but the numbers are FAR less than some would have you believe.&nbsp; The constant complaining about leadership would never have happened 20 years ago when the level of discipline was much different from today.&nbsp; Our standards have eroded over time due to the military being used as some kind of social experiment.&nbsp; We tell today's leaders that they have to make Soldiers "feel good" and not hurt their self-esteem.&nbsp; The truth is an awful lot of great, strong military leaders of the past (basically everybody who won battles) would be considered "toxic" by today's standards.&nbsp; </p>

Maj Oberg, in my lectures on the Sociology of a BureaucraZy, we find Innovators, Caretakers, and Undertakers. The "Toxic Boss Syndrome" falls under the Undertaker--whose negative approach becomes the main distraction. Caretakers follow both the Undertaker and the Innovator--when it is in their best interest. When Innovation is rewarded we have a greater paradigm shift. Consider also the model of Frustration, Confrontation, Escalation. The model repeats itself higher and higher until the source of the frustration is relieved. People who complain about "toxic" leaders are too often correct, in that they were not treated with the minimum of dignity and respect under conditions of Title VII (Hostile Work Environment). However, there are always those who throw frivolous penalty flags at the leader to divert attention from their own lack of skills. The true Toxic Leader has no balanced Kick to Pat Ratio. Everything deserves a kick. There are indeed people in between whom are simply frustrated; who don't know how to effectively lead. That in itself can be toxic.

<div>The term "Toxic" was coined to mean a leader who's behavior was so bad that it started to leak, to affect everything else. That's what "Toxic" was supposed to represent, meaning it spread (think radioactive I guess).</div><div><br></div><div>If a guy is just plain terrible, well then he's a bad leader. If he is so bad that you can trace most of your units issues to him or his decisions, then he is toxic. It's a question of how widespread his influence is.</div><div><br></div><div><div>For illustration, if I fail to qualify on my weapon, or I don't get haircuts, or if I just make poor decisions, then I can definitely be classified as a poor leader, I think we'd all agree.</div><div><br></div><div>Now, if I'm a racist, and that leads to all my minority Soldiers feeling isolated, that can be toxic. Especially if that perception starts to bleed into the unit. Same thing with sexism.</div><div><br></div><div>If I am guilty of favoritism, and as a result, my Junior NCO's start doing it too, that can definitely be labeled as toxic.</div><div><br></div><div>The difference between poor leadership and toxic leadership is in the spreading effect.</div></div><div><br></div>

I find that much like some of the leadership on here that about 50% of the leaders I had when I was a 2LT would have been labeled as toxic by some in the military today. Looking back, I see them as hard...but fair. My battalion commander was one of the best leaders I ever remember, but he wasn't mean or demeaning, he was constant. That's almost more important to me than being sensitive to others' feelings. The worst is a schizophrenic leader. Someone who goes from being your buddy to going full Gunnery Sergeant Hartman within 5 minutes. If someone is hard and demanding all the time, then you know what to expect and you are rarely nervous around them. If they are a nice guy all the time, then you know what to expect. Toxic does get thrown around quite a bit, but it's like someone said, "I can't define pornography, but I know it when I see it." Same story. You can tell when someone is abusive and no longer fit for leadership today...and yes...perception is reality.

A toxic leader in my opinion are those who don't care about their Soldiers in the most literal sense of the word. &nbsp;A Sergeant First Class who gets tasked to be a Platoon Sergeant and says "Can you get someone else I don't want to". &nbsp;An NCO who never shows up for work, dodges responsibility. &nbsp;Or even better yet, an NCO tells a Soldier to do something and when that Soldier gets their ass chewed that NCO is RIGHT THERE and says absolutely nothing just sitting there nodding his head in agreement opposite the Soldier and beside the ass chewer.<br><br>An NCO who actively looks for ways to get Soldiers in trouble, instead of being an honest to god leader that sees the issue and corrects it. &nbsp;An NCO who goes to 5 (five) schools in one year and when asked by his Soldiers if they can go to even something as simple as Combatives level 1 or CLS he says I can't give you the time to do that class right now.<br><br>An NCO who hangs out with their Soldiers at a club, gets drunk and leaves them there to miss curfew. &nbsp;NCO's that would rather live in NCO quarters as opposed to in Soldier barracks because the barracks should be condemned instead of trying to enforce standards and leading by example.<div><br></div><div>An NCO who is just completely incompetent at leading, and do not have the slightest idea on how to do much of anything much less even soldiering.<br><div><br></div><div>Those are example of toxic leadership. &nbsp;Being loud, enforcing standards, or cursing are not in anyway examples of toxic leadership.</div></div>

This is a good post, MAJ Oberg. I like to think of toxic in one of its most accurate definitions: 'acting as or having the effect of a poison; poisonous'. With this understanding, a toxic leader is one who 'poisons' the organization. Selfishness is one of the most shared characteristics of toxic leaders. A selfish leader is not really a leader. They are abusive and manipulative, and they make their living by having the Soldiers beneath them or equal to them doing all of the work while taking the credit for it. This is just one of the many ways that organizations are poisoned. I have come face-to-face with quite a few of these toxic leaders, and it's not that hard to understand the difference between someone who is trying to do what's right and someone who is just looking out for themselves. I refer to people of this nature by their pay grade rather than their rank, because they are concerned more about the pay of the grade than the duties of the rank.

Standards and discipline have never been poisonous to anything. They are the health of an organization - the reason why it runs correctly and why its people are not in trouble every week. Asking people to do what's right, even if you're loud about it, doesn't make you poisonous. Asking them to do what's right while you're doing something completely different, or the 'Do as I say, not as I do' mentality, makes you poisonous.

I have had this conversation many times. Too often a hard ass boss is called toxic and sometimes there is a fine line. I had a battalion commander who worked the hell out of us down range. We worked till 0200 and started at 0800. On the other hand he never raised his voice, treated people fairly, and was reasonable but believed in getting every ounce of work out of people. The Soldiers, many of the juniors who would rather be playing games and screwing off, would call him toxic but this wasn't the case. <br>This is the problem with uneducated people who don't like their commander calling them toxic. I have had the pleasure of working for a boss who would verbally and physically assault personnel at meetings and because another BC was already relieved knew he couldn't be. Sad thing is although he didn't get promoted and forced to retire he ruined several careers in his wake.

<p>Sir,</p><p>I think the thing that really makes a leader toxic is the environment and command climate that they create for a unit.&nbsp; In my fairly short&nbsp;time in the Army I&nbsp;have already seen staffs that were absolutely terrified of approaching the commander with bad news.&nbsp; I have seen very high ranking officers hold grudges against fellow officers, intimidate&nbsp;DA civilians, make promises that were never kept, play favorites, and pass command responsibility for safety requirements down to subordinates.&nbsp;&nbsp;You&nbsp;can see it in the faces of the Soldiers when you enter a command environment ruled by&nbsp;fear.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>That&nbsp;being said, I have also seen and served under absolutely&nbsp;briliant leaders.&nbsp; I once had a LTC yell and curse&nbsp;at me in front of an entire DFAC!&nbsp; But it wasn't toxic.&nbsp; I was wrong and needed a correction.&nbsp; It worked.&nbsp; He got the point across and I was a little embarassed at the time, but the next day&nbsp;we talked respectfully like professionals and there were no hard feelings.&nbsp; It was that talk the&nbsp;next day that really&nbsp;solidified my respect for that leader.&nbsp; I&nbsp;think that is a good example of a leader being able to yell and curse&nbsp;in an effort to enforce standards and discipline&nbsp;but not be toxic.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Leading by example is the best type of leadership in my opinion and fear is not the same as respect.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p>