Toxic leadership is definitely "a thing", and it certainly detracts from an organizations
opportunity for diversity and inclusion within leadership. Using religious organizations as
an example, many have toxic leadership within the liturgical staff. Although it would
seem as though in these type of organizations that the senior pastor has the only and final
say, because usually they are the creators of the organization, they normally exclude
others from the decisions regarding what to preach and/or promote within the church.
Many times, the financial component of tithing and offering clouds their judgement and
they carry about in an unsavory fashion with the funds they are to oversee. They often
times allow their egos to lead the way and incite petty arguments over their followers
from giving into "desires of the flesh". They do not accept criticism well, because
supposedly everything they do is instructed by a higher power that has communicated
with only them, convincing the followers of the same. Even when these leaders say things
that are contrary to the beliefs many families hold within their own households they are
afraid to speak up, for fear of being ostracized.Motivating others to be more inclusive in
the workplace includes being inclusive in ones own activities. Encouraging people to
speak up and voice concerns when things seem out of place, tasking the leader to listen
to those concerns and work with the staff to address them and correct any misgivings.
Allowing for constructive criticism is big, as well. People feel like they are subject matter
experts and therefore could not do an even better job, when in actuality constructive
criticism would encourage them to go the extra mile toward understanding.I think
designing work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning would foster
inclusivity moreso than hiring people that are already masters of their crafts. Empowering
people to learn their role and create their own meaning behind it within the parameters of
the organizational goals gives people more ownership of the role and the feelings that
arise from doing what they are asked within that role.Utilizing the Rocket Model, an
organization can alter toxic leadership by ensuring both the team and the leader is aligned
with and cohesive with the goal and the measures to meet the goal. Being abreast of the
team individual skill sets and mastery should create a team that can meet those goals. I
really enjoyed reading this article on Toxic Leadership. The rest of the title alone answers
the first part of this discussion question. "The Antithesis to Diversity and Inclusion,"
shows that these practices work in direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices.
Some of the traits and behaviors of toxic leadership will give the opposite reaction that a
good leader is trying to accomplish. Behaviors like, using followers' fears to incite action,
lying to mislead followers, pitting others against each other, feeding followers false
allusions to make them seem more powerful, being incompetent; misdiagnosing problem
or not addressing incompetence, failure to develop and mentor/teach other leaders, and the
one that stuck out to me the most was not allowing criticism of any kind (even
constructive). All of these, and more that were mentioned in the article, insight and create
a team that does not want to work together for a common goal or even individuals who
do not wish to follow the leader. Which is the opposite goal of a good team leader.A
good leader can motivate others to be more inclusive in the workplace by demonstrating
these qualities as a leader. They can first be aware of their own bias, be empathetic, treat
individuals like human beings, be passionate about learning, and be committed to diversity
and diverse opinions. Also, when we are fostering a more inclusive workplace it is more
important to design work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning. This will
aide in the processing of everyone learning together. Not just looking for employees to
hire that may have been successful or had the opportunity. That does not give those who
have not had the opportunity a chance to show they can be successful in this as
well.When we look at the Rocket Model, we can see some changes that can be made in
an organization to lessen the chances of having a toxic leadership set-up. One of those
would be to make sure everyone is aware of each members strengths and weaknesses. Not
as a competition, but as a placement of best roles and assignments so each member is
successful in their task.
I say toxic leadership actually promotes diversity and inclusion. It seems to me that the
there IS a need for toxic leadership types at times to keep things somewhat balanced. Like
the The Yin and the Yeng. Without balance, there would be no diversity... without
diversity, there would be need for inclusiveness. without inclusiveness there would be no
balance... and you get the picture. I would say that I do agree with the author—toxic
leadership works in direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices. The statement is
made that if leaders do not listen to others’ opinions or suggestions, that would lead to
someone potentially micromanaging or would take on all of the work. This would lead to
a toxic work environment and is a great example of why it is important to focus on both
diversity and inclusion practices.
I believe that leaders can always work on motivating others, especially to be more
inclusive in the workplace. Some examples of this could be:
• Be aware of your own biases and understand your shortcomings. Utilize your team
members as support to create the best possible “product”.
• Ask for help! Do not be afraid to ask others for guidance and lean on others for
support.
• Be open to diversity in the workplace; seek diverse opinions, opportunities, and
ideas!
When it comes to fostering an inclusive workplace, I believe that the most important thing
is to design work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning. Hiring others
will never solve the problem; there needs to be guidelines set in place prior to onboarding
others.If we utilized the Rocket Model, there are changes that organizations could make
to diminish the potential for toxic leadership, and in turn create high-performing teams.
Its’ main focus is find the problem within a team dynamic, and provide those managers
or leaders with the ability to improve their overall team performance, using tools or
activities.
I agree with the author 100 %, I personally had to deal with toxic leaders and can totally
say my voice was never heard. Leaders need to practice or educate themselves on how
diversity can benefit an organization. I would motivate my team by working together get
to know them a little more personal. I would ask their opinion and ask them for feedback.
I also would recognize their handwork and encourage to have weekly meeting to share
new ideas. I would design work activities to improve autonomy, mastery, and meaning. I
have seen many new hires with great education but does not mean they had the abilities
or experience to master a position, I rather hire within and train, educate, and coach them.
Using the Rocket Model, organization can change to avoid toxic leadership is by let
leaders understand what the organization goals and values is and what is the organization
expectations. Organizations have to encourage leaders to learn from team members or
employees and assign orientations and training on how they can improve their abilities to
lead. In reading this week's learning topic, I have to say that I agree with the author. I
believe toxic leaders work against diversity and inclusion practices, an example of this is
a toxic leader does not value teamwork nor do they empower others instead they set
people against each other.The perfect way to motivate others to be more inclusive in the
workplace is to lead by example. If you show others that inclusivity works and brings
your team together and can also lead to better productivity, then it can help change their
mind and motivate them to do the same.When fostering an inclusive workplace, I believe
it is more important to design work activities to improve mastery and meaning. When
leaders allow their followers to think for themselves and come up with their own ideas in
accomplishing a task, this creates confidence and brings meaning to the work and task at
hand. The followers will develop skills and knowledge in an area they feel comfortable
in which in turn will make them feel accomplished. With using the Rocket Model,
organizations can change and eliminate the potential for toxic leadership by making sure
the team is aligned with and understand the team's mission and must also understand what
the ultimate goal is. Secondly, leadership needs to know who their team members are and
what their skills, abilities and strengths are and assign tasks accordingly, this will create
a high-performing team. I completely agree with the author, toxic leadership works
against diversity and inclusion practices. My reason for agreeing with the author is that a
toxic leader will initiate a negative environment by any means necessary. Im not saying
that a toxic leader will make all his followers negative but the ones that are will continue
to make the work environment uncomfortable for the ones that don't conform.I think a
good way to motivate others at work to be more inclusive is to do team building exercises
and also by having weekly meetings. That way everyone is involved and topics that may
cause issues can be discussed. Also this would be a good time to tell the team about the
good they or doing or even to shine the light on an outstanding employee. When it comes
to fostering an inclusive workplace I think its more important to design work activities to
improve the autonomy, mastery and meaning. You can hire people with high levels of
achievement orientation but that doesn't mean that they will be good workers or workers
who are willing to learn. I would much rather build my team, teach them and watch them
grow. The article highlights good points on how toxic leaderships is not only something
that's happening in many work environments, but can be a bad cycle as many followers
are influenced or molded to become toxic themselves. I do believe it has a direct impact
on diversity and inclusion. I have seen scenarios where due to leadership misguiding their
subordinates leads to a very uncomfortable work setting where you don't even want to
come in to work or there are constant misunderstandings amongst workers and
administration.Can this be changed? It certainly can, but it all has to start with not only
leadership, but overall the organizations vision. I have attended many Professional
Development training sessions where we focus on diversity and inclusion and
unfortunately they don't include the voice of the workers/staff. If you don't allow for
opinions of those who are at the forefront of any job to be part of structure, then you are
just creating a plan that may or will fail. When you want to talk about diversity then it's
important your team is diverse, that simple. Setting goals is essential to being successful,
but it's also important to know when to adjust such goals and not fall in to the trap of
failing the mission due to what I call simply fear of accepting failure. Toxic leadership
stifles everyone around them until their voice is the only one heard. Dissenting opinions
can be helpful for the team as no one person has all of the answers. The team can discuss
ideas and come to a group consensus ensuring buy in happens.I motivate my teams to be
more inclusive by pushing servant leadership. We support the workers, treat everyone
with respect, practice active listening, and above all treat others how we want to be
treated.If I could I would hire followers with high levels of achievement. Unfortunately,
they don't come around very often. I usually pick people from within and coach them in
leadership skills. Out of necessity I would design activities to improve autonomy, mastery,
and meaning.Using the rocket model, teams can adjust the norms to root out the toxic
behavior, and get buy in from all team members for the new expectations. Additionally
setting a team goal instead of an individual goal that is specific and measurable should
shift the focus to the group instead of the individual. When thinking about diversity and
inclusion, leadership is a key point. Leaders play an important part in influencing the
actions, attitudes, and behaviors of their followers. Toxic leadership is the type of
leadership that is destructive to members of a team and a overall workplace. It's the
selfish abuse of power on the part of the leader. I believe that toxic leadership works in
direct opposition to diversity and inclusion practices. Leaders are to influence and uplift
their team members, toxic leaders are only concerned with personal gain which would
have a negative effect on diversity and inclusion practices.I can motivate others to be
more inclusive in the workplace by actively participating in events with my team
members, listening to their concerns , and their feedback. I would also host leadership
classes once a month allowing different companies to come and host workshops. When it
comes to fostering an inclusive workplace, what do you think is more important to
performance and effectiveness I honestly feel like it's always best to hire someone who's
qualified, but to leave opportunity for others to work up to that position as well. The
reason I feel it's best to have both is because the person who may not be qualified at that
exact moment could end up doing better in that position than the person who was
originally hired. I'm speaking from experience.I worked for a produce company several
years ago, I was a customer service representative, to fast forward the story the business
suffered a great loss, and had to do a business chop,I was one of the lucky ones who got
to stay , but my position requirements had increase I handled finances, assisted in hiring
more drivers, and still did my customer service duties. When the business was able to
hire more people for different positions again I applied for a finance position, but was
denied because I didn't have my bachelors at the time. The person who was hired had the
education , but didn't possess tenacity. That business ended up going through four people
before they finally found someone able to fulfill the position and I moved on.Changes
organizations can make to diminish toxic leadership using rocket model would be to allow
companies, or individuals who decide to buy into the business to take leadership classes
before coming on board . Businesses should also give more opportunities for individuals
to allow their workmanship to show their capabilities to be hired for other positions in
the organizations.
A leader must possess the ability to communicate effectively, be decisive, influential,
honest, empathic, resilient and fair to name a few characteristics. Influence is the liking
of a particular person with the effect of character. It almost seems as if a leader has to
be a saint to be effective. Ways to develop future leaders is to constantly provide them
with the training needed to become a leader. This could be accomplished by having
employees attend conferences or classes to help them refine their leadership skills. I also
believe we are all humans and we all make mistakes. If we feel overwhelmed we should
be able to express that and have a few moments to release that. Breaks should be
mandatory for everyone.
In the section of the 2009 Newsweek article discussing the Chrysler bankruptcy, Lee
Iacocca said (Halpert, 2009, "But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got through
it, and I believe they can do it again. If they're smart, they'll bring together a consortium
of workers, plant managers and dealers to come up with real solutions.
From this quote it seems to me that he suggests the CEO reach back to his whole team
right down to the plant and dealership levels for input on how to turn around the ailing
company. I think this is in line with my comments that a toxic leader will make decisions
in a vacuum, and not solicit input from the rest of the team.
