LDRDocs/Definitions/Toxic Performance.md

[[Toxic Performance]] is when an employee's high performance is causing unecessary problems for other people working around them. Put another way, the employee feels like they don't need to follow rules or be mindful of coworkers because their performance is so high. If this isn't caught and handled it confuses and frustrates other staff who don't understand why the toxic performer is permitted to continue what they're doing. It quickly leads to morale issues, attendance problems, mistakes, and other issues.

A person who is engaging in Toxic Performance should be given [[Counselling]] at the first sign of the issue to try to figure out why they think their actions are acceptable. Otherwise, other staff will become frustrated and confused that nothing is being done about the toxic performer. It can hurt morale, and lead to attendance problems, mistakes, and other issues if it's not addressed.

Toxic performance can be hard to detect from just looking at what work is finished. There are other ways to detect it's going on.

## They want your job
Put simply, a toxic performer is trying to get you fired because they think that's the best way to get a raise or stabilize their income. They're convinced their ways of working are the best, so they don't need to do anything except throw everyone else under the bus.

The kinds of things a toxic performer may do start small while they are testing the limits of what they can get away with. Then, they will start sabotaging coworkers in minor ways that are easily overlooked. As this progresses, the overall performance of the team declines. Meanwhile, they are often at the center of a rumor mill that's designed to keep people engaged in gossip and goose chases. In a typical case, the toxic performer finds every excuse possible to speak with more senior management without their supervisor present. They will try to make it obvious to certain coworkers though.

This has the effect of amplifying the rumor mill. Coworkers may believe rumors the toxic person starts because they've seen the person speaking with senior management. Likewise, senior management may be fed false or inaccurate information about why the team's performance has declined. They may also discourage coworkers from reporting issues through the proper channels because "they just fire people who do that" or "they don't listen" or "I'll talk to them about it for you".

## What causes a toxic performer?
Generally speaking, lack of management. There isn't enough supervision in place to notice what the toxic performer is doing. It typically starts when an employee with high performance begins breaking or bending rules but nobody does anything about it. Most often, if anyone does notice, the toxic performer will have a plausible excuse that they misunderstood a rule or didn't know about it. Usually, the situation will be a seemingly trivial case of a more serious issue. Basically, the person is mapping out what they can get away with and who will pay attention.

This might not even be intentional or malicious. It could simply be that a person thinks their performance is really high and that's the reason nobody enforces simple rules.

### Annoying behaviors tolerated because of performance
When a manager is afraid to confront an employee about unwanted behaviors because "what would I do if this person quit?" the door is open to toxic performance.

## How to detect a toxic performer
A Toxic Performer wil often exhibit certain characteristics or behaviors.

### Bending or breaking trivial rules
They break or bend the rules in small ways that seem like they're so trivial it's not worth addressing it.

They start to rationalize the rules shouldn't apply to them because of their performance.

For instance, maybe employees in your area are supposed to use resealable drink containers. The toxic performer more or less ignores this rule or invents their own exceptions to it. In another case, it's SOP for employees to send notice through [[Homebase]] if they'll be late to work. The toxic performer directly texts the supervisor instead.

### Bragging about a particular metric
A toxic performer may loudly brag about a particular metric of their work, usually whatever metric is easy for them to make really high. They will often find ways to bring up their performance in situations where it's not important or it's off topic.

### Rumors and throwing people under the bus
Toxic performers sometimes honestly believe their way of doing the work is the only right way. As such, they will nitpick and complain about coworkers or even managers, often making unfounded accusations. Their own internal thought process is that they should be in charge because of their performance, but since nobody can see that, the best solution is getting other people in trouble.

For example, let's say there was a team conversation about safe lifting techniques. The toxic performer thinks this is a waste of time and shouldn't apply to them. So later on, they spread the rumor that the supervisor is an alcoholic or that a coworker is peeing on the floor in the bathroom.

This can be a tactic to distract management from noticing the toxic person's behaviors because management is busy investigating the accusations or doing damage control about the rumors.

### One-directional feedback or suggestions
A toxic performer may be a motormouth with suggestions or feedback about how the work should be done... but they're not open to hearing any feedback about it or anyone else's ideas.

For example, we might be talking about how the company needs to make more money or do work more efficiently. In the toxic performer's mind they're already doing the work the best way possible, so everyone should listen to them.

### Indirect identification
There are some indicators of a toxic performer that have less to do with the person and more to do with other people in the workplace.

#### Social capital builders appear
Look for people who used to have acceptable performance but now seem more interested in being well-liked. These are folks who know their performance is below acceptable, so they focus on building social capital in order to continue collecting paychecks.

This tends to be a sign of toxic performance. The reason being, the social capital builder's performance is being affected by the toxic performer, but they haven't been able to solve the problem. For example, maybe the toxic performer is constantly blasting loud music that distracts this person from their job and causes mistakes. They don't bother complaining the management about it because the problem is so obvious they assume management doesn't care. So instead, they are extra friendly to coworkers, step in to do favors like run errands or clear trash, or they might bring people food. Whatever it is, they're doing stuff that's not actually their job in order to make other people like them.

#### Attendance issues surrounding a particular area
If a particular team or area starts having a lot more attendance issues than what's normal elsewhere in the company that can be a sign of a toxic performer. Basically, the people are waking up thinking "fuck this, I don't want to deal with that bullshit today" so they're late, absent, etc.  It may actually *be* affecting their health, too.

For instance, stress does effect people's health. If somebody used to enjoy working here, but now they hardly ever feel a sense of accomplishment because of the toxic performer they are likely to get sick more often and have other attendance issues.

#### Generalized insubordination, shadow processes, or backsliding
It starts to seem like updates to processes or methods never seem to stick in a particular area. No matter how simple a suggestion or change is, it always seems to revert back or get twisted somehow.

This can be a sign a toxic performer is working in that area. Remember, they're convinced their performance is the highest it could possibly be. As such, they will tend to subvert new policies or processes that conflict with the way they think the work should be done.

The other way this can appear is through a [[Shadow process]], where an unofficial, undocumented process is followed by people in an area without any management approval. This may indicate a situation where the toxic performer had suggestions management disagreed with, but they are essentially bullying coworkers into implementing their ideas anyway.