Jeroen* was overjoyed when he was allowed to start at a well-known Belgiancompany that is also active abroad. ‘My first managerial position, and at suchan impressive company.’ But almost immediately he noticed that something waswrong. ‘I heard the commercial director cursing a young woman from the salesdepartment. He made a complete fool of her. He called out to the whole floorthat she was lazy and had no work ethic.”
In the months that followed, the pattern repeated itself. According to Jeroen,three directors, including a woman, set the behavior systematically. “I’veseen grown men cry. Someone else hid when the bosses were there. And ifsomeone was fired, it was preceded by a tyrannical verbal abuse.’
In the end, Jeroen also got the full blow. “I hadn’t done anything wrong, butsuddenly the CEO was in my office. With a flushed face he scolded me, I don’tremember why. Afterwards, colleagues from three corridors further said thatthey were convinced that I had been fired on the spot.’
Jeroen has been away from the company for several years. But during our phoneconversations, he himself is amazed at how bad it was. “Hearing me say it outloud, I can hardly believe I lasted this long. But then it was simple: if yousued, you were fired, period.’
Spiral
Are there rare excesses or are many toxic leaders at work in Flemishcompanies? Figures are scarce. IDEWE, the external service for prevention andprotection at work, received 3,920 reports of psychosocial risks last year.’This is not only about toxic leadership, but also about conflicts, stress,burnouts and undesirable behaviour,’ says Hilde De Man, psychosocial well-being expert at IDEWE. The number of reports is almost a quarter higher thanin 2020. Especially those about conflicts, stress and burnouts have risen,whereby toxic leadership can of course be a cause.
”
Some toxic leaders are happy to finally be caught. “
Conseil Goris
mediator
In addition, alertness to harmful behavior increases. ‘We are increasinglyquestioning hierarchical authorities, also because we have learned in therecent past that power can lead to abuse,’ says Katleen De Stobbeleir, whostudies leadership for Vlerick Business School.
Experts therefore do not expect the number of reports or cases of toxicleadership to decrease. Rather anecdotal, but telling: After a call fortestimonials from victims of toxic leadership, our inbox was overwhelmed.Toxic leaders seem to thrive in any sector. We received responses from largecorporates, SMEs, companies from both the technology sector and themanufacturing industry, but they also seem to be present in government anduniversities.
Coaches and mediators are not afraid of it. Although rampaging bosses,psychological terror and verbal abuse are the extreme forms of toxicleadership. ‘Those cases make it to the media, but it is a misconception thatthey always involve extroverted men,’ says Koenraad Goris, who has beenmediating for international companies for 25 years. An introverted woman canalso be guilty of it. Other methods are used, such as humiliation and gossip,but they are just as toxic.’
‘Toxic leadership often starts small but can happen to anyone. It can startwith: ‘You do it because I say so.’ And so the spiral goes down’, says Goris.“The temptation to misuse power is enormous. Power corrupts, and absolutepower certainly does. We use a fancy term for toxic leadership, but it oftencomes down to basic human behaviour.’
De Stobbeleir also says that it usually starts subtly. Emails are ignored,people are urged to work more with small threats, micro-aggressions are notcontradicted. “You know the comments. “For a woman, you’re quite competent.”Or if someone leaves before 5 p.m.: “Ah, are we taking half a day again?”
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Often a tragic event takes place before the alarm bells go off. “
Katleen De Stobbeleir
Leadership expert
Sometimes the atmosphere can change from one day to the next. Like withKirsten*, who works in the HR department of a well-known manufacturingcompany. A new HR director imposed different rules out of the blue. ‘The doorof our office must be open all the time so that she can hear how we conductjob interviews, she wants to be cc’d of every email we send, teleworking hasbeen abolished and if something doesn’t happen to her liking, she gives you arant.’
According to Kirsten, uncertainty is the cause. ‘In our company, French is theworking language, but she doesn’t speak that language. Moreover, she is notdigital at all. Can’t share a screen during a video meeting. Actually, it’spainful. So I’m looking forward to something new.’
Detox
A toxic leader is not one-dimensional, like the narcissistic villain in acartoon who, out of revenge or ambition, brings out the worst in himself andhis environment. It is a complicated mix of personality, upbringing, workingconditions and the culture that lives in an organization.
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Can you detox a toxic leader? ‘One of the biggest pitfalls for leaders is thepeter principle, in which people who are good at their job are promoted andfind that their job is too ambitious,’ says De Man. “They become insecure whenthey are surrounded by stronger figures than themselves. To prove themselves,they go too far in micromanagement. If there is enough self-reflection and nomajor damage has occurred, it can still be adjusted with a coach.’
Often toxic leaders have fallen into a wrong pattern and are trapped. Gorispoints out that some are relieved when a coach stands in front of them.”They’re glad they’re finally caught because they realize it wasn’tsustainable anymore.” De Stobbeleir has already seen several managers burstinto tears when they are confronted with their behavior in group sessions.’Such people are willing to change, but they can’t do it all at once. Take thegood intentions at the beginning of the year. How many people can they hold?So it comes down to supporting those people enough.’
Senior management has a great responsibility, also preventive. ‘Organizefeedback sessions, don’t be afraid of negative feedback, appoint buddies fornew employees and focus on internal mobility. Keeping someone in the sameplace for too long is not ideal,’ says Goris. ‘If things do go wrong, it’sbest for the CEO to intervene quickly. Good viewing figures or results shouldnot play a role. You need to nip it in the bud so you can do something aboutit. Letting it fester means a lot of absenteeism and turnover. No employerwants to lose talent.’
If the CEO turns out to be a toxic leader himself, it is up to the board ofdirectors to take action, even though it often has little insight into day-to-day operations. ‘The board can provide some direction by including matterssuch as well-being, well-being and climate in the objectives for the CEO,’says De Stobbeleir. ‘But often a tragic event takes place before the alarm