Managing Difficult and Toxic Behaviour

This workshop will help your managers identify and deal with difficult and toxic people in the workplace. According to the research of Professor Mitchell Kusy and Dr Elizabeth Holloway, 94% of leaders work with individuals demonstrating toxic, uncivil behaviours. Clearly toxic behaviour in the workplace is a pervasive problem with dire consequences for individuals, teams and organisations.

What are the bottom line effects?

  • 51% said they would likely quit as a result
  • 68% reported a decline in performance
  • 78% less commitment to the organisation
  • 12% of victims quit
  • Fully loaded costs of subsequent turnover of victims of toxic behaviours are 1.5 to 2.5 times the person’s salary

In this interactive seminar, Professor Mitchell Kusy and Ron Cacioppe explore toxic behaviours, and how best to manage them. Focusing on respect, they will provide practical tools that can be implemented in the workplace.

Respect is about real behaviours that make a difference in organisations. The unique feature of this workshop is the three-point system which addresses the countervailing forces reducing respect in the workplace. This workshop will show you how to implement three core strategies:

Individual strategies:

  • 5-step model for giving feedback re: uncivil behaviors
  • Practical examples and skills to show you how to have a difficult conversation with success

Team strategies:

  • How to uncover that false recruiting information that brings toxic people to your organisation
  • Translation of organisation’s values into your performance management system
  • Systemic feedback to toxic protectors & toxic buffers

Organisational strategies:

  • Multi-level design of a zero-tolerance policy
  • Inclusion of respectful engagement in real team norms that make a difference
  • Effective “skip-level” reviews that improve any 360-degree feedback system

Download the brochure

For a downloadable version of the information on this course, please click the icon to the right.

Currently we have no public courses scheduled for this workshop. Please contact us to enquire about organising an in-house session for your team, or for future public dates.

Dr Mitchell Kusy, a Fulbright Scholar in International Organisation Development and Professor at Antioch University, Doctoral Program in Leadership & Change, was head of leadership development for American Express and director of organisation development at HealthPartners. Author of several business books, including “Toxic Workplace! Managing Toxic Personalities and Their Systems of Power”, he consults in strategic planning, organisation development, and the design of organisational communities of respectful engagement.

Ron Cacioppe is the Managing Director of Integral Development and holds a BSc, an MBA and a PhD. He has taught in the Graduate School of Management at Macquarie University, Curtin University and the University of Western Australia.