 Hi there, Psych2Go fans. We believe and hope that through our videos and articles, we will help further understanding of the psychology of why people do what they do, and hopefully encourage healthier, more effective responses and solutions. We'd love for you to help us. Simply like, comment, and share. Now, on to the main topic. Leadership? What do you mean by leader? What does this have to do with me? Well, do you know or have you experienced anyone you feel might be toxic? Is that person in a position of authority or power, like the lead in a group project? The captain or head of your sports team? A supervisor or team leader at work? Effective leadership is the key to better outcomes all around, as it plays an integral role in many factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, intermember relationships, morale, cohesiveness, and trust. Effective leadership has great positive benefits for everyone involved. The opposite, unfortunately, has an equally negative effect. If a leader is not only ineffective but also toxic, then everyone in the group suffers, as does the organization as a whole. Toxic leadership creates a culture of distrust, conflict, anxiety, and fear. If you've never encountered a toxic leader, then it will be easy to understand why it's so crucial that you try to protect yourself and your group from them. To give yourself a better chance at preventing something is to recognize it's happening. So here are seven common characteristics of a toxic leader. 1. They don't or won't listen. Good communication and good interpersonal skills are part of what makes a great leader. So if your group is headed by someone who is dismissive to input from the team or even ridicules it, this is the first sign of trouble. Leaders like this often believe they're always right. They're quick to dismiss the ideas of others and disagree with them before considering what is presented or asking others what they think. This kind of behavior prevents the group from sharing and collaborating. Thus, stunting the options available. Members have no choice but to simply do as they're told, since nothing else is available except for the leader's sole input. This results in feelings of powerlessness, decreased motivation, and maybe even feeling trapped. As you can likely imagine, this does not add to the morale or effectiveness of the group. 2. They're never wrong. Criticism is not welcome. A leader who has marked reluctance accepting feedback or even reacts negatively to feedback provided by their members is usually closed-minded and overconfident. The response from this behavioral trait often manifests as constant excuses or shifting the blame to others. For instance, a leader who is getting complaints from the group might say something like, well, I obviously couldn't work with this poor equipment, or how do you expect me to make meetings? I have a life too. Someone else should have taken up the slack. Or even something as simple as, well, I just don't get why it would take you guys that long to do the project outline. They may even outright lie to shift the blame. They don't like to be challenged, so they prefer to surround themselves with yes men who never question them. This behavior further restricts a group or organization's ability to grow, with the group often repeating mistakes and poor choices. Since learning and change is denied, there's no chance of improvement. 3. It's all about them and only them. Studies show that among the most crucial factors of unsuccessful leadership and group performance is having a narcissistic leader. When a leader is too self-absorbed, not caring about anyone but themselves, those around them may feel used, like their only purpose is to stroke their leader's ego. Narcissistic leaders constantly brag about themselves, show limited concern for others, and see others as nothing but pawns to help them achieve their own goals. With this kind of treatment, it's easy to see how motivation to complete a goal or work towards a better outcome drops. If given a choice, would you stay in a group where you're just an unimportant, generic pawn and slave to the leader? Or would you leave and find a healthier group? 4. They need to control everything. Another type of toxic leader is the micromanager. You'll know the micromanager. They're that person who has a neurotic need to always be in control. A leader with this trait will quickly interfere even when it's unneeded or unwanted. They will also take over tasks and projects from others because they don't trust them to be capable of doing anything themselves. They want to do everything on their own, with only their decisions involved. This leaves others feeling exasperated and possibly insulted or betrayed by their leader's lack of faith in those around them. How would you feel if any and all activities you tried to accomplish were constantly overridden and taken away from you? Feeling useless or untrustworthy is an unfortunately effective way to break down a group. 5. TMI. They're too emotional. We're not saying be cold. After all, warmth, empathy and compassion are all valuable traits and help with interpersonal relationships, which of course is integral in leadership too, at the same time. A leader's role is to make rational decisions that can benefit the entire group. So if you have someone in charge that is ruled by their heart and frequently makes poor choices due to emotional impulses, this can negatively impact everyone involved. Leaders like this tend to make rash, unpredictable decisions based on emotion and mood, rather than logic and rationale. They tend to behave in ways that aren't always in line with their words or goals of the team. This puts themselves and those around them at the mercy of their emotions, resulting in disorganization and some level of chaos. This makes positive cohesion of the team very difficult or impossible. 6. They abuse their power. The previous points have shown various traits that can happen when the wrong person is put in charge or put in power. One of the worst things, though, is when the power goes to their head. Leaders like this will often intimidate those below them and seek to exert their dominance over others. It can seem like they're imitating a despotic ruler. They feel threatened and react very poorly whenever you question or challenge them. Even the smallest comment can be found offensive because they demand compliance for their members, not acceptance, and they certainly don't see members as their equals. 7. Impersonating a doormat. They do nothing. Lastly, the behavior response of passivity or indifference, although not normally associated with the word toxic, is indeed a characteristic of a toxic leader. These people are happy to delegate tasks, pass the buck and order people around, but don't actually contribute anything themselves. The members do all the work for them and they, the leader, take an approach to leadership that's too relaxed, called les effets leadership. These so-called leaders don't care much for the group's goals or tasks at hand. They also don't support or mentor their members in any way. In effect, they put in no effort and no work, meaning they will also likely not step up to help solve any issues that may arise. The members cannot trust this type of leader. As a result, the goal itself may seem less worthy. This could well lead to abandonment of the team or of the goal. Toxic leadership can be a serious cause of concern for any group, as it often spreads like a poison to satisfaction and resentment among its ranks. Leaders are responsible not only for themselves, but also those around them, so they need to be held to a higher standard. Toxic leadership in any form should not be tolerated, as it will cause you and your group a great deal of stress, anxiety and emotional exhaustion. This in turn, if prolonged or constant, can lead to far more serious mental health consequences for yourself and an overall negative effect on the group or organization as a whole. Have you seen these traits in anyone in the present or in the past? Do these points help you identify or explain some behaviors you have observed in others or even yourself? If you've encountered this type of behavior from a person in a leadership position, what kind of recourse did you take? Please feel free to comment and discuss. Please, like, subscribe and comment below telling us what you would like to see next. Don't forget to share this video with someone who might benefit from it. And as always, thank you for watching.