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This is Maximum Lawyer with your host, Tyson Mutrix. Oh, I'm gonna piss off some employees with this episode. I am also gonna probably make some law firm owners a little upset because they might want to get rid of their quote unquote star employee after this one. Let me know what you think after I talk about this one. But this one, it's a good one. Welcome. First of all, welcome back to Maximum Lawyer Saturday edition. And today I'm going to be talking about one that is. It's going to really rub some of you. I don't know if it's going to rub you the wrong way, but it's going to make you squirm in your seats a little bit. And I'm going to be talking about the way to spot a toxic employee, because these are that rotten core in the apple that's going to make the rest of the apple bad. Or another way of looking at it is that it's that rotten apple in the basket with all the other apples that are beautiful apples, that it starts to rot and then rot the next one and then the next one and the next one. It can really ruin your firm. And that's why you want to make sure you're looking out for them. It's. It's probably not a topic that gets enough attention. And I don't always like these negative episodes, actually. I don't ever really talk like talking about negative stuff, but we have to. These are the things that sometimes we need to talk about. And this is not one that gets a ton of attention, but it's going to, it has an absolute profound impact on your team and on the team's morale, on client satisfaction and, and really, when it comes down to it, your bottom line. And because I'm going to be, I'm going to identify some of these traits that you might. It's going to, it's actually the way a toxic employee works is they mask all of the bad stuff, like some of the things that they say. So I'm going to go over that because you may not even see it right now. You might be totally ignoring it because of how amazing you think some of these, and by the way, think some of these employees are. Some of your assumptions are not based in reality. So just, I'm just warning you. So if you are looking to build a strong, cohesive team that's going to propel your firm forward and make you a lot of money, keep listening. If not, turn it off. And you're going to ignore all of the bad stuff that's going on your firm, go ahead and you can turn off the episode. But if you want to grow, if you want to get better, keep listening. This is going to be an important episode for you, trust me. Let me just start with just, just the, the basic truth. You know, your employees, your team, people, human beings, they are the lifeblood of your firm without exception, okay? And one single toxic employee can make it all bad. It can poison the rest of the firm, and it's, it's going to affect not only your performance, but also the productivity of, of the rest of the team. Okay? And so today what we're going to do is I'm going to go over some signs of toxic employees, give you some of the less obvious red flags, and then talk a little bit about the impact, impact they can have on your firm and then also some strategies for addressing the issue. Okay? That's the important part, too. So not just, not just identifying, but some, a little bit of strategy on how to deal with the issue. So first off, I want to. Let's define what a toxic employee is. It's not always an easy thing to pinpoint, but that's what we're going to do first. So here's what, here's the way I would define a toxic employee. A toxic employee is someone whose negative behavior, it disrupts the workplace, it undermines the team's cohesion and hampers overall productivity. They might be highly skilled or produce good work individually, but their impact on the team and the firm is detrimental, all right? Their actions, they can lead to increased stress, higher turnover rates, and even damage the firm's reputation. So notice in there, they might be good at their job, but overall, the overall impact may be negative. That's an important part of this. So let's dive into this a little bit more. So here's some of the warning signs of a toxic employee. Identifying these employees, it's not always straightforward, all right? Especially when some of these behaviors are subtle or as I mentioned before, they're disguised as positive traits. So here are, here are some of the things to look out for. This is the one. And I want to start with this one because this is the one that's going to get a lot of you. It is the constant reminders of their hard work. All right? And this is one where this, you're going to start to recognize some of these traits. And I bet a few of you, your ears have already perked up. So they, they're frequently reminding you and others about how hard they're working. They're telling Every. I work so hard for you. I do such a good job. I do. I'm always working, that kind of thing. And so while, while acknowledgment of effort is really, really important, the excessive self promotion can be a really big red flag that is often overlooked. This is why you, this is why you might think that the person is a, is a, or one of many reasons why you might think that they're an all star because they're about it all the time. But it's also a really big red flag that you got to work out. And they might be true, they might be telling you the truth. Okay? But it's something that it's, it's going to need to at least draw your attention to it so you could look more into it. And if it's not backed by actual results. And this is where you're going to have to look at the data. Okay? You're going to have to look at the actual results, talk to people without, you know, diming people out. But you need to look at the actual results and see if what they're saying is actually true. Because if it's not, that could be another red flag for you. But often what this is, is it's actually just a tactic to divert your attention away from their shortcomings, all right? And it's, it's a way for them to set the stage for excuses that they're going to give you later on. All right? So watch out for this. That's a, that's a red flag. Another red flag is they're, they hoard work and they, they hide their incomplete tasks. So this is where as you start to peel back the onion, so you're going to, you look at the employee that is telling you how hard they work all the time, right? And then you start to look in a little bit more and you see how they're starting to hoard work. And so they'll, they, they say all the time they tell other employees how they'll do that task or they, they tell you. It's usually what it is. They'll tell you that they're going to do some project that needs to be done or some task that needs to be done. And what they do is they, so they start to hoard the tasks and when they're not getting done, they start to hide them from you. So, you know, they insist on doing all these things and then they resist delegation or any other collaboration. And so what they're doing is they're trying to make you think that they are indispensable. So the appearance is where I'm doing all this work, I'm working all the time. I'm a really hard worker. And so they're indispensable, right? They're that all star employee that you're always talking about. But then they hide or they delay these tasks from you when they're not completed. And this is, this behavior is what can lead to missed deadlines and bottlenecks in the processes which affects the rest of the team's productivity. But because they tell everybody how hard they work, they don't want to say anything. That's the other part of it. All right, so the next thing, resisting assistance from other people and then complaining about reduced workload. So let's say that when you, you go and you try to lighten their, their workload because they say that they're having to work all the time, they're working late hours. And so what you try to do is you try to reassign their tasks and then they complain about it. I had this happen before. We had a bad apple, okay. And a lot of these traits I'm telling you about, we identified unfortunately after the fact. But we were identifying these things. And I've done a lot of research on this and that's why I know about it, because this is why we as a firm, we know a lot about it because we know what to look for now. But I've done a lot of research research on this. This isn't something where I'm just giving you anecdotal examples either. I've lived it. But I've also done a lot of research on this topic. And this is one where you start to. You start to reassign their tasks and then they begin to, to complain and say, well, do you not trust me to do this anymore? So they. It's a really negative reaction. And this is, this is one of those things where it can be a sign that they're more interested in controlling work than in team success. So they're more, they're more interested present to you then how the team's going to do it may also indicate insecurity or lack of confidence. Fear of being exposed because of their underperformance. It could mean a lot of things. Lack of confidence. I will say this isn't one of the ones I'm. I plan to talk about, but one of the one. Another sign to look for is just lack of confidence. That's something it does. The reason why I didn't list it doesn't necessarily Mean that they're a toxic employee. But this could lead to lack of confidence, can lead to a lot of other of these, these things. So just watch out for that too. Another one, and this is actually one of the lower end ones. But constant negativity, now constant negativity is usually stems from things outside the firm. Okay? So the more you know your employees, the more you get to know them. A lot of this stuff can be rectified. They have to do the work, but a lot of it can be rectified. And a negative person, quote, unquote, negative person can become a positive person. Just like a positive person can become a negative person. They've gotta, you gotta figure out what the issues are going on outside the firm. But a negative person can have a really bad effect on the rest of the firm. So you have to watch out for that. If they're always complaining, maybe they're complaining about, you know, it could be anything, could be about life in general. But next thing you know, they start complaining about the workload. They start talking about clients, negative. And that's another thing, is if you start to hear people generally talking negative, negatively about clients, you gotta stop. They gotta nip that in the bud because they have to remember that they are. The clients are why they're getting a paycheck. And they have to do everything they can to take care of the clients. But this complaining can really spread. It's, to me, it's like a germ. Where happiness spreads like a germ, but so does negativity. And you have to, we, you know, sometimes you have to call that out too. You have to say, listen, that spreads other people. And it's, you really gotta, you gotta knock it off. And sometimes once you, once you point out to them, they actually do a pretty good job. I've seen where they, they do. They realize what they're doing because they just don't realize it. Maybe they just came from a negative, negative background. And sometimes if you point it out to them, they can fix it. Not always, but sometimes. All right, gossiping. Ooh. We have a no gossip policy. And I can't stand gossip. I've had people, you know, try to bring gossip to me, and my, my response is usually, have you spoken to such and such. I picked on my aunts Susie and Carolyn. So I'll pick, I'll pick a home. And again in this episode, maybe I'll make a thing of this. They don't listen to this. So I, I, they're not lawyers, I tell you. I doubt they even know what a podcast is. But, you know, let's say that Susie comes to me and starts to tell me something about Carolyn. I'll say, well, Susie, have you spoken to Carolyn about it? And it's a really easy way of addressing the issue. And they'll usually say, no. Another way of doing this is say, okay, well, Susie, let's you and Carolyn, let's get you in a meeting together. Let's have a meeting and having. Working it out together. Because a lot of times what you'll see is that Susie is fudging the truth a little bit and Carolyn has no idea what the hell she's talking about. And so that's another way of, of addressing that. And usually, usually gossipers are not going to last very long in our firm. They probably shouldn't last very long in your. Your firm either. So watch out for those. Because all they're trying to do is they're creating divisions. They're tr. They're trying to create mistrust among team members. They're trying to carry favor with you all. It does, it just erodes the sense of community and collaboration within your firm. And you gotta. Yeah. Get rid of those people. Another big one. This is one that you, a few of you might. You may not realize because of. They're always trying to enforce. Enforce rules with other people. So what they're doing is they. They have to make sure that everyone else is following the rules. But when you really look at it, and this is one where you might overlook it because you're. You think of them as, you know, you know, the person that makes sure everyone's following the rules. But then when you look at it, they're not the ones following the rules. This is another really big one. We had a really bad issue with another employee that I was, I'll be honest with, I was a little blinded by it for a while because they were always talking about how such and such wasn't doing anything. Carolyn's not doing anything. She's. She's not following this rule. She's not following that rule. And in reality, that person. And maybe, maybe Carolyn or maybe, yeah, maybe Carolyn wasn't. I forgot, I almost forgot about which aunt I was using. But I'll use my other aunt Diane and my other one Joe, Aunt Jennifer. So I'll introduce them in this scenario. So maybe I'll pick on Susie. Susie's not really. These are all. I have pleasant, very pleasant aunts, by the way. They're all very nice and so don't ever tell them I'm using them in these scenarios. But Susie, maybe she's saying, you know, Carolyn and Jennifer and Diane, none of them are doing. They're. They're. None of them are following this policy. But when you really look at it, maybe they're not, but. Or maybe they're mostly following it, but they're having issues because Susie's not doing her job and she's not following the policy. So you have to, you have to look out for that. And so that resistance to, to following the rules, but then also insisting on everyone else doing it is. Is a really, a really important one. And then the last one is that I'm really gonna. I think you got to really watch out for, as opposed to owning up to their shortcomings and owning up to. Or taking responsibility for mistakes that they make. They blame others. So everything is someone else's fault. And this person, generally, the toxic employee, will never own up to anything. Right? You. It's almost at the pride out of them that they've made a mistake. So this is that. That's one that you have to watch out for quite a bit because they're always blaming other people. And this is one where you could get sucked into always believing this person and never believing the other people. And yet that's where you have to really. You have to talk about, talk about this one with the other employees. You got to get them in the same room, because the toxic employee, they rarely will. Will take that responsibility for their mistakes. And they're really, really quick to point finger when things don't go the right way. And this is like, maybe it's a situation where they're hoarding that work and they try to blame someone else for it. And that lack of, lack of accountability can really, really bleed the team. It can really breed resentment amongst teammates. You got to watch out for that one. So, you know, obviously there's a lot of. There's a lot of studies on this, which I talked about. When it comes to the effects of a toxic employee, there's a lot of things, because you really have to understand this. The, the potential damage is. Is absolutely critical. Decreased productivity is the obvious one. The lower morale is an obvious one. You know, it really makes for an unpleasant workplace. Lots of dissatisfaction, lots of distractions, lots of drama. You know, it's a lot of drama means it's probably, probably a sign that your, your workplace in general is, is a, is a toxic environment. You know, another effect is increased turnover. Employees aren't going to stick around if they, if they're in this environment with this bad employee, they're just not going to, it's, it's going to harm client relationships. I've had clients that are friends of mine, like, and I'm specifically really talking about two bad eggs that we've had before. But I've had clients that are friends say, hey, listen, like, you need to watch out, like these, this person is not good. One of those things where if you don't have strong relationship with your clients, like, they're not going to tell you. They're just going to leave, they're going to go somewhere else. They're not going to refer anybody because of that employee or those employees. You got to watch out for that. And it's really going to stifle growth of the firm. You're just, you're. You're going to stagnate. So you got to watch out for that. So those are. Some of those. Some of the effects of it. And then. So let's talk. I've talked a little bit, some of the strategies on dealing with these employees and addressing these employees. But let's go into a little bit more detail with these, because once you've identified the toxic employee, you've got to move fast. All right? This is really important. So direct communication. You got to have a really frank but respectful conversation with the employee and any other employees that are involved. Really important. You know, you're going to want to make sure you're providing them very specific. You have to take notes. Okay? So provide specific examples of the problematic behavior. Give any really specific instances. You know, if they've hoarded work, you need to give examples of the exact tasks that were hoarded and their resistance to any help. You gotta, you're gonna have to make sure you're taking notes on these employees, and then you gotta explain to them how these actions, how they affect the team, how they affect the firm. And. Because sometimes people just are unaware of the. The impact that they're having on other people. And this is, by the way, this is if you want to salvage the relationship with this employee, these are, these strategies. If you don't think it's a. I'm of the opinion, by the way, generally, that you can't salvage a lot of these toxic employees and that. So you need to just. They need to be terminated and let go right away. That's. I'm just. So I'm going to kind of cut to the chase with that. But this, these tip. These strategies are for, you know, dealing with an employee. If you, you maybe you can Salvage them. Okay, but. And I've already kind of given you some of the other strategies about getting them in the same room, asking them if they have, you know, addressed this, the issues that they've had with other employees, with that employee. But getting them in the same room is a really big way of figuring out the truth. So that's. That's one of the strategies of figuring out what's actually going on. And I'm not really going to go into any more detail with that now. But the rest of these are really centered around figuring out, you know, if they're. If they are a toxic employee, but also, you know, dealing with them and hopefully, you know, rehabilitating them into the firm, but setting clear expectations. You know, you want to make sure that you're outlining the behaviors that are unacceptable and set very clear, very measurable expectations for improvement. Okay? You know, you've got 30 days. This is what I expect from you. Over these next 30 days, if you can't make the changes I need from you, we're gonna have to have a different conversation. Okay? So you got to document that conversation. You got to put anything that you all agreed upon upon, everything that's agreed upon, into an action plan and make it. And make it clear that, you know, they're, you know, listen, I appreciate your hard work. I value your hard work, but it's gotta. It's gotta contribute positively to the team's objectives. And if you're hurting the team overall, your hard work doesn't matter. Okay? That's just. It's just the. It's the reality of it. Okay? But you have to set those very clear expectations also. And sometimes it's just sometimes it could be that they're not a toxic employee, but you need to provide them with the support that they need. Maybe it's the resources that they need. So offer them any training, so any mentorship, any counseling, if that's appropriate. The goal is, if you want to keep them, is to. Is to help them improve. Right? It's not just. It's not about reprimanding them. It's about making sure that they improve so that the team can improve. And because it might just be that they need assistance with time management or delegation skills. It could be that simple. Not always, but it could be that you're going to monitor their progress, but you're also, before that, you're going to get all the data that you. That you need to determine if what they're telling you is true or not, because you're going to want to see, you know, what are, what are their tasks? Are they putting up tasks, are they reassigning tasks, are they rescheduling tasks? All of those things. You want to compare them to other employees about what they're. The number of tasks they're getting done, the work that they're getting done versus what they say they're getting done. All of that. You want to keep all that. Then you're going to monitor the progress of this employee after you've met with them. You're going to keep an eye on their behavior over that set period. So 30 days. I wouldn't give it much longer than that because they can do a lot of damage in 30 days. So why I usually I defer to let's, you know, termination, but maybe you can salvage the relationship. So you're gonna do these regular check ins with them. So could be on a daily basis. No let, no, no more than every week. It should be. You know, you might have to do that, you know, once a day thing to check in with them, make sure that they're making those changes and acknowledge. So give that positive reinforcement. Acknowledge improvements to encourage that continued positive behavior. And the last one is you gotta, you gotta enforce the consequences. If you set a plan, they don't follow through with it. Yeah, get rid of them. You really, you really have to. And then let's. The last thing I want to go over really quick is just some of the things that can help you prevent toxicity in the, in the workforce. So rigorous hiring process, right? You got to make sure you have that. If you're just one of those people that throws up a job ad and interviews and hires the first person you like, it's not a, it's not a hiring process. So you got to have a way of vetting employees. You're going to have to really foster a positive work culture. Okay? So you gotta, you gotta promote teamwork. You gotta be a part of the team. You can't be the toxic employee. Okay. You gotta set a really good example. You gotta have that open communication. It's really important. You have a, you have to have a policy where they can, they can come to someone with any issues that they're having. All right? And it's one of the things where like people have to feel comfortable talking to each other. We, we are very open affirm about how, you know, if you have a problem with something I'm doing, tell me, okay? You're not gonna hurt my feelings. And people do that sometimes, right? We. You want to have an environment where people feel comfortable talking to each other and having disagreements with each other and differences about things. That's a normal thing in society. It's a normal thing. It should be a normal thing in your firm. People shouldn't want to go hide in a corner and not talk about things. So make sure you have that policy where people. People can come to someone and talk to you about it. And then also have that regular team building. Have those. Those meetings, quarterly meetings, every. Your yearly beating, have your huddles. All that. That's. That's a really important part of this. But. All right, so I'm gonna wrap things up. Just don't underestimate the impact of a toxic employee. It can really destroy your firm, and I don't want to see that happen. They can. They can stagnate growth just about as quick as anything else. So hopefully some of these signs, red flags, will help you identify some of those employees that need to go. But as a reminder, shoot me a text. I'd love to hear from you. 314-501-9260. Remember, save the number. Shoot me a text. Questions, comments, anything you have. 314-501-9260. I love hearing from you all every week now. Next week, though. Remember that consistent action is the blueprint that turns your goals into reality. Take care, everybody. Go attack. See you.