Reflective essay on My toxic experience with toxic leadership

Reflective essay on My toxic experience with toxic leadership

My toxic experience with toxic leadership is with Mr Ricardo, my previous manager. Ricardo was not the most comfortable person to deal with. Mr. Ricardo had angry outbursts, manipulative, and unethical. He used to criticize everything that his subordinates did. Although he had won many accolades and rewards due to his excellent technical skills, his unpredictable behavior and culture of fear were disgusting. He was very authoritative and used to compel people to adhere to his instructions. He was a dictator in a way such that his commands had to be adhered to by whatever means. He did not listen to any opinion other than his own to be heard. He demanded others to follow his direction without questioning.

He was so egocentric that he could not listen to the views of his subordinates. He had a domineering character, always disrespecting his juniors. His juniors often felt humiliated due to his random commands, threats, coercion, and foul language towards them. He used to abuse power by bullying and exploiting the juniors. Being one of his subordinates, I felt the heat during my stay at that organization. Belittling his juniors coupled with arrogance was the order of the day. If Mr. Ricardo was to make a mistake, he could not accept his mistake. No one dared correct him, especially his subordinates.

Additionally, Mr. Ricard did not have empathy at all. He did not understand the feeling of his team members and customers. He did not know when to praise or when to discuss problems. He had little knowledge of problem-solving. When one made a mistake, everyone in the office would know. Mr. Ricardo had unnecessary outbursts and scolded every employee whenever they made a mistake.

Mr. Ricardo also lacked charisma in his leadership. He could not positively influence his people. The leader could not inspire or influence his followers. He could not lead other employees and team members in a particular direction. He could not motivate employees to perform; rather he used authority to demand high performance.

Mr. Ricardo also had a self-centred attitude and behaviors that had adverse effects on the subordinates. He lacked concern for others, always operating with an inflated sense of self-worth and acute self-interest. This toxic leader was self-serving and used to bash the employees. He had an apparent lack of concern for the well-being of the juniors. He was arrogant and very boastful. Again, Mr. Ricardo was also very irritable. This toxic leader did not want to be bothered for anything. He was not open to the ideas of others, and he despised being asked questions.

Mr. Ricardo was also discriminatory. He had biases and prejudices, especially to the female gender and the black people. He always perceived blacks as incompetent and lazy. He promoted sexism, racism and ageism in his leadership. He was very disrespectful to the female and black employees still forging mistakes for them to be fired.

Ricardo’s toxic leadership created an environment of fear, resentment, distress, anger, and betrayal. According to Reed (2004).  Misuse of power trickles down to the employee’s psyches, which causes tremendous rage and distress and eventually leading to mental illness like depression and trauma. Mr. Ricardo’s character made the workplace like hell with the employees lacking morale and enthusiasm. The employees could make mistakes deliberately as a way of retaliating to the commanding nature of Mr. Ricardo.

There was employee dissatisfaction when Mr. Ricardo was in office. Employees used to quit the job after a short period of employment. Most of the employees could not condone his behavior. He was such a hard person to work with because of his vilifying nature, especially to his juniors.

There was low productivity in the organization because of this toxic leader. Due to the leadership of such a toxic leader, the organization became stunted because of a lack of innovation and free-flowing of ideas. Most workers did not like the idea of being monitored every time or coerced to do their duties. They, therefore, wanted to sabotage the efforts of Mr. Ricardo of controlling them.

Toxic leadership led to workplace bullying. It led to psychological and emotional torture of the employees. There was employee physical and emotional disengagement and withdrawal, such as absenteeism and lack of contribution. Toxic leadership also led to poor-wellbeing of the employees. There was low team morale and work satisfaction. There was no passion and enthusiasm of the employees in their jobs. Most of them stayed in the organization because they had nothing else to do or did not have an alternative place to go. There were negative emotional moods of despair, grief, frustration, aggression, and pessimism.

References

Lipschutz, R. D. (2001). Cold War fantasies: film, fiction, and foreign policy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Reed, G. E. (2004). Toxic leadership. Military Review, 84(4), 67-71.