People Don’t Leave Jobs, They Leave Toxic Leaders and Work Environments: 5 Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore (How to Recognize and Fix Toxic Leadership)

Is Your Leadership Driving People Away?

 Are you struggling to retain team members or middle managers? Do exit interviews suggest people leave for “personal reasons,” while informal conversations hint at deeper issues like poor leadership or a toxic culture?

If that sounds familiar, it’s time to pause and look inward. Toxic leaders, toxic leadership, and the work environment are often the real reason talented people walk away.

The good news? Recognition is the first step toward transformation.

Leadership Shapes Culture: For Better or Worse

The relationship between leadership and workplace culture is undeniable. Leaders define expectations, model behavior, and reinforce what’s valued. When they communicate with fairness, support autonomy, and nurture trust, they cultivate healthy, high-performing environments. But when they enable toxic behaviors through abuse of power, silence, favoritism, micromanagement, or control, they actively erode morale and psychological safety.

Toxic Leadership Creates Toxic Work Environments

Toxic Leadership Creates Toxic Work Environments

The United States Army defines toxic leadership as a combination of self-centered attitudes, motivations, and behaviors that negatively affect the team, the organization, and overall performance. Their priorities are misplaced, as these leaders prioritize promoting themselves at the expense of others.

Here are five warning signs you shouldn’t ignore:

1. Abuse of Power in the Workplace

Abuse of power isn’t always loud. It can be subtle: overriding decisions without team input, hoarding information, or expecting special treatment solely because of one's position.

Real Story: Earlier in my career, the leader at the time asked me to write an abstract and submit it to a local symposium being held at the organization. After writing the abstract, I listed the names of all individuals who actively contributed to the project and submitted the abstract. A week later, my leader asked to see my submission, where she noticed that her name was listed last among the participants. I explained that the list of authors was in alphabetical order, and her response was, “The only name that matters is mine.”

Abuse of power not only discredits the team but also creates a culture where fear and self-preservation override collaboration.

Benefits of Eliminating Abuse of Power:

·      Restores trust

·      Creates a culture of psychological safety

·      Opens space for shared leadership

·      Improves team performance

·      Reduce turnover

2. Favoritism and One-Sided Listening

Toxic leaders often trust only a few “insiders” who act as their eyes and ears. This leads to biased decision-making and discipline based on incomplete or slanted information.

Real Story: About 6 years ago, I worked with a nurse named Annie. Annie was in the middle of an important task that, if distracted, could cause harm to the patient she was attending to. Sophie, who was the team lead, immediately ran to the manager and reported Annie for failing to answer the phone, stating “she was avoiding phone calls.” The manager took this information and reprimanded Annie for not answering the phone.

One-sided listening erodes team trust and breeds resentment.

Benefits of Eliminating Favoritism and One-Sided Listening:

·      Builds trust across the entire team

·      Encourages diverse perspectives

·      Strengthens fairness

·      Reduces gossip and division

·      Increases leader credibility

3. Promoting a “Thick Skin” Culture

Dismissive attitudes, such as “just toughen up” or “this generation is too sensitive,” invalidate genuine workplace concerns. Bullying, incivility, and exclusion should never be normalized.

Real Story:  A few years ago, a new nurse, Susie, faced passive-aggressive behavior and harmful gossip at work. When she finally had the courage to speak up about the day-to-day events, her leadership told her to “grow a thick skin.”

Leadership tolerance of bullying sends the message that psychological safety doesn’t matter, and that toxic behavior will be excused.

Benefits of Eliminating Incivility & Bullying:

·      Boosts employee well-being

·      Improves team collaboration

·      Helps retain top talent

4. Micromanagement and Control

Micromanagers deny their teams the trust and autonomy they need to grow. When senior leaders constantly override middle managers, hold interrogation-style 1:1s, or show up uninvited in frontline work, it disempowers everyone.

Real story: I remember working with Nancy about 10 years ago. Nancy worked as a middle manager supervising 50 employees. Her director attended all the staff meetings and posted on social media, targeting the front-line team. Nancy was frustrated. She felt she lacked the space and trust to lead her own team or make decisions on behalf of her team. After a year in the middle manager role, she began to look for another position.

Micromanagement isn’t about accountability, it’s about control. And it stifles innovation and ownership.

Benefits of Letting Go of Micromanagement Behaviors:

·      Empowers growth, autonomy, and ownership

·      Frees up time for the leader to strategically think

·      Strengthens team morale

5. Stealing Credit for Others’ Work

Taking credit is a classic hallmark of toxic leadership. These leaders often:

• Present team ideas as their own

• Accept praise without acknowledging contributors

• Block others from gaining recognition or visibility

  
  

Real Impact: It sends a message: “You do the work, I get the spotlight.

Intellectual theft or stealing credit for other's work results in disengagement, distrust, and ultimately, the loss of high-performing team members.

Benefits of Giving Credit Where It’s Due:

·      Team will feel valued and respected

·      Encourages innovation and initiative in your team

·      Build loyalty

·      Reinforces trust

What Healthy Leadership Looks Like

The path forward begins with humility and intention. Here are practical ways to shift from toxic to transformational leadership:

• Acknowledge past behaviors and own your mistakes without defensiveness

• Seek feedback regularly from peers, reports, and trusted coaches

• Listen to understand, not to respond or gather ammunition

• Stop favoritism. Invite diverse perspectives and validate all voices

• Enforce a zero-tolerance policy and address incivility and bullying.

• Lead with emotional intelligence and model fairness, vulnerability, and respect

• Give credit generously and publicly to contributors

Take Accountability for the Culture You Enable

Whether you realize it or not, as a leader, you’re always influencing the environment around you. Culture is not just shaped by what you say or do, but it’s also shaped by what you permit.

“The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.”  Gruenter & Whitaker

Call to Action: Ready to Lead Differently?

If you’ve recognized signs of toxic leadership in yourself, your team, or your workplace culture, you’re not alone. Awareness is the first step, and the willingness to change is a powerful sign of real leadership.

At MP Insight Solutions LLC, we offer confidential Leadership Coaching and Culture Assessments designed for professionals who want to:

• Break patterns of micromanagement, favoritism, and control

• Foster trust, psychological safety, and team engagement

• Create a culture where ideas flourish and people feel valued

• Rebuild credibility and lead with intention

✨ Whether you’re a new manager or a seasoned executive, it’s never too late to lead with purpose and integrity.

Let’s take your leadership to the next level together.