Confronting a Toxic Employee or Boss

Welcome to Shitting the Corporate Bitch podcast. I'm your host, Bernadette Boas of Ball of Fire Coaching. And today we're diving into a, one of the most complex and challenging issues faced in the workplace, dealing with toxic behavior from a boss or an employee. It's a topic that can feel really uncomfortable, but it's one that impacts the wellbeing, productivity, and culture of every organization. And I wanna discuss with you how to go about confronting those individuals, not only for your own sanity and the protection of the business, but also to ensure the boss or employee who would have massive potential for the company has an opportunity and a clear picture to understand the experience they're creating for the people, processes, and profits of the business they're working for. Now, on our last solo episode called Toxic Bosses Kill Teams and Businesses, we discuss the challenges and the impact of toxicity in the workplace. So this episode, we're really gonna focus on how to deal with it, how to confront it. So check out that episode on sheddingthecorporatebitch.com or anywhere you get your podcasts, as well as on YouTube. But let's be honest, confronting a toxic person, especially one in a position of authority, is not easy, and therefore it's often avoided. But how can you manage your emotions and boundaries and ensure that you protect your career along the way as you're trying to address something that can really destroy the culture of your team and business? Then you wanna think about how can you begin to call out a toxic boss or individual without fearing backlash. So I wanna share with you some tips, strategies, and next steps you could be taking to really successfully and effectively deal with an issue of toxicity. So stay with us.

Welcome to Shedding the Corporate Bitch, the podcast that transforms today's managers into tomorrow's powerhouse leaders. Your host, Bernadette Boas, executive coach and author, brings you into a world where the corporate grind meets personal growth and success in each and every episode. With more than 25 years in corporate trenches, Bernadette Boas' own journey from being dismissed as a tyrant boss to becoming a sought-after leadership coach and speaker illustrates the very essence of transformation that she now inspires in others with her tips, strategies, and stories. So, if you're ready to shed the bitches of fear and insecurity, ditch the imposter syndrome, and step into the role of the powerhouse leader you were born to be, this podcast is for you. Let's do this.

Confronting difficult people. Now, I have a lot of experience in this realm, not only as an executive coach and trainer for the last 16 years, but also in my corporate years of being what people would consider toxic. And the one thing that I walked away with in 2008, the only thing that I walked away with when it came to dealing with why I was being let go. Was the anger that stewed within me that I wasn't confronted as a, a toxic leader. And I wasn't given the chance not only to learn about myself, but also to then, now that I had a better understanding of who I really was and the impact that I was creating for the people around me, the opportunity to actually make changes, to make shifts. To transform how I was going about engaging, connecting, communicating with, and leading, uh, not only the people that worked for me, but also just the population of employees as a whole. And I don't want you to be dealing with that. I don't want you to be avoiding, deflecting, ignoring, whether that's because it is a boss or whether that's because it is someone who is a massive producer, a revenue generator. Someone who gets the job done, someone who's even dependable, always delivering what they say that they're gonna deliver. Yet there's this underlying ugliness that they're bringing into everything that they do and every way that they're engaging with the people around them. And so you as a leader really have to ensure that you separate the fact that they're a massive producer, maybe even a revenue generator, from the toxicity, from the bullying, from the mean boss or mean employee that's creating havoc amongst the team, amongst the culture, and within the business. No matter how productive, how profitable they are for you, you have to separate the two. And ensure that the, the bullying, the toxicity is addressed or taken care of in some way, shape, or form, including being eliminated. But we want to address this long before there's that potential out there, because again, these individuals could be very high potential, very skilled, very valuable to the business long-term. They can make changes should they be given the opportunity, should they be made aware, and should they actually care. Now, the last one, if they don't care, then there's other decisions that you need to be making. But let's assume that these individuals just need someone to confront them. So why didn't folks confront me? And maybe you can think about this as why aren't you potentially not confronting an individual who could be creating issues for the morale, the productivity, the health of team members and the team as a whole? Well, it could be being apprehensive about getting an aggressive response back. That individual gets very defensive, very confrontational, and that's not something that you're comfortable with. That's not something that you're upskilled at being able to respond to. Maybe there's a concern that there'll be some retaliation in some way, shape, or form. Now, this definitely applies when an employee has a toxic boss, but I've also seen it over the last 16, 17 years that the retaliation could also come from a peer-to-peer. So there is this fear of retaliation as well. In confronting an individual. Then, of course, there's being uncomfortable with conflict. We're not trained, we're not educated in, you know, handling the bully on the playground, let alone in the workplace. Now, not being skilled in conflict is simply a symptom of which then can be taken care of. You just need to get skilled. All right. There is a fear of legal repercussion. Say all of a sudden, whether it's the individual has this fear, or maybe it got escalated to HR and even HR has an apprehension to pushing on the issue because of fear of legal repercussion. There could be, and many managers come to me in regards to this, there could be the fact that they are just not educated. They're not up to date on the policies and procedures in how to handle difficult employees, or there's just a complete lack of policy and procedure, lack of process for handling it. So they don't, they don't know what the next steps are. And they're also not sure as to how to necessarily approach HR especially if it's someone of influence, someone of power, someone of authority, um, that they don't know how this individual, uh, is perceived within the upper ranks and they don't wanna stomp on and create an issue for themselves as far as what this individual's, um, reputation is with the leaders of the organization or within HR. So they're, you know, concerned not only about the policy or lack thereof of the policy, the process, the procedures and the guidelines, but also whether or not this is going to be— create more of an issue than what they're dealing with personally. And of course, then there is that fear of losing that skilled individual. And yet at the same time, That's what's missing at the forefront is the evaluation that this is a very skilled, expert, experienced, high-contributing individual with these issues. And therefore, let's get the issues addressed so we don't lose them. But there is that reason for not because they don't wanna lose them. But please. Consider and put your, the sh— your feet in the shoes of the individual, especially if they have ambitions and goals, which we'll talk about in a minute. Had someone come to me and someone shared with me the experience I was giving to other individuals, there was a part of me that might not have cared. There's individuals like that. There's another part of me that loved my career, loved the power, position, and prosperity that came with it. And therefore, you know, did, did I wanna lose it? And so we're gonna discuss about how for you to also kind of really get under the aspirations, the goals, the agenda of those toxic individuals to see what's driving the behavior, but also what can stop it in its tracks. All right. So why should you kind of give pause and give them an opportunity to become self-aware and to have the opportunity to get the training and get the support needed in order for them to change? Well, first off, it will give them self-awareness. There's a great many individuals walking this earth. I would say the majority who aren't very self-aware of who they are. They aren't self-aware of the experience they're creating for other people. They aren't self-aware of the perception others have of them. And so you actually being willing to confront these individuals will give you an opportunity to give them that self-awareness. And therefore they understand themselves better and you understand them better. Asking a lot of questions about why and what, where, and how regarding their behavior, regarding their performance, regarding their communication. And that gives you an opportunity to also understand them that much better. And, and where are these behaviors coming from? But again, like I mentioned, you are also giving them that opportunity to change. Now, you cannot control them. You cannot. You know, you cannot be a magical wand to get them to change. They have to do that for themselves. And hopefully they choose to, but if they don't, again, that just gives you another decision point in regards to what you need to do next. Now, another reason why you would want to bring this to their attention is you want to save that high-skilled, high-potential, expert, seasoned individual. No matter what level of the organization that they're in, many individuals just coming in to an organization, they're not very experienced. They may not even be expert. However, their potential is tremendous. And maybe they lack business acumen. Maybe they lack koots. Maybe they lack emotional intelligence. And yet you can give them that opportunity. To become aware of that, understand their gaps, and give them the support and the training and the coaching that's needed. But say that they're a very seasoned, very high-level individual. Again, you don't want to automatically say, make a decision and say, they're out of here. You want to give them the opportunity to become aware, to make decisions for themselves or, or identify solutions for themselves as to how You know, they're going to change their ways and then it's up to them to do so. Now, lastly, a reason why you want to work your way into confronting and providing this individual the opportunity to see themselves clearly and to get the support they need. It's your job. It's your job. It's your job as a leader. To not only deal with an employee behavioral issue, but also to give them that support, that motivation, that inspiration, that mirror so that they can look in— into it and see themselves clearly. And then as a result, get them the feedback, the assessment, the support, the training, and the coaching that's needed. It's your job. So be sure to recognize your role and your responsibility and get this, get the training, get the support that you need in order to then confront the individuals. Now let's get in the head of a toxic individual. This is where you need to start. You may even start doing this prior to sitting down and confronting them. Just think for yourself, take some intentional time. To be very attentive to why would an individual at any level of an organization treat people poorly, be mean, curt, abrasive, aggressive, demanding, controlling, micromanaging, you know, really learn and teach yourself to not only— last week we talked about identifying the traits and the skills of a toxic individual. But really kind of understanding the motivations and understanding the background, the backstory of a person as to why they're lashing out and behaving that way, the way that they are. Uh, then you can use this information that's preemptive, so to speak, to then ask the proper questions when you do sit down with them so you can actually get their specific experience and backstory, as opposed to just a generalization of, you know, why are individuals toxic or a bully in any way, shape, or form? So let's walk through these. I often will share with individuals when they're dealing with a difficult person at home or at work that bullying and toxic behavior and hate is all about fear. It's all about fear. It's all about insecurities and low self-esteem. They're insecure about something. They have low self-esteem. They, they feel very little about themselves. They don't have a high, you know, self-worth or self-value, and they're just extremely insecure, and therefore they mask it And the way they project it is to protect themselves from them revealing that insecurity or low self-esteem, especially as they elevate in their role. That's where the imposter syndrome will start seeping out. Now, every one of us can experience, and we do experience insecurities, low self-esteem at certain points in our lives. However, you, if you take it to the extreme of projecting it in a very negative, very bullying way, that's a whole different level of insecurity that needs to get addressed. Individuals that also will lash out is due to their fear, fear of failure. Some might even do it because of a fear of success. Yes, some people are actually afraid of succeeding because we're so accustomed to saying, okay, we have a fear of failure. Oh my gosh, what's going to happen if I fail? What are people going to say about me? So forth and so on. But at the same time, there are individuals that also have this fear of success of what is it going to do to me? How is it going to change my life? What is it going to require, you know, of me if I do succeed? And that's scary for individuals as well. It's a matter of, okay, so you identify that, you make yourself aware of it, and you figure out what's provoking it. And you also look for the evidence that there's no reason for it. And that's the kind of support, the kind of coaching that you really want to provide an individual so they can get deep into where these things are coming from, because they're coming from somewhere. Understand that about an individual. You know, someone lashing out, they're lashing out at something, not at you, although you might be the victim of it. But there's a reason for that lashing. There's something that has happened that is causing them to do that. Now, now, are you supposed to be a psychotherapist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist? No. What you are supposed to be doing is just at least caring enough to ask questions to understand what could be creating the behavior that others are experiencing. And then if you need to make recommendations and point them in a direction of an expert, even if it's an executive coach who really deals with emotional intelligence, self-awareness, so forth and so on, well, that's fine. But yes, you do need to at least try to uncover and make them aware that there's something creating this behavior that you want to help them get addressed. So insecurity, low self-esteem, fear of failure or success, and then it's a power control issue. And then of course it is learned. It could be that, you know, their environments at home, at school, in college, in previous work environments with other bosses. It could be that they've learned this and they're just projecting what they've learned. It's almost like, you know, they found a role model in someone and therefore, you know, they're simply projecting and copying someone else's behavior. And then of course there's more environmental, more kind of current now type of issues. Someone might be stressed and burned out. Someone might have difficulty, you know, managing their emotions. And effectively communicating when they are emotional. Yet at the same time, those things could be short-term, short-lived moments or events or projects. Now, I'm not excusing anyone then projecting it in a nasty way. I'm just saying that's what, you know, those are things you want to be looking for and paying attention to and diagnosing as you evaluate what comes next with this individual. Because if it is short-term, if it is incidental, you don't want to wrap it up in a much bigger type of situation, type of issue, type of performance improvement plan, so to speak. You want to address it as it's occurring in that instance. Because if typically they're not that way, you know, I've never seen them lash out. I've never seen them get emotional or speak down to someone, you know, and I know this project is really involved and I know that the hours that they're keeping, so forth and so on, you know, you wanna be sure that you're also looking at whether or not this is a short-term pop-up or if it's an ongoing normalized behavior for an individual. Uh, other reasons why individuals will lash out in very poor bullying behavior is just they feel threatened, they feel intimidated, they feel jealous. Uh, I suffered with these things at a time as well, uh, where I was so ambitious, I was so determined to have that power position and prosperity. That anybody that got in my way was a threat. Anybody that, you know, had what I wanted, I was jealous of, I felt threatened by, I was intimidated by. Now, people would say to me that they would never see me as someone who was intimidated by other people. I, you know, I wore such an iron shield around me that I would never convey or never show that I was intimidated, but inside I was just a bunch of nerves and mush. And so the way I projected that was in a very controlling, um, micromanaging, power hungry, abrasive, direct, Curt type of way. So it, you know, it's individuals that feel threatened. People might have some personal issues they're dealing with. And again, you wanna look at short-term, long-term. Are they short-term to where it's heavy for them at the moment and they need support and they need, you know, some relief and some other alternatives so they can deal with it. So it's not something that becomes an ongoing issue, but personal issues, lack of accountability. You know, if you look at, you know, a child, for instance, that was raised with someone never saying no to them. Letting them do anything that they wanted, not creating boundaries for them. Well, they can grow up to be pretty much bully students, bully peers, bully bosses, um, because they don't have those constraints. They don't have the boundaries. They don't have the accountability. Now you can get more serious as to why someone is the way they are, and that could be the fact that they have some personality disorder. I'm not going to get anywhere near that because that's not my area of expertise. At the same time, you want to at least be building a pattern of someone to first potentially, you know, make the recommendations of finding support and finding help, but also that it could go beyond environmental or beyond behavioral that can be changed. With some tools and resources that they're giving. You know, if it is personality disorders, you certainly want to ensure that those are, you know, handed over to an expert. So those are just some reasons, some motivations as to why someone could be a bully boss, but you want to pay attention and start trying to diagnose and understand those individuals and their motivations and their behaviors so then you can navigate as you go to a plan to approach them. Because again, it's your job to make sure that this individual doesn't continue wreaking havoc on everyone around them. Let's talk through some steps that you can take to confront an individual, whether that is your peer, maybe an employee, but also your boss. So steps to take, and these are all very important. Don't assume that, oh, you don't need to do 1 and 2, you can just go and dive into it. This is also not the time to react. This is the time to plan. This is a time to pause. This is the time to breathe. That said, in a timely manner. All right. So I'll sum it up like that. But the first thing that you want to do is you do want to pick the right time and place. Say you're sitting in a meeting and someone, maybe your boss, just rips, rips into you for some reason, berates you, demeans you. Dismisses you or diminishes you in front of a group of people in a room. That is definitely not the time to do anything about it. All right? Say some— a peer that you work with is constantly bullying, is constantly just coming down on you on a regular basis. And You know, the last instant instance was just between the two of you, but then they were heated and you were emotionally heated. That's not a good time to do it because you're just going to be reacting. Even when you do identify a time, a day later, a couple of days later, not weeks later, when you do, you also want to assess that exact day and time when it happens, when it comes about. Is that day and time high pressure? Is it— there a deadline on that day? Did they just walk out with maybe with you from a really bad meeting and now they're all worked up? So you also, even though you're gonna schedule the right time and place, you also want to assess as you approach that time and place to see whether or not it's gonna work, whether or not everybody's in a good headspace. Not perfect headspace, because remember you're dealing with a toxic person, but a, but a decent headspace to where you can have an effective conversation. Now, when it comes to the place though, you definitely want to do it outside in a neutral space. Now, outside the office, not necessarily, but outside, for instance, your boss's office, outside a team works, workspace. And they could be outside where you take a walk, outside where you go to a public place, outside to where you go out to the parking lot, whatever the case might be. And number 2 would be ensure the immediacy is there because you certainly don't want to get, get down the road. Even like a week later is not appropriate. People will say to me, well, it's happened a couple weeks ago. I mean, we can still work to, to deal with it, but at the same time, The longer it goes, you're basically saying silence is acceptance and it, it's okay that they behave that way, whether it's to you or you observe something between individuals. As you prepare, even let alone as you sit down and have a conversation, you wanna use, I'll call 'em I statements, but you want to use observations, feedback, concerns. You know, insights, you want to share with them that I am concerned. I observed, I recognized that in this situation, you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So you want to make sure that you're not coming on in a, in a defensive attack complaining way, because you want them engaged. You want to make sure they're leaning in and not sitting, you know, leaning back. Uh, and disconnecting. So do whatever you need to do to get them off the defensive. And a key way of doing that is to structure the conversation in a way that is asking a lot of questions and giving them observations and feedback. Okay. And make sure that the observations and feedback, any talking points that you have in regards to this conversation. Are documented early on. You don't want to go into a conversation and not have any facts or any specifics, and you can't recall exactly what was said or what was done or who was there, because if so, then all the air just got sucked out of the room and that individual is not going to hear you and not going to care because you can't give them the experience. You can't get them to a place to where they feel and they live in that situation that they created because you don't have any of the specifics well thought out, well documented, well detailed to where you can, you know, kind of almost verbatim back to them exactly what happened, who was there, what was said, what the impact was, so forth and so on. So make sure that when you're also Preparing for the conversation, you're getting your talking points laid out in detail. So then you can intentionally think about making those I statements, getting all the details, you know, conveyed, asking the right questions to get the right understanding. Because remember, why are individuals toxic? Insecurities, low self-esteem, uh, learned behavior. Environment. Well, you want to understand all of that. And if it's not all of that, you want to, you know, understand key aspects of that by asking key open-ended questions that will get you some of that information, if not all of it. So just make sure that you have those things outlined and documented. So that's number 1 was the time and the place. 2 would be your Immediacy, the appropriate immediacy. 3 would be use I statements. 4 is have those observations, feedback, details documented so you can refer to them. And then number 5 would be, and then you need to stay calm and you need to stay respectful and professional. Confrontation, you know, for many people is very emotional, but it shouldn't be. All conflict is pointing out to someone an observation or experience or insight that you have of them. And, you know, if you want to make it cordial and engaging, then you just need to ensure that you're involving them in the conversation. And you need to ensure that you are the one remaining calm and professional and allowing them to express whatever they're going to express. But at the same time, you're also working to manage that. Say they get defensive, say they get emotional, they get, you know, their insecurity starts showing and they, and they start to, instead of anger, they're getting tearful. And you just simply want to continue remaining calm, respectful, professional, and helping them to gain composure. Letting them know certain behavior and certain communication styles aren't appropriate and that you're only having a conversation and you kind of need to help to rein in dynamic of that conversation. Number 6 would be, this is the time, remember all those reasons, uh, as to why a toxic individual behaves the way they do. Uh, this is your opportunity to understand their perspective. Understand their perspective overall toward their behavior, but even if you're talking about one discrete situation that occurred, say that, that meeting that happened where, you know, they really came down hard on you or you observed them coming down hard on someone else. This is the opportunity to ask them questions to really understand where their head's at when it comes to how they perceive that situation to have happened. So we often will hear two sides of the story that are very different, right? You know, this individual that was bullied, you know, is feeling the trauma of it. The bully, no, I didn't say it like that. That's not what I meant. Especially if it's one-on-one, it gets really hard for a third party to interpret and understand, you know, whose side is more accurate than the other. So, you know, the bully's sitting there saying, no, no, no, no, that's not, that's not how it went. And yet you could, this could, cause this could be one-on-one, you need to get them to understand, Joe, I understand you don't see it the same way that I do. I just need to, you know, uh, make you aware that what you said and how you said it was really hurtful. And, you know, I certainly want to get beyond this, and I certainly know that that, you know, may not have been your intent, but that is what happened. And then you can, you know, go on and continue with the conversation. So you definitely want to work to understand that person's perspective because they could see it very differently than yours. Okay. And then of course, you want to ensure that through this conversation, even if it's an employee-boss, you want to ensure those boundaries are set by being very direct, stating what's acceptable, what's not acceptable, what the expectations are, even as a, you know, a junior senior of, you know, I need you to, you know, treat us, treat me fairly. I need you to listen. I need you to. I need you to support and be motivating and inspirational as opposed to tearing, you know, me down or dismissing me. I just need you to hear this. So you're setting boundaries and expectations as, you know, to ensure that the individual recognizes what is acceptable and what's not acceptable. And again, it's up to them if they choose to do that. Choose to change or not, but at least you're conveying that when you're confronting them. Of course, because at the very beginning we talked about the fact that you don't want to go in on a, you know, a stature or a mood of complaining to where you're going to get them defensive. You want them engaged the whole time. You want them asking questions. A lot of them will start making statements, getting defensive, and you just need to manage to bring it back to a conversation. And so number 8 would be the fact that you want to ensure that the two of you are collaborating on the possible solutions. What can we, what can we do together? What can you do on your own? What am I willing to do to ensure that this behavior changes? Our relationship is different as we go forward. We're as productive and as effective as possible, so forth and so on. But you also want to keep the, the conversation engaging to where they're also contributing to the solution. Not focused on the problems, not focused on complaining, not focused on getting defensive and, you know, staking claim to the fact that they were, you know, they were right and or they didn't act out in any way, shape, or form. You need to kind of contain them to where Joe, I just outlined my observations, my, you know, my insights and the impact that you had on me. And, you know, made you aware of the, you know, way that it made me feel and ask for your support. And now I just wanna understand what can we both be working on to ensure this relationship, you know, is as effective as possible as we move forward. So they're gonna continue to wanna get defensive. They're gonna continue to want to ensure that they, you know, aren't the ones being accused of something. But at the same time, you also want to ensure that they participate in finding the solutions. Okay? Now, say they don't want to participate in finding solutions. Say they get so defensive. You need to work on your exit from that because there's going to be situations where they're not going to want to hear you. They refuse to hear you. Nothing's going to change. They don't see that they're in the wrong in any way, shape, or form. So you just need to find your exit strategy. And that has to be pre-planned. So again, calm, cool, collected, professional, respectful. And so you sit there and you say, all right, Joe, I, I, you know, spoke my piece. I shared with you my observations. I am sorry that, you know, you're not on the same page as I am and you're not willing to help work with me on the solutions, but we'll just take it from here. And you just find a way to exit the conversation and exit the situation. And then you have decisions to make. And then you move on to making sure that that meeting, number 9, Making sure that that meeting is put in writing and the outcome is put in writing or next steps. And if there aren't any, that's it, put in writing and provide it back to the individual. Basically noting you had this conversation, this was the challenge that you were discussing. These were the, you know, the solutions that were proposed and agreed upon, or just simply proposed and maybe even refused. And then the outcome was X, Y, and Z. You know, a next step could be, number 10 would be that you involve HR or some other leader. Maybe it's your boss or their boss, or it is HR, but it's a next step. And the final step would be, then you have your own final decision point to make. Do you continue working in that environment with working with that person? Working with the team, with the company, or do you go to the next step of escalating, or do you deal with it? And as I mentioned at the very beginning, a lot of people choose to deal with it. And as a leader in any way, shape, or form, in any part of the organization structure, needs to be very attentive and very aware of the culture that teams have within themselves, the teams have across the business, and then the business as a whole. Because avoiding it, ignoring it, making excuses for it is not acceptable. And so if in this instance that individual isn't willing to push it further, maybe escalate it to the next level. Well, others are experiencing this situation. They are. It's not necess— it's not going to be the attack on one individual. That behavior is being seen and observed and felt by others on the team or even further out in the business. And therefore it's the responsibility of everyone to make sure it's addressed. The longer a toxic individual is within the confines of a team, culture, and business, you are destroying it from the inside. And you are doing such a disservice for the people around that person. Who only want to do a great job and to really help to build and grow the business. And accepting that behavior is basically saying that you are not a leader and that bullying or toxic behavior is acceptable. And you can only expect that at some point you're going to lose really skilled individuals And you're going to have a culture that is, is very dysfunctional and therefore never reaching its potential. And if you or someone that you know is dealing with toxic individual, toxic team, a dysfunctional team, and you want some support, then don't hesitate to reach out, schedule some time, go to coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall and let's talk. Let me give you some tips and strategies. As next steps that you could be taking so you can address any issue that you might be having and having a powerhouse, highly functioning team. All right. Thank you so much for being here, and I'll look forward to having you for another episode of Shedding the Corporate Bitch.

Bye. Thank you for tuning into today's episode of Shedding the Corporate Bitch. Every journey taken together is another step towards unleashing the powerhouse leader within you. Don't miss any of our weekly episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you love to listen. And for those who thrive on visual content, catch us on our Shedding the Bitch YouTube channel. Wanna dive deeper with Bernadette on becoming a powerhouse leader? Visit balloffirecoaching.com to learn more about how she helps professionals, HR executives, and team leaders elevate overall team performance. You've been listening to Shedding the Corporate Bitch with Bernadette Boas. Until next time, keep shedding, keep growing, and keep leading.