A short YouTube discussion (hosted by Chris Collins) defining and illustrating "toxic high performers" in workplace teams. Speakers list recurring characteristics: high skill and self-awareness, calculated/intentional behavior, mastery of manipulation (including of management), low empathy, treating customers as tools, political rallying that serves personal goals, and hidden negative impact on team capacity. An illustrative numeric example argues that removing such a person can increase total team output (e.g., one person doing 100 of 200 hours; after removal the team produces 250 hours).
Chapters
So I came up with a couple of, like, characteristics. Now, you. It doesn't mean that this is a slam dunk. Like, like, one of the things that I've written down here is like a toxic performer typically is like, they're very, very skilled and they're very, very well aware of their skill set right now. It doesn't mean that if you have somebody that's really good and that they know that they're really good, that they're toxic. I'm just saying that this is one of the, one of the things that I've seen as a commonality with your toxic performer is that they're very aware of their skill level. So the second thing really interesting about a toxic performer is they're super calculated. Like nothing, no activity is ever an accident.
So they, they know that they're better than everybody else. They're going to use that as equity to do things that are in favor of them, not in favor of the customer or the company.
That's right.
And they oftentimes get caught. So to your second one. You catch them doing it, but they're very intentional in what they're doing and they think it's justified. Kind of like with Claudia, like, you're trying to explain to her what carbs are like. And we're saying somebody who's lived half their life doesn't know what carbs are is a crazy thing.
Yeah, they're very aware. But I think that even so, like, they're so calculated that even when they get caught, they've already planned, they're out. So it's like, oh, they expected you to get like it. I don't know. It's crazy to say that, but it kind of goes into my next thing. They're master manipulators. They're really, really good at manipulating people. And a lot of times they're really good at manipulating management, which is fascinating to watch because it's like you go in there with the best of intentions as a leader, and then they somehow flip it.
I would add to that in the fact that I would say a lot of times when this comes up, the management is in over their head. They're not even a match. Yeah, they're not even a match.
Yeah, that's a really good point. Next is, and you kind of alluded to this, the customer only matters when it suits them.
The customer is a weapon, not an actually that we value the outcome of the customer.
Low empathy.
Low empathy. People. That's right. When they're really trying to work with something, they're a good politician. Like the. The Toxic performers, the one that does a great job of rallying everybody else around their cause and see in. And not even the people that they rally around don't even see that. It's all about the Toxic Performers end goal. It feels like it's the group, but it's the individual.
Then what? The last thing that I think that you recognize is that the toxic Performer, they hold the shop or the service department or whatever business it is, they hold it down even though.
You might not see it. Right. So I think the best example that I can give you is let's say that you've got a shop that produces.
200 hours a week, and this one person performs 100 of the 200 hours, and when you pull them out of the equation and you recognize, oh, it's toxic performance, not good, typically, what happens with that shop, it then begins to produce 250 hours without the 100 hours from the person. So, like, it almost. The math almost doesn't make sense. But what you find is that this person getting their 100 hours is keeping somebody else from getting 50 or 60. And the masses actually kind of perform well and they. They do a better job on every ro. So you might not see it, but it feels like they're the ones propping up the shop. But really, they're holding it down.
Thanks so much for watching this clip.
Of Service Driving Revolution.
We're uploading new stuff every day, so make sure you subscribe and click the bell icon so you don't miss out. If you have a question you'd like us to answer on the show, call 8333 Ask SDR and we'll answer your question on the show. That's 8333 Ask SDR. For special deals on our books and training, head over to offers.chris collins inc.com now that's offers.chriscollinsinc.com I'm Chris Collins, and I'll see you in the next video.
