What to Do About Toxic Leadership?
Abstract
In this chapter steps to take when confronted with toxic leaders are presented: documenting incidents, building a support network, and who to talk to, as well as the consequences of inaction, are discussed.
Keywords
Documentation; reporting; inaction
3.1 What to Do About the Situation at Your Library?
Before any action is taken by librarians, acknowledgment needs to occur at various levels in a university’s hierarchy. This reporting process is easier if the higher education institution has established protocols to follow. If protocols have not been set up, then the onus of proving what happened or is happening falls on the reporting librarians. Documented incidents become important when librarians are asked to provide evidence of the claimed events (Henley, 2003; Lipinski & Crothers, 2014; Lipman-Blumen, 2005b; Pelletier, 2012).
3.2 Documenting Incidents of Toxic Behavior
In order to facilitate the reporting process, it is extremely important to keep a journal, either at home or in an encrypted file on a work computer. Preferably, the incident log should be stored to the cloud or on a personal USB. Some librarians reported keeping their journals on their mobile phones. Even discussing every incident with a family member or a trusted friend who can keep notes is helpful, and better than not having any information written down from which incidents can be recalled in greater detail when needed.
3.3 Building a Support Network
Making allies among peers is of the utmost importance, as in this way more than one person can serve as a witness for the other and can also document incidents only they have witnessed. Many librarians reported having survived their horrific ordeals because they had peers they could trust. In fact, new alliances and friendships arose because colleagues had to hold so much confidential information for each other. Librarians working as a team were able to circumnavigate their leader to fulfill their work duties and keep the library afloat for their users. This worked especially well when the toxic leaders were more interested in personal gain or were looking out for their favorite librarians.
Future potential witnesses can and should become an important part of the support network. These witnesses will be especially needed when reports come up for investigations, or when grievances eventually come up for review. Besides having documentation of myriads of incidents, librarians should also ask themselves if there are other witnesses they have neglected to include in their support network. It is best to be as well prepared as possible for this process. The high turnover that tends to occur in academic libraries with toxic leaders cannot be controlled by the remaining librarians. Witnesses may choose to back out if they believe that declaring what they saw could damage their livelihood. For whatever reason, witnesses may choose not to report what they saw, and that decision needs to be respected. This should not be seen as a setback; but instead whenever possible there should be more than one witness to call on. Maintaining ongoing relationships with witnesses is especially important when they have moved on to other jobs. Establishing a relationship in cases of toxic leadership is important, because once librarians have moved on to other jobs, in many instances they no longer wish to relive their negative work experiences.
3.3.1 Expanding the Support Network
When the toxic leader is first focused on someone, that person, most of the time, cannot believe it. They feel as if this could not really be happening to them. It has been described as surreal, topsy-turvy, transcendental even, but not in a good way. They have all wondered if others see it as well. Most librarians waited months or years before approaching others on the topic of the toxic leader, or toxic peers who were protected by the leader. These protégés are often spies for the toxic leader, when the leader is hands-on. Some toxic leaders, though, are more negligent or laissez-faire in their leadership style and simply let their favorites run wild within the library.
It takes time before the targeted librarian feels comfortable talking to other librarians. Many choose to keep what is happening to them to themselves, whereas other librarians seek support from a spouse, a friend, or a group of friends outside of the library. In many instances, librarians have realized it is not only them, but others as well, who are recipients of their toxic supervisors’ special treatment. Although conditions do not necessarily change, just knowing that others know what is happening to them provides a sense of mental relief. The galvanization of librarians set against their toxic leader has helped many librarians survive without major negative consequences to their well-being or their jobs.
We used to meet monthly then it changed to once a week. We were doing “Happy Hour therapy”. We had to talk outside of work to cope and give each other tips. No one in upper administration was doing much about it. HR wasn’t very helpful. We got real lucky, we had a good hire and the new director is good so far, things are changing.
Aside from leaving the institution, the truly final recourse is legal action. Well before legal action is even considered, librarians should attempt to gain allies in the higher echelons of the university’s administration, if human resources personnel have proven themselves uncooperative or useless. Once all protocols have been exhausted, librarians may be left with legal action as their final choice, if the institution’s administration is unwilling to remedy the library’s toxic leadership situation. Always hoping to avoid a lawsuit, most institutions of higher education will seek mediation, an out-of-court settlement that possibly includes a gagging order for everyone involved.
3.3.2 Other Options
Throughout the period of abuse, sometimes the only option librarians have is to talk to someone trusted outside the library. The most reported option was talking with a psychologist outside of the institution. Ones who specialized in organizational culture and workplace insidiousness, if not toxic leadership itself, were the most sought-after for therapy treatments. These psychologists’ expertise enabled librarians to cope with their new academic-library reality. Whilst some librarians sought psychological treatment through their employers’ health insurance, others paid for private sessions themselves out of fear of having anyone find out they were seeking help to survive their toxic leader or peers.
Who else should academic librarians confide in besides family and friends? Religious leaders and spiritual guides were also reported as options deemed helpful by some librarians. Viable options became anyone who made librarians feel safe and offered a gathering space where they could speak freely about what was happening in their libraries without fear of repercussions.
3.4 Who to Talk to About What Is Happening?
Academic librarians need to be sure they have thoroughly documented all incidents involving them or others. Regardless of how long it takes librarians to realize what is happening in their library as a whole or in a specific department, librarians need to document and report what is occurring there. Incidents can be reported to other supervisors within the library if they are deemed trustworthy. Union representatives may also be an option, and if that option exists it should definitely be explored. Human resources departments (whether or not they have employee protection protocols to handle whistle-blower incidents), or upper administration, for instance, a Vice-President of Academic Affairs, or a Provost, should be made aware of the situation in the campus library (Henley, 2003; Lipman-Blumen, 2005a, 2005b). Librarians may also wish to reach out to the Ombudsperson Office, if such a resource is available. In some cases, librarians had to contact the Vice-President or Provost of their institution directly because they had learned that their complaints were not being taken seriously by the human resources department.
Librarians may need to speak with colleagues in upper administration to find out if they will help, and not be left to wonder whether they condone the toxic leaders’ behavior. For librarians who hold faculty status, reaching out to upper administrators such as the Vice-President, or Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs, could be the only choice if they want the library’s toxic leadership situation to be handled and eventually resolved. At some institutions, Vice-Presidents became part of the librarians’ support network and advocated for change in their libraries. At other times, librarians were either ignored by the Vice-President and other senior administrators or asked to figure it out themselves. In one specific case, figuring it out was the best advice. A team of librarians at a small institution explored a variety of strategies to remove their toxic leader. The planning took over a year, but once the plan was implemented the librarians successfully ousted their tormentor and were able to finally move their library forward.
Nevertheless, before an incident is reported, what librarians are sure they are experiencing or witnessing happening to peers (including support staff) needs to be documented. Without evidence to support claims librarians will not be taken seriously. Academic institutions have vast bureaucracies in most instances and as such they need to have substantial credible evidence before taking any action. Upper administrators need to know this is not a personal vendetta, hence their need to be circumspect regarding what may be considered an inconsequential accusation or a “he said, she said” situation.
3.5 The Consequences of Inaction
The consequences of inaction for academic libraries can range from a negative impact on productivity to loss of reputation in and outside the higher education institution. These issues can improve with a change in the library’s leadership, genuine support from the institution’s upper administration, and time. It is only when the librarys’ situation is taken seriously that bad situations such as demoralized librarians, loss of productivity, continuous turnover, and undermined user services can be improved. Yet this can only happen when action is taken. If no action is taken, then libraries can flounder for years, decades even. Lamentably, this has been the experience of some academic librarians. They witnessed their libraries slowly falling apart without anyone in power attempting to save or improve the library. Sometimes, it took scandals, high personnel turnover, having the local news channel or newspaper involved in reporting suspicious library operations and unscrupulous reorganizations of reference and instruction departments, before those in the institutions’ administrations began a close examination of all that was happening in their libraries. Once the library received this much-needed attention, everything that had been happening in the library, and to its librarians, for years finally came to light.
The consequences of inaction for academic librarians are also many, though they are of a more personal nature. The ramifications of not acting in time or not wanting to recognize what is going on can be very damaging. It can lead to emotional problems, cause mild to severe health issues, and in extreme cases it accelerated death, as it was unfortunately reported by two librarians, who had the misfortune of witnessing the early demise of their fellow librarians.
The research for this book revealed many difficult conversations with academic librarians. There were librarians who reported they had sustained extreme stress and abuse for more than ten years and suffered from heart attacks (no family history of heart disease) or developed cancer where none had previously existed in their families. After years of working with a toxic leader, despite maintaining a healthy lifestyle, they had developed serious health problems all of a sudden.
Other librarians also had to handle burgeoning health problems ranging from migraines, insomnia, or exacerbated digestive syndromes to weight fluctuations. Weight issues came about either through stress eating or because of depression, anxiety, or conflict arising from the sense that they must show up to get their jobs done, but not draw any attention to themselves, made them drop their exercise routines. Others developed or increased unhealthy habits such as imbibing alcohol, smoking cigarettes, binge eating, or abusing sleeping pills. In one case, a librarian turned to hyper-athleticism in order to cope with the toxic stress at work. It was not surprising to learn that some librarians had also turned to legal and illegal drugs to escape the stress of being overworked and abused for years.
Many librarians admitted they had sought psychological help for feelings of inadequacy in their library and to cope with feelings of dissatisfaction because their toxic leaders did not care if they destroyed the library, they only cared about their own needs. There were also some librarians who said they went back to their church seeking spiritual guidance to withstand toxic leadership situations.
Feeling demoralized and not valued were the experiences most consistently reported by librarians, and which led many of them into a mild depression. There was also a small number of librarians, seven (out of the 54 interviewed), who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It was because they sought psychological help that they were in fact diagnosed with PTSD. They attended biweekly sessions (some were down to monthly when interviewed) to cope with their toxic environments. There were also two librarians who suspected they had PTSD and wanted to get a better handle on their work situation, but had not been able to find time to pursue their mental health because of work and family obligations.
Of the librarians who were diagnosed with depression, most sought treatment. A few librarians reported being diagnosed with clinical depression and were actively trying to get better and not have this affect their personal lives. Not having recourse to improve the toxic situation in the academic library can lead to extreme survival action to protect mental or physical health or both (Pelletier, 2012). Three librarians were very open about their struggles with horribly toxic leaders in their libraries. These librarians actually checked themselves into hospital. They were desperate for understanding and longed for things to make sense again. They knew they had exhausted the resources available to them via human resources or the librarians’ union. In order to save their sanity, their last option in each case was to hospitalize themselves so as to have a much needed mental break. This time away from work gave them a chance to evaluate whether they wanted to return to their libraries. Incredibly, all three librarians returned to their jobs after this self-imposed leave. One of these cases was significantly more difficult than the other two, because, soon after being hospitalized, this particular librarian suffered a psychotic break. She was in care for 8 weeks and shortly afterward returned to work under a new library director. She was happy to report in her interview that she was thriving and getting along with her colleagues, and specially the new library director. The other two librarians’ hospitalizations were for nervous breakdowns, and their stays were for 1 and 2 weeks. One librarian was transferred to another department and continues to struggle with micro-aggressions from her new supervisor, but the situation is tolerable when compared to her toxic leadership experience. The other librarian, regrettably, has not experienced much change, though she has adapted her outlook in order to handle the still unfair workload and excessive supervisory responsibilities. The fact that her Library Director is well regarded as a master of academic library workflow redesign only sustains the frustration. These trendy redesigns are typically damaging to morale and productivity. This librarian however keeps working toward achieving a better work-life balance.
In two cases, the consequences of inaction by two toxic leaders contributed to the decline in the overall health of their targeted librarians, which led to their eventual deaths on the job. According to the librarians who witnessed these events, their colleagues were consistently overworked, belittled publicly, either ignored or shouted at in meetings, and spurned for many years. Thus, even though these librarians may have had health problems to begin with, what contributed to their deteriorating health and ultimate demise was years of continual extremely stressful working conditions. These librarians believed they needed to go into work with a combative attitude in order to make it through the day. One of the witnesses, fearing becoming the next target, actively sought a position at another academic library. The other remained at her library because she had begun to document her Library Dean’s toxic leadership. These cases are rare, fortunately.
At one academic library, at least five librarians from the same department, Technical Services, presented individual doctors’ notes instructing whomever was in charge of the library to have them separated from the toxic leader. With their medical prescriptions, these librarians finally brought attention to their plight. They were separated from their toxic supervisor and an investigation into that department’s leadership style was finally conducted. These librarians no longer suffered their toxic leader’s abuse in silence. This clever solution achieved the removal of the toxic leader from their department, though it is disappointing to learn these librarians’ previous complaints had been ignored by the Library Dean.
3.6 Why Stay?
I can’t go anywhere else really. My family is all here, in the area. Withstanding my boss would be harder if I did not have them near me.
Some readers may ask why these librarians did not leave that library, either by taking another job or by retiring from the profession. This is not as easy as it may seem, particularly if toxic leadership has not been part of their academic libraries’ work experience. Through the interviews, librarians revealed a variety of reasons for staying in their positions. They were bound geographically owing to family obligations, or the job market in their desired area was nonexistent. Hence, without realistic employment alternatives these librarians had to remain and endure their toxic leaders. Other librarians felt strongly about not permitting a toxic boss to push them out of the jobs they enjoy and see as their lifetime career.
Where to go? Already middle aged, would have to start again so staying is the only option.
It should be noted, however, that in some instances leaving is the only solution. For these librarians’ sake leaving is in their own best interests, but it must be thought out because, as some librarians sadly reported, they had either left for whatever job they were first offered or accepted a position that sounded better, only to end up in situations that were much worse than before. This is primarily due to the lack of transparency in the world of academic libraries. No one likes to talk about their toxic leaders, and thus academic libraries themselves, albeit inadvertently, continue to enable toxic leaders to take their leadership style from one library to another without major repercussions on their reputations. Some librarians observed that they had been in the profession for 15, 25, and over 32 years, and that they had never had a good, positive leader. They knew these terrible leaders were well regarded in the upper administrative world of academic libraries. These librarians wanted to start a dialog, because it needs to be happening if toxic leadership is to be reduced in academic libraries. In the end, it does not matter if librarians leave for another higher education institution, for that may not be the end of their toxic leadership experiences in academic libraries.
3.7 Who Benefits From Inaction?
If you were one of his cronies you were treated quite well, you basically could come and go as you pleased, you could not do your job particularly well and you'd still get very high recommendations and good raises.
Regardless of how critical the situation in the academic library becomes, there are always those who benefit from the ensuing chaos. Those in the library who are treated well by toxic leaders, enjoy the consequences and wish the status quo to persist for as long as possible. These librarians typically do little work and are given the largest raises. Some are even engaged in peer-to-peer aggression, but they most surely praise and admire their leader and broadcast to the campus community that all is well in the library. Interviews revealed that in order to “show their humanity,” most toxic leaders have a few favorite librarians whom they treat splendidly. Having favorites demonstrates to the campus community that they do care for their subordinates, or at least, treat them well. This, in turn, makes these preferred librarians speak very well of their leaders, because to them their leaders are not toxic. Such a farce can continue for years, even when it is obvious to everyone in the library who is being abused that quality and quantity of services have in many instances exponentially decreased, despite impotent librarians who keep giving 100% to their duties. These favorite librarians will continue to benefit as long as the toxic leaders remain in charge without any remedy in sight.
3.8 Summary
The consequences of inaction affect librarians and library services, which in part affect users and the university community as a whole. The reason the academic library exists in the first place is to serve the campus community. Toxic leadership seems to be sensed once abusive behaviors are fully manifested in the academic library. Toxic leadership permeates the library environment, no matter what the size of the academic library. If the library is fortunate it could be that only one level within a hierarchy is affected. However, toxic leadership is known to infiltrate all levels, until the library and virtually all of the library’s employees are negatively impacted (Lipman-Blumen, 2005a; Pelletier, 2012). For this reason, documenting, seeking allies outside of the library, and speaking about toxic leadership outside of the institution are important to make cases against toxic leadership more attainable (Henley, 2003; Lipman-Blumen, 2005b). The librarians interviewed for this book found these actions necessary if ending toxic leadership in their libraries was the desired outcome.