Why are talented people leaving education?

Part One – What is going on?

William Sommers & Janice Bradley

There is an exodus of experienced teachers, leaders, and staff in education these days.  According to Forbes Magazine (August 3, 2023), “While 46% of school leaders are considering calling it quits, that doesn’t mean all of them will.”  This data has serious consequences for children, parents, and communities.  Why?

Our thoughts, backed by research and experience, will appear in three articles. Our first article addresses the following three questions.

• What is toxic leadership?
• Why address toxic leadership?
• What is the impact of toxic leadership?

Let us start with this first article by referring to Simon Sinek’s golden circle from his book, ‘Start with Why,’ with a modification. First, we look at WHAT is happening.  Second, WHY talented people are leaving the profession.  We know leadership is not the only factor and it can be a important contributing element of the culture.

Introduction

In most organizations we emphasize beliefs that leadership matters and that effective leaders have positive attributes. For years, the focus of leader preparation programs has been on supporting educators to develop positive leadership styles and practices that focus on how leaders enhance organizations as defined in research, in the literature, and through various state and national standards. Licenses and certifications focus mainly on content and less on creating the culture of learning. When an effective leader exemplifies positive leadership competencies, one develops people, istrustworthy, empathetic, courageous, creates and shares a vision, has high emotional intelligence, displays honesty, integrity, and is an effective communicator (Adams, et al., 2020; Day et al., 2020; Garza et al., 2014; Goolamally & Ahmad, 2013).

When an effective leader is in the formal role, people thrive in their workplace and stay in the job longer (Becker & Grob, 2021; Brown & Wynn, 2007). Leaders in formal roles with positional authority have the capability to inspire a shared vision, uplift the strengths of an educator, and leverage the collective to create positive cultures.

The opposite of effective leadership, coined toxic leadership, is worthy of exploration due to its prevalence and presence in schools, universities, and organizations. Many professional educators experience toxic leadership, yet the toxic leaders are hard to identify and recognize as they are protected by loyal followers in the organization (Tavanti, 2011). Toxic leaders tend to focus on test scores.  Theory X management and negative consequences might yield short-term increases.  At the same time the best talent will consider leaving to find better working conditions.

When employees experience the effects of toxic leadership, the topic is not openly and publicly talked about in meetings or with the leader.  No one talks about it for fear of job loss or retaliation.  Instead, toxic leadership actions are either not addressed or are talked about away from and not with the leader, complained about or gossiped about with trusted colleagues away from formal meeting structures, and are blamed for the disengagement and anxiety that educators experience. Toxic leadership has become the elephant in the room. Our intention is to name that elephant, tame it, and reframe with possibilities.

St. Augustine                              In essentials, unity

                                                In non-essentials, flexibility

                                                   In everything, charity.

Physical and emotional safety are in the essential category of civility.  How we learn and teach to an ever-increasing diverse environment (culture, financial, support systems, etc.) we need flexibility to teach everyoneso they can be positive contributors to our society.  To attract and retain the best and brightest teachers and leaders we need civil and supportive work environments.  We believe providing the best cultures for learning might be the best non-monetary perks to retain talent and unleash their potential.

What is toxic leadership?

The term “toxic leader” was first coined by Marcia Wicker in 1996 to describe a leader’s behavior that intentionally harmed employees (Wicker, 1996).  Toxic leadership refers to a form of destructive leadership that includes behaviors of leaders that harm followers that result in long-term negative effects and unhealthy environmental conditions for followers. It differs from harassment, bullying, and mobbing of adults by the extent and level of destruction that results.

Toxic environments are usually produced and sustained by toxic leaders through interactions with followers.  Here is a definition from Webster’s Dictionary.

• Containing or being poisonous when causing death or serious debilitation, toxic waste
• Symptoms of infection, patient became toxic two days later
• Extremely harsh, malicious or harmful, toxic sarcasm

“Never spend time with people who don’t respect you”

Maori Proverb

Toxic leadership can also be defined as the “combination of self-centered attitudes, motivations, and behaviors” (Smith & Fredericks-Lohman,2019, p. 2) that “causes, either abruptly or gradually, systemic harm to the health of an organization” (Green, 2014, p. 18) and to individuals. According to Green (2014), toxic leaders’ actions and behavior harms both individuals and systems. Individuals become disengaged, lose confidence in their abilities, feel invisible, anxious and marginalized. Within the organization, the system breaks down to become inefficient and unproductive resulting in a loss of effectiveness of the organization.  Lipman- Blumen (2009) defines toxic leadership as “a process in which leaders, by dint of their destructive behavior and/or dysfunctional personal characteristics generate a serious and enduring poisonous effect on the individuals, families, organizations, communities, and even entire societies they lead” (p. 29). One study found four patterns that describe toxic leaders: egotism, ethical failure, incompetence, and neuroticism (Green, 2014).

Here’s what we know from research and literature studies about toxic leadership.

1.Başkan, B. (2020). Toxic leadership in education. International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership, 97-104

Themes from the meta-analysis include the following: 1) a high frequency of toxic leaders can be found in educational institutions, 2) toxic leadership emerges from the collective organization culture that is competitive and political, rather than from individuals, and 3) individuals are treated as objects needed to achieve the organizational goal

2.Green, J. E. (2014). Toxic Leadership in Educational Organizations. Education Leadership Review, 15(1), 18-33

Toxic leadership has negative consequences which include the following:  decreased job satisfaction and staff morale, decreased professional agency, reduced performance, increased attrition, increased negative behaviors; negative impact on career development, and highly concerning adverse effects on an individual’s psychological, emotional, and physical wellbeing.

3.Milosevic, I., Maric, S., & Lončar, D. (2020). Defeating the toxic boss: The nature of toxic leadership and the role of followers. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 27(2), 117-137.

Using a theoretical model of toxic leadership, findings include the following: 1) behaviors of leaders, such as, concealing one’s incompetence and maintaining a sense of control. are harmful to the organization, and 2) leaders’ actions create confusion and ambiguity, and 3) followers are more agentic in intentionally neutralizing the impact of toxic leadership through “workarounds” and learning.

4.Snow, N., Hickey, N., Blom, N., O’Mahony, L., & Mannix-McNamara, P. (2021). An exploration of leadership in post-primary schools: The emergence of toxic leadership. Societies, 11(2), 54.

Participants reported negative consequences that include the following:  1) decreased job satisfaction, professional agency, and staff morale, reduced performance, increased attrition,increased negative behaviors, stalled career development, decreased self-confidence, increased incidences of depression, stress, anxiety, and fear, humiliation; anger, lack of trust, exhaustion, burnout, and negative  health issues, migraines; weight gain, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, negative consequences on personal/home life and 2)  results indicate that the quality of leadership was perceived to influence the health of respondents and had impacted one’s wellbeing.

5.Tavanti, M. (2011). Managing toxic leaders: Dysfunctional patterns in organizational leadership and how to deal with them. Human Resource Management, 2011, 127-136.

The study reviews typologies of toxic leaders ranging from bullies to narcissists whose behaviors identified by selfish outcomes have destructive effects leaving employees in worse shape than when the started their job.

Why address toxic leadership?

The primary reason to address toxic leadership is to make educator’s professional lives better by improving working conditions, and create a positive environment for students.  The old adage, ‘you can’t give what you don’t have’ applies.  If we want good places for kids to learn, we think it has to be a good place for staff to learn (including the leader). Reasons to address toxic leadership include increasing teacher retention, developing positive school learning cultures, better support for students, and investing resources into the development of transformational leaders. Too many people are suffering from toxic leadership which occurs at all levels of organizations across a system. Leadership in positions with formal power set the tone for an organization Toxic leadership can be considered an umbrella term addressing dimensions of negative leadership that includes harassment, bullying, and shaming, and can have adverse effects on an organization and performance.

The adverse effects toxic leadership have on people and their performance is becoming more evident in schools where people are leaving at increasing rates. When educators are asked what type of a leader they want to work for, they name one who is respectful, acts fairly and with integrity, is authentic, engages in productive communication and feedback, is inclusive and promotes collaboration. The opposite behaviors exemplify leaders a person would not follow, where a leader is hostile to employees and peers causing them to feel marginalized, disrespected, shamed, ignored, and treated unfairly. What is being defined and explored in our first article is the darker side of leadership that takes a toll on people, on organizations, on one’s performance, and ultimately on student achievement.

Three critical elements of the destructive style of toxic leadership exist: 1)  a lack of concern for the well-being of subordinates, 2) a personality or interpersonal technique that negatively affects the organizational climate, and 3) a belief by subordinates that the superior is motivated primarily by self-interest (Whicker, 1996).

What is the impact of toxic leadership?

Toxic leadership takes a tremendous toll on people, specifically their occupational, social, and emotional well-being, the organization’s effectiveness, and the people they serve. Results from a study indicate that the quality of leadership was perceived to influence the health of respondents and had a bearing on their occupational wellbeing.(Snow, et al., 2021)

For example, we heard one superintendent in a large urban district told his principals, “if you can’t raise test scores, find another job.”  Hey, what a great motivator.  Ten years later over 200 principals have left for other jobs.  Our question is, ‘what did you or could you have done to elevate leadership skills and behaviors to create positive work environments?’  There is lots of research about the costs of replacement versus development.  We accept the fact that not everyone is capable or desirable to change behaviors.  At the same time development saves money and time, none of which is replaceable.

Herzberg, back in 1959 wrote about the intrinsic factors that keep positive cultures alive are:

• achievement
• recognition of achievement
• the work itself
• responsibility
• growth or advancement

As noted from the studies and research findings in Table 1, the impact on individuals personal and professional lives can include the following demotivators:

• Decreased job satisfaction, professional agency and job satisfaction, and staff morale
• Reduced performance
• Increased attrition
• Increased negative behaviors stifled career development, reduced self-confidence, depression, stress and anxiety, tearfulness, humiliation, mistrust, exhaustion, burnout issues, migraines, weight gain, substance abuse

Where organizations that value high performance and have no systems in place that monitor how organizational goals and objectives are achieved, toxic leaders thrive (Baskan, 2020, p.102).

How can we as thoughtful, wise, knowledgeable and experienced leaders allow our fellow educators to continue to suffer in negative cultures guided by toxic leadership?

In our next article we will discuss ‘HOW’ this happens and offer some suggestions to create more positive learning environments

References

Adams, D., Cheah, K. S., Harris, A., Sumintono, B., Yusoff, N. N. M., & Jones, M. (2020). Attributes of successful school leaders. Developing effective learning in Nepal: Insights into school leadership, teaching methods and curriculum, 50.

Başkan, B. (2020). Toxic leadership in education. International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership, 97-104

Becker, J. & Grob, L. (2021). The School Principal and Teacher Retention. Richmond, VA: Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium.

Brown, K., & R. Wynn, S. (2009). Finding, supporting, and keeping: The role of the principal in teacher retention issues. Leadership and Policy in schools, 8(1), 37-63.

Day, C., Sammons, P., & Gorgen, K. (2020). Successful School Leadership. Education development trust.

Garza, Jr, E., Drysdale, L., Gurr, D., Jacobson, S., & Merchant, B. (2014). Leadership for school success: Lessons from effective principals. International Journal of Educational Management, 28(7), 798-811.

Goolamally, N., & Ahmad, J. (2014). Attributes of School Leaders Towards Achieving Sustainable Leadership: A Factor Analysis. Journal of Education and Learning, 3(1), 122-133.

Green, J. E. (2014). Toxic Leadership in Educational Organizations. Education Leadership Review, 15(1), 18-33.

Herzberg, F. (2008). One more time: how do you motivate employees? Boston:  Harvard Business Press.

Lipman-Blumen, J., & Leavitt, H. J. (2009). Beyond Typical Teams: Hot Groups and Connective Leaders. Organizational Dynamics, 38(3), 225-233.

Milosevic, I., Maric, S., & Lončar, D. (2020). Defeating the toxic boss: The nature of toxic leadership and the role of followers. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 27(2), 117-137.

Perna, M. Forbes Magazine. “Why Almost Half of School Leaders Are Preparing to Call it Quits.” August 3, 2023.

Sinek, S. (2009). Start with Why.  New York:  Penguin.

Smith, N.; Fredricks-Lowman, I. Conflict in the workplace: A 10-year review of toxic leadership in higher education. Int. J. Lead. Educ. 2019, 23, 1–14.

Snow, N., Hickey, N., Blom, N., O’Mahony, L., & Mannix-

McNamara, P. (2021). An exploration of leadership in post-primary schools: The emergence of toxic leadership. Societies, 11(2), 54.

Sutton, R. (2010). Good boss, bad boss.  New York:  Business Plus.

Tavanti, M. (2011). Managing toxic leaders: Dysfunctional patterns in organizational leadership and how to deal with them. Human Resource Management, 2011, 127-136.

Wicker, M. (1996). Toxic leaders: When organizations go bad. Westport, CT: Praeger