What if these behaviors were not a coincidence, but known and identified patterns by behavioral science? This is precisely what Amy Gallo, a researcher affiliated with Harvard and specialist in professional dynamics, did in his book “Getting Along”. In collaboration with the Harvard Business Review, she drew up the 7 types of toxic personalities at work. Their common point: exhausting the others while spoiling the atmosphere of the team. Behind their attitude hides a very specific mechanics … which we can finally understand to better face it.
How to identify these personalities who exhaust their entourage?
Each toxic profile manifests itself in specific signals. Amy Gallo analyzed them, crossing psychology, neuroscience and field experience. It alerts: these behaviors, when they are ignored or poorly managed, directly impact the productivity, creativity and mental health of the teams.
“”The stress linked to interactions with difficult people slows down our creativity and our productivity, harms our ability to think clearly and make informed decisions, and pushes us to disengage ourselves“, she explains. Worse still:”Too often, we dodge things as if we had no choice“.
In his analysis, the expert identifies the following figures:
- The narcissist: thirsty for admiration, he constantly seeks to shine by lowering the others. Little empathetic, he manipulates to achieve his ends, often to the detriment of the collective;
- The paranoid: Each remark is perceived as an attack, each decision as a plot. Its permanent distrust creates an atmosphere of tension and suspicion;
- Passive-aggressive: he sabotes without showing himself. Delays, sarcasm, and bad will are his favorite weapons;
- The manipulator (or playwright): unable to recognize his wrongs, he plays comedy to divert the attention of his mistakes. Each problem becomes a melodrama;
- The control maniac: obsessed with detail and perfection, it imposes its rules and bridles any form of autonomy. An obstacle to innovation … and at the atmosphere;
- The eternal victim: never responsible, always persecuted. She rejects the fault on others and demoralizes her colleagues;
- The compulsive obsessive: perfectionist until excess, he spends more time checking everything than moving forward. Result: the processes are slowed down, frustration rises.
These profiles, although different, have a common point: they undermine the balance and morale of the teams.
What to do with these toxic personalities without exhausting?
You don’t always choose your colleagues. It is therefore crucial to learn to interact without falling into the trap of permanent confrontation or emotional exhaustion. Amy Gallo encourages to avoid automatic responses and understand the engine of these behaviors to better bypass them.
Faced with a manipulator, no need to wait for him to recognize his share of responsibility. Faced with a paranoid, rationally arguing can sometimes worsen things. Rather, it is a question of adopting a targeted adaptation strategy and keeping it on your own priorities. It is therefore not a question of changing the others, but of modifying your posture, refocusing energy on work, and preventing toxicity from contaminating the entire team.
Why knowing how to recognize them changes (almost) everything
The impact of toxic relationships at work is often underestimated. However, in the long term, they can cause professional exhaustion, disengagement, even chain resignations. Hence the interest in putting words on these invisible but powerful mechanisms. Identifying these profiles means taking up a form of control. This is not a miracle solution, but an essential first step to protect ourselves, because we cannot change what we do not know.
This knowledge becomes a way to improve things and move forward without being sucked in by toxic dynamics.