Three questions:<p>1. Why are workers toxic? Is it something you&#x27;re born with, or something that you have when you are hired? Is it unchanging, black and white, true or false—or can it change over time or be impacted by the environment?<p>2. Given the answer to the above, what types of things influence workers&#x27; toxicity? Are you able to improve any of those things?<p>3. Given that the time and focus of any team is limited, and assuming most of the improvements from question 2 actually impact everyone in the company positively, do you truly believe that handling toxic people is the best use of time for a human management team?<p>Fire when you need to, and ensure you fix mistakes quickly and with intelligence, but do not focus efforts on the bottom tier. Work to improve the environment that makes people &quot;go toxic.&quot; Ignoring that environmental effect is the type of behavior that makes toxic <i>companies,</i> which is the far greater problem, and should be the far greater concern.<p>We all know toxicity exists, and we&#x27;ve worked with people who, on the surface, don&#x27;t belong anywhere near the company. But often the medium that breeds toxicity—the politics, fear, competition, in-fighting and more—is more important to tackle than the individuals themselves. There&#x27;s a reason companies foster and hire people who tend toward toxic behavior; and there&#x27;s a reason they act the way they do.<p>As W. Edwards Deming said: “Give the work force a chance to work with pride, and the 3 per cent that apparently don’t care will erode itself by peer pressure.”