Hello and welcome to my podcast, The Wellness Project with Des. On today’s podcast episode, I speak with Emily Hawkins about how she went from a toxic boss to a leader.
I’m Desiree, a Mental Health Therapist and Holistic Wellness Coach, passionate about helping you to improve your mental health and live a healthy and fulfilled life. One way I do this is by interviewing experts in the field of mental health and wellness as well as those that share their first-hand accounts with their mental health journeys. In this episode, we will hear from Emily about the negative impact of toxic work environments and how to shift to a healthy workplace that values employees.
With over 15 years of experience in the corporate world, Emily Hawkins knows what makes a toxic work environment and what helps to promote a healthy work environment and she knows this from first-hand experience. Emily admits that she used to be a toxic boss who inadvertently created an unhealthy work environment. When she began managing people, she “went through employees like water.” She was having difficulty retaining employees and morale was low. At first, she thought it was everyone else but after some challenging self-reflection, Emily realized that she was causing the issues with the company culture. She reflected and examined the type of environment she was creating as a leader.
Emily made a miraculous transformation from a toxic boss to an incredible leader. In this podcast episode, Emily shares the characteristics of a toxic workplace and its negative impact on employee’s mental health and well-being. Toxic bosses put their employees in a fight or flight mode and toxic work environments follow you and bleed into your personal life and your personal relationships- none of which is conducive to productivity or creativity. Emily talks with us about how stable teams promote mental wellness and creativity.
With her personal and professional experience, Emily gives many examples of a healthy leader versus a toxic boss and an easy and memorable way that you can spot the signs. She also gives many examples and ideas of how someone can shift from a toxic boss to a healthy leader.
Listen to this conversation to learn how a toxic environment may be impacting you and how you can become a healthy, trustworthy, and respected leader.
Ways to Listen:
Episode Mentions:
- The Five Love Languages
- The Wisdom of Oz by Roger Connors and Tom Smith