Research shows that more than 70% of employees report experiencing incivility or disrespectful behavior at work, and over half say these behaviors reduce their productivity and morale.
Meanwhile, almost every HR or people leader has heard some version of these conversations when it comes to people who deliver results, close deals, and hit targets while quietly draining the energy, confidence, and engagement of everyone around them:
“It’s just how they are. They deliver, and people just need to grow up and deal with it.”
“They’ve been here forever. We can’t survive without their organizational knowledge.”
“If we confront them, they’ll leave and we can’t afford that right now.”
“As unstable as their behavior is, putting my foot down and holding them accountable could create a lot more instability and we can’t afford that right now.”
“Yes some people have quit over their behavior, but still, this individual is more important.”
We call the subject of these comments toxic rockstars.
Toxic rockstars don’t just come into your company breathing fire. They start with subtle eye-rolls in meetings, side conversations after calls, and teams tiptoeing around one person’s mood so the day doesn’t implode.
Over time, the behavior becomes normalized and eventually lands in HR’s lap, not as a single complaint but as a pattern everyone has learned to live with. The silence from everyone around the toxic rockstar has given them permission to be precisely what everyone despises.
The Real Cost of Keeping Toxic Rockstars
Research continues to show a strong link between toxic leadership and turnover intention, meaning employees are more likely to want to leave an organization when subjected to incivility or abusive supervision.
A 2025 study in the Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal found toxic leadership directly increased intentions to quit and counterproductive work behavior.
The harder-to-measure cost is the ripple effect. When one person is allowed to behave badly:
- People stop speaking up
- Collaboration drops
- Trust erodes
- Psychological safety disappears
- Employees lose sleep and can’t perform
- Time is wasted gossiping about bad behavior instead of working
Meanwhile, Google’s Project Aristotle found that psychological safety is the strongest predictor of team effectiveness. Toxic behavior destroys it almost immediately. So while leaders may think they’re preserving results, they’re often quietly dismantling the conditions that make strong performance possible.
Most organizations already know what respectful behavior looks like. What they lack is a consistent, organization-wide system to interrupt harmful behavior, reinforce expectations, and support people who want to do the right thing but don’t feel safe doing it alone.
A Resource to Help Your Organization
That’s exactly the gap our Upstander Train-the-Trainer Toolkit is designed to close.
It will empower your workforce to protect themselves – to speak up – before a leader evolves into a full-blown toxic rockstar.
Close the gap between asking for respect and holding people accountable. Give your workforce the resources they need to speak up when the subtle eye-rolls and side conversations happen. Instead of teams tiptoeing around one person’s mood so the day doesn’t implode, help them address insidious behavior before it’s too late.
This toolkit equips internal facilitators and HR departments to build a culture where speaking up is expected, supported, and reinforced. Instead of relying on HR to clean up messes after damage is done, you can build internal capability so employees know how to:
- Interrupt toxic behavior in real time
- Support colleagues without escalating conflict
- Reinforce shared standards consistently
- Shift norms so harmful behavior loses its protection
Stellar performance should never require harm. With the right systems in place, organizations don’t have to choose between results and respect – they get both.
Right now, the Upstander Train-the-Trainer Toolkit is available for $99 but the price increases to $249 at the end of February.
(And if you already have a toxic rockstar on your hands, let’s discuss coaching them. Our specialized coaching program is designed specifically to help toxic rockstars make positive change.)
Get the toolkit before the price increases and start building a culture where performance and respect go hand in hand.
