Reynolds is the EVP of product strategy and innovation at Applied Psychological Techniques, and Rogelberg is the Chancellor's Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for distinguished national, international and interdisciplinary contributions.

6 ways to identify a toxic leader before hiring them

1. Identify the interpersonal requirements needed for the role

Before interviewing candidates, Reynolds and Rogelberg recommend speaking with the future peers and others who will work most closely with the future hire. These conversations can help hiring managers identify the teamwork requirements, partnership needs, and cultural expectations associated with the role.

These discussions can also reveal previous leadership challenges and help hiring managers determine which interpersonal skills should be prioritized during the interview process. For example, a role may require a leader who can explain technical concepts to nontechnical audiences or collaborate on solutions rather than imposing them.

2. Put together interview questions

Toxic candidates often excel at discussing their strengths and successes but struggle when asked about failures, dependencies, or what it was like for others to work with them, Reynolds and Rogelberg write.

As a result, hiring managers should develop questions that focus on past interpersonal challenges and situations where candidates needed help, made mistakes, or developed others. Reynolds and Rogelberg advise avoiding hypothetical questions and focusing instead on how candidates actually behaved in previous roles.

For example, an ideal response to a question about failure would include specific ownership, lessons learned, and an explanation of how the candidate communicated with affected stakeholders. Conversely, red flags may include blaming external factors, showing little personal accountability, failing to discuss learning or relationship repair, or describing a situation where someone else failed and the candidate stepped in as the hero.

Reynolds and Rogelberg also write that candidates who struggle to acknowledge the contributions of others or remain vague about developing employees may be exhibiting toxic leadership tendencies.

4. Be prepared with follow-up questions

According to Reynolds and Rogelberg, toxic behavior often becomes visible during the interview, especially when candidates are asked to discuss the people around them.

When candidates describe a success or accomplishment, interviewers should dig deeper into the interpersonal context by asking questions such as:

• "Who helped you succeed?"
• "If you had to name a co-star in this story, who would it be and why?"
• "How did your team members feel during this process?"

If candidates repeatedly struggle to identify meaningful contributions from colleagues or only provide generic references to "the team," that may indicate a pattern of taking disproportionate credit for group accomplishments.

5. Separate technical and interpersonal assessment

The more impressed you are by how technically brilliant a candidate is, the more likely you are to overlook any interpersonal red flags, Reynolds and Rogelberg write.

To combat this, they recommend evaluating technical capabilities and interpersonal capabilities separately. Team members with deep technical expertise can focus on the candidate's functional skills, while hiring managers can devote more attention to leadership and interpersonal behaviors. Each area should be scored independently before being combined.

For leadership roles in particular, Reynolds and Rogelberg write that interpersonal capabilities should carry at least as much weight as technical expertise.

6. Use multiple sources to validate your assessment

Reynolds and Rogelberg recommend validating interview impressions through additional interviews and reference checks. A candidate can have either a particularly good or particularly bad interview, but patterns that emerge across multiple evaluators are generally more reliable indicators of future behavior.

During reference checks, Reynolds and Rogelberg suggest asking targeted questions about how the candidate worked with peers and subordinates, whether they encountered partnership challenges across departments, and whether the reference would hire them again.

"The next time you face a critical leadership hire, resist the temptation to simply fall for the impressive accomplishments and heroic actions described by your candidates," Reynolds and Rogelberg write, "and ask about the wake they leave behind."