The effects of toxic leadership could extend well beyond the morale and careers of service members in a military unit, possibly deep into families and family readiness, according to research conducted by a military wife who has lived through the experience herself.
In a small study that delved into the personal experiences of 10 Army officer wives, most involved in volunteer roles in family readiness groups linked to units led by toxic leaders, Army wife Judith Black found that many ended up withdrawing from or quitting their volunteer positions.
Three of the 10 were not involved in such roles because FRGs were not available at their locations, with one going on to say the unit couldn't even get an FRG started. "The spouses hated this guy," she said of the unit leader.
According to the Army's definition, toxic leaders possess a combination of self-centered attitudes, motivations and behaviors that adversely affect subordinates, the unit and mission performance, and show a lack concern for others and the climate of the organization that sparks various adverse short- and long-term effects.
In the conclusion to her dissertation, Black defined a toxic leader as "an institutional cancer with the high propensity to metastasize, leaving a path of destruction, poison, and scars" in his or her wake.
Black conducted the research for her doctoral degree at Capella University in Minneapolis. She has briefed the results to several groups, including chaplains, and a forum at the Pentagon, and has consulted with Army officials in efforts to redefine toxic leadership to include the impact on the individual and the family, she said.
The 10 wives she spoke to were stationed with their military husbands around the world. The sample size was small because Black conducted in-depth interviews, rather than an extensive multi-question survey.
She recommends further studies using a random selection process of women married to service members in all branches and in different ranks. She also recommends that male military spouses be included in such studies.
Several of the wives in her small study recommended that the military create a process to allow spouses to provide feedback on commanders, since spouses in volunteer leadership positions are supervised by, and receive performance evaluations from, those commanders.
"There has to be a way for people to fight back without ruining" the service member's career, one spouse said. "Because even if you do fight back, right now, that's it."
The spouses to whom Black spoke ranged from 21 to 51 years old at the time of their experience with toxic leaders. For most, the time elapsed since their experiences was one to three years.
The wives said their experiences left them feeling helpless, angry, frustrated, depressed and worried for their military spouse's well-being. Six of the wives said their unit involvement led to punishment for their husbands.
One wife said she quit her FRG leader position after some of her actions led the unit's toxic leader to threaten her military husband with counseling statements.
"I had to back off and essentially completely disbanded our entire FRG so there was no support system at all," the wife said, according to Black's dissertation. That included dismantling a support system for troops and spouses who were new to the military.
All 10 wives said the toxic leaders caused marital hardships for them, with the aftereffects continuing for all but one spouse who went through her experience 37 years ago, and who said she's no longer angry. But another spouse said she and her husband still get physically ill when they think about their experience, even though it was 12 years ago.
"The effects of toxic leadership flow into the marriage and home life of those who experience it," Black said.
Some of the spouses considered physically separating themselves from their husbands during that time, such as moving back with their families until the toxic leader was gone.
One spouse said the family separations during her husband's three deployments were easier than going through the experience with the toxic leader. "That says a lot — I would rather have my husband go away to a combat zone than ever work for a guy like that again. … Yeah, it was that bad."
But what Black found surprising was that all of the couples stayed married, despite the turmoil caused by the toxic leaders, which she said is a testament to their resilience.
"In spite of all of it, the strength of the spouses is amazing. Their marriages survived," she said.
Across the board, the spouses said they could not find help in the Army community for coping with toxic leaders. They said they were afraid to seek help from Army support services, and even chaplains, out of fear that the toxic leader would find out and cause further repercussions.
"It prevented me from using Army resources because I was afraid for the first time," one spouse said. "The Army didn't provide services [on how to deal with] a crappy boss."
"These were all educated individuals put into a tough situation with no way to cope," Black said, adding that there needs to be some help available for coping skills in the event spouses must deal with toxic leaders.
Black, an Army wife since 1991, became interested in the issue after experiencing it herself when her husband was a battalion commander at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
She was a volunteer in the Army community, but also has more than 15 years of experience as a licensed professional counselor and national certified counseling providing services to military members and their families.
"I didn't know what to do when I found myself subordinate to a toxic leader," she said. "As a mental health provider licensed to help others deal with this, I was really challenged. ... Even with all the knowledge and coping skills I had, I couldn't deal with it."
Black chose her 10 interview subjects from among 60 spouses who responded to a nationwide recruiting effort through Facebook. She said many were afraid to talk to her for fear of consequences to their husbands' careers, so she implemented tight controls for confidentiality.
She said she limited the number of subjects in the study in order to delve more deeply into individual experiences, because little to no research has been conducted into toxic leaders' effects on military wives.
Although Black's research sample is too small to allow for any broad conclusions to be drawn about the scope of the problem, "there is value in focusing on small numbers in great depth ... it gives voice to those who have experienced this," said retired Army Col. George Reed, who has studied and written about Army toxic leadership since 2003.
"You can survey thousands and not get the personal insight that comes from in-depth interviews," Reed said.
He notes that Black's findings could have implications for family readiness. These spouses volunteer "because they care," he said. "If they are treated badly, there's no motivation to continue."
Reed, currently dean of the school of public affairs at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, also is the author of a book released in September titled "Tarnished: Toxic Leadership in the U.S. Military."
"It's human nature to pull back, human nature to withdraw, if they feel they're being belittled, humiliated, or if they feel they're being taken advantage of," he said. "I'm a firm believer that the impact of working for a bad boss extends father than we've realized. We're only beginning to understand how far it extends."
He said leaders may express their "toxicity" in a variety of ways. ranging from belittling people in front of others, to taking sexual advantage of others, to being lackadaisical and unengaged in the position.
"Being asleep at the switch and just letting things happen can be toxic, too," Reed said. "It's the impact, not the specific behaviors."
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
