"Toxic" Answers

Preface: This observation is not intended to call out any specific people.

Something I've observed in the work environment: a tendency from some types of people to provide what I would term "toxic answers". This is when, broadly speaking, someone on a team asks a question (re tech, process, how to do something, etc.), and someone else provides an "answer" which is not really helpful. This can take several forms:

• Reference to existing documentation which is out of date, incomplete, or inaccurate
• Reference to process which is surface-level related, but not germane to the actual question
• Reference to something which someone else has stated to be the answer, but is not actually the answer, and the person echoing it has not personally verified
• Some related commentary which expresses opinions on the topic, and pretends to answer the question, but isn't actually actionable
• Commentary which expands the scope of the question to include more questions/work, without answering the original question
• etc.

Obviously the above could be deemed "unhelpful", but why do I think of these responses as "toxic"? I will explain.

In a work context, you have various levels of understanding of topics discussed, ranging from your subject matter experts (with in-depth knowledge) to you high level managers (with usually just buzzword familiarity), and levels in between. When someone on a team asks a question, and someone (especially a more senior person) provides a "toxic" answer, this typically has a few effects:

• The manager(s) believe the question has been addressed by the person providing the response, even though it has not
• The asking person might be disinclined to pursue to topic further, and thus (at best) waste time working on it solo, because they feel they cannot inquire further
• This can create more work for the person asking (in the case of a response which expands the scope), which creates a negative motivation to seek help
• In the case of false/misleading or out of date information, this can waste lots of time going down paths which are ultimately not fruitful
• If the information is known not helpful by the person asking, it can strain the working relationships
• It generally "shuts down" the discussion, with the question effectively unanswered
• Worse, it propagates an inaccurate/damaging perception of value to the team:
• The person asking the question should (possibly) get credit for reaching out for something difficult/nuanced, but instead they are likely perceived as less capable of independently solving problems
• The person providing the response should (probably) be viewed negatively for damaging the team dynamics and time management, but instead will likely get credit from their management for providing timely and helpful answers

In addition to the damage above, it can be challenging even for a "good" employee to navigate the process of trying to improve this behavior, depending on the perceptions of the employees. The secondary harm of someone providing toxic answers is that over time, they are perceived as more valuable team members by their management, so negative feedback about their answers or behavior is typically seen as more of a negative for the reporters than the subject. This is an observable effect within teams, of course: you don't want to criticize the person who management views as a "star employee". This compounds the effects, ultimately driving the actually more productive employees to seek roles elsewhere, away from the toxic influences which they cannot modify.

My advice to companies and managers, with respect to the above, would be this: do proactive follow-ups for inquiries where the outcome is unobvious, and ask the team members if the answers provided led to actual resolutions. Assume people on the team are not going to proactively raise concerns about people viewed as "untouchable" or senior within the org, and factor that into your information gathering. Be on the lookout for people who just provide links for answers, without checking if the information referenced actually solved the issue presented. And understand that your best employees are not the ones providing the most "this might be related" type answers, but the ones providing the most actionable and accurate answers. If you don't identify and curtail people providing toxic answers within a team, you're going to have problems over the long run.