Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what really happens when the influence you carry as a leader starts to work against you instead of for you?
I’ve spent most of my career life around leaders. Some outstanding. Some struggling. Some completely unaware of the impact they were having on the people around them. And one thing I know for certain is this: leadership influence is never neutral. It’s either building trust and belief, or it’s quietly tearing things apart.
When leadership influence turns toxic, it rarely starts with bad intent. It starts with pressure. Stress. Blind spots. A lack of self-awareness. I’ve seen it firsthand. I’ve lived it. And over the years, I’ve watched the same patterns repeat themselves across industries, boardrooms, and worksites all over Australia.
What happens when leadership influence turns toxic
Toxic leadership influence doesn’t usually announce itself. It creeps in. It shows up in sharp reactions, inconsistent decisions, silence where there should be conversation, and control where there should be trust.
I’ve read countless discussions where people describe leaders who “used to be great” until pressure changed them. I don’t need a forum to tell me that story. I’ve heard it directly from teams sitting across the table from me. Once fear replaces clarity, influence starts to rot.
WorkSafe and Safe Work Australia have been clear that psychosocial hazards often stem from leadership behaviour, particularly poor support and unclear expectations. When leaders don’t regulate themselves, the entire system feels it. You can see the same themes echoed in this overview of psychosocial hazards and again in research focused on poor leadership support.
Influence becomes toxic the moment people stop speaking honestly. That’s the line. Cross it, and recovery gets hard.
How poor leadership influence breaks trust and morale
Trust doesn’t disappear overnight. It leaks. One moment at a time. One unkept word. One overreaction. One decision made without explanation.
I’ve watched leaders say all the right things while behaving in ways that contradicted every value they spoke about. Teams notice that. Always. People believe behaviour, not intention.
When trust erodes, morale follows. Energy drops. Effort becomes transactional. People do what they’re paid for and nothing more. That’s not because they’re lazy. It’s because they’ve learned it’s safer to stay quiet.
This is something I’ve written about before in my piece on building trust in leadership. Trust isn’t a soft skill. It’s structural. Once it cracks, everything else starts wobbling.
The ripple effects of negative leadership influence
Leadership influence travels further than most people realise. What you say in a meeting at 9am shows up in how people speak to each other at 3pm.
I’ve seen negative influence ripple through teams like a bad current. One leader snapping under pressure leads to managers micromanaging. That leads to team members withdrawing. Then mistakes increase. Then blame follows.
It’s no coincidence that organisations with poor leadership behaviour see higher turnover and more incidents. The World Health Organisation has recognised burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not a personal failure. That perspective is outlined clearly here.
When leaders fail to see the ripple, they blame individuals instead of patterns.
Poor influence from leaders and its cultural impact
Culture isn’t posters on a wall. It’s permission. It’s what people believe they can safely say and do.
When leadership influence is inconsistent, culture becomes fragile. People stop taking responsibility. Innovation slows. Conversations become guarded.
This is why I talk so often about psychological safety. The absence of it comes at a real cost, something I unpacked deeply in this article on neglecting psychological safety.
Research from Amy Edmondson has shown that teams without safety don’t perform better under pressure. They hide problems. You can see the academic backing for that here.
Culture follows influence. Every time.
How bad leadership influence creates disengaged teams
Disengagement isn’t laziness. It’s a defence mechanism.
I’ve had people tell me they stopped sharing ideas because it “wasn’t worth the reaction”. That sentence should make any leader uncomfortable.
Gallup’s ongoing work on engagement shows that managers and leaders are the single biggest driver of engagement levels. Their research can be explored here.
When leaders dominate conversations, dismiss feedback, or react emotionally, people learn to switch off. And once they do, getting them back is hard.
I wrote about this silence problem directly in this piece on the cost of silence. Silence is rarely peace. It’s usually fear in disguise.
Why leadership influence must be intentional
Influence doesn’t come from position. It comes from presence.
Every leader influences whether they mean to or not. The difference between healthy and harmful leadership is intention. Intentional leaders slow themselves down. They think before they speak. They manage their emotional state because they know it spreads.
I’ve worked with leaders who believed influence was about authority. It never is. It’s about consistency. Care. And control.
This is where developing influence skills becomes critical. Learning how to shape thinking, gain buy-in, and speak with belief is something we focus on heavily through our work. Join our Presenting with influence workshop here.
If leaders don’t learn how to influence under pressure, pressure will influence them instead.
Where leaders can reset their influence
The good news is influence can be rebuilt. I’ve seen it happen more times than I can count.
It starts with awareness. Then accountability. Then action.
For leaders wanting support at an organisational level, working through a structured leadership session can create the circuit breaker teams need.
And for those who want to reach out directly, starting a conversation through our contact page is often the first step back to clarity.
A final reflection
I often ask leaders a simple question: if your team copied your behaviour tomorrow, would you be proud of what they learned?
Leadership influence shapes trust, morale, and culture whether we like it or not. The only real choice is whether we influence with care or leave it to chance.
If you want influence that builds belief rather than breaks it, start by looking in the mirror. That’s where real leadership work always begins.
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If you would like to learn more about Anton or The Guinea Group, please click here to book into Anton’s calendar, to:
UPGRADE your Mindset
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