In episode 255, Coffey talks with Teri Chilcoat about navigating and recovering from toxic workplace environments while building healthier organizational cultures.
They discuss defining toxic workplace dynamics beyond legal thresholds and into lived employee experience; recognizing psychological and physical symptoms of chronic workplace stress and burnout; understanding the toxic triangle of leaders, followers, and culture enabling dysfunction; applying personal agency and stoic principles to regain control in adverse environments; building leadership accountability systems that reinforce values and ethical behavior; identifying disengagement signals and preventing employee turnover through proactive management; evaluating why high-performing individual contributors often fail as managers; fostering self-awareness and emotional intelligence as core leadership competencies; addressing the hidden costs of toxic high performers on team morale and retention; preparing organizations for potential waves of turnover driven by disengagement and economic shifts.
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About our Guest:
Teri Chilcoat is the author of Surviving the Toxic Workplace from an HR Insider: A Roadmap to Power, Peace, and Happiness, a practical guide that exposes the hidden dynamics behind toxic work cultures and offers a clear path for professionals who want to reclaim their voice, well-being, and sense of purpose at work. Drawing from more than 15 years of experience in human resources, Teri combines real-world insight with research-backed strategies to help employees and leaders recognize the patterns that lead to burnout, disengagement, and silence in the workplace—and what to do about them.
As the founder of Inner Authority Co., Teri has spent her career advising executives, managers, and employees through complex workplace challenges including employee relations issues, culture breakdowns, leadership conflict, and burnout recovery. Her work centers on a simple but often overlooked idea: sustainable performance and healthy workplaces begin when individuals reclaim their inner authority.
Building on the lessons from her book, Teri delivers her keynote, “Retention Signals: What Employees Need to Stay (and What HR Can Fix Fast),” where she challenges conventional thinking about workplace well-being and shows leaders how to recognize the early signals of disengagement before employees walk out the door. Through real-world examples and practical tools, she helps organizations shift from reactive retention strategies to proactive leadership.
She also leads the BOLD Roadmap Workshop, which equips professionals and organizations with a structured framework for self-awareness, authentic leadership, and long-term, sustainable success.
Teri holds a Master of Science in Strategic Human Resources from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of La Verne. She maintains professional certifications from both HRCI and SHRM and has been an active member of DallasHR since 2015.
Teri Chilcoat can be reached at
https://www.innerauthoritycompany.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-chilcoat-phr
https://www.facebook.com/tchilcoat
https://www.instagram.com/tchilcoat
About Mike Coffey:
Mike Coffey is an entrepreneur, licensed private investigator, business strategist, HR consultant, and registered yoga teacher.
In 1999, he founded Imperative, a background investigations and due diligence firm helping risk-averse clients make well-informed decisions about the people they involve in their business.
Imperative delivers in-depth employment background investigations, know-your-customer and anti-money laundering compliance, and due diligence investigations to more than 300 risk-averse corporate clients across the US, and, through its PFC Caregiver & Household Screening brand, many more private estates, family offices, and personal service agencies.
Imperative has been named a Best Places to Work, the Texas Association of Business’ small business of the year, and is accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association.
Mike shares his insight from 25+ years of HR-entrepreneurship on the Good Morning, HR podcast, where each week he talks to business leaders about bringing people together to create value for customers, shareholders, and community.
Mike has been recognized as an Entrepreneur of Excellence by FW, Inc. and has twice been recognized as the North Texas HR Professional of the Year.
Mike serves as a board member of a number of organizations, including the Texas State Council, where he serves Texas’ 31 SHRM chapters as State Director-Elect; Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County; the Texas Association of Business; and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, where he is chair of the Talent Committee.
Mike is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the HR Certification Institute and a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). He is also a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) and teaches multiple times each week.
Mike and his very patient wife of 29 years are empty nesters in Fort Worth.
Learning Objectives:
Identify the behavioral and organizational indicators of a toxic workplace.
Apply self-awareness and agency to navigate high-stress work environments.
Develop leadership practices that promote accountability, engagement, and retention.
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