It started small. The Monday meetings felt stale. Communication between crews was breaking down. Blame started creeping in where accountability had been. By the time Tybias realised what was happening, one person had poisoned the culture that took him years to build.
The worst part? Tybias couldn't see it. The toxic person had learned to hide it, tucking the poison behind closed doors where the owner couldn't see it until the damage was done. One person was enough to destroy what took years to build.
Tybias didn't fail because he was bad at hiring. He failed because he had no system. He was hiring on gut feel, conducting interviews alone, and trusting his instinct. That worked when the team was small. But the moment someone was determined to hide their nature, the system had no defence.
Here's what Tybias discovered: the difference between a good hire and a toxic hire isn't intent. It's process. When you systematise how you hire—getting multiple perspectives, checking culture fit, probing for gaps, trusting your gut but verifying it—you catch the liars before they get in.
One person (usually the owner) conducts the interview based on resume and impression.
Three people interview. Each looks for different red flags. References are called directly.
Tradies Success Academy gives you the frameworks, systems, and coaching to build a business that works without you.
This is the four-step loop Tybias built to stop the next toxic hire from slipping through. It's not complicated. It's just structured.
Don't accept LinkedIn recommendations. Call their previous employers directly. Ask specific questions about accountability, honesty, and how they handle pressure.
Ask: "How does this person handle feedback? What happens when they're wrong? Do they blame others?"
When their story doesn't add up, dig in. Why did they leave? What's the real reason? The lies come out when you ask the uncomfortable question three times.
If something feels off, it probably is. Bring your team into the interview. Let them pick up what you missed.
Every hire is now evaluated by three people looking for different red flags. One is spotting technical fit. One is spotting culture fit. One is spotting character gaps. By the time the hire happens, you've already caught the liars.
Once Tybias identified the toxic team member, he had to do the thing most owners avoid: have the hard conversation. Not the termination. The conversation before that, where you name the problem and give them the chance to change. Most won't. But some will. The ones who don't will remove themselves.
One toxic person starts poisoning the team culture within days. By week three, everyone feels it.
Once culture is poisoned, it takes nearly two years to rebuild the trust that was destroyed in three weeks.
One hard conversation early—addressing behaviour, naming the problem—prevents the years of cultural damage.
Find the right program for your trade and your stage of growth.
When a toxic person is removed, something unexpected happens: good people come back. Morale doesn't just improve—it springs back to life. But if you wait 18 months to discover the problem, you've already lost capacity, reputation, and revenue that you can never recover.
That's not a small leak. That's the invisible drain in your business. And it starts the moment someone toxic walks in, long before you notice the problem.
You can't see every problem from behind your desk. But you can build a system that stops the ones you can't see. Here's where to start, based on where you are right now.
Bring in one trusted advisor (accountant, mentor, business coach) to interview your next hire. Get a second opinion before you offer.
Interview new hires as a team of three: you, your ops manager, and one senior tradesperson. Each looks for different red flags.
Create a hiring committee. Call references together. Debrief as a team. Make the hire decision by consensus, not gut feel alone.
Document the culture fit assessment. Train your team on how to spot liars in interviews. Culture defence is everybody's job.
Tybias's hiring process is part of the Tradies Success Academy curriculum. Join the Freedom Fighter program to access the hiring toolkit and work with a coach on building your own system.
Get 1:1 coaching to scale your trade business faster. Join the Freedom Fighter program for hands-on support from experienced trade business coaches.
This episode applies differently depending on your business stage. Here is the specific action for each phase.
Get weekly financial visibility in place before anything else. 30 minutes every Friday: what came in, what went out, what is your margin. Build the habit first, then layer systems on top. Start in the Learning Hub .
Your first hire for freedom is a qualified tradesperson, not an apprentice. Cost every job before you quote. Track hours against every job. Follow the scaling loop — proactive hiring, never reactive.
Delegate the weekly numbers review to your operations manager. Your job is now strategy and work generation. Systemise the Financial Visibility Loop so it runs without you.
Dashboards, not spreadsheets. Margins tracked per job, per team, per division. Hire decisions backed by data. You are optimising a machine, not building one. If you are still firefighting, the system is broken.
This episode applies differently depending on your business stage. Here is the specific action for each phase.
Get weekly financial visibility in place before anything else. 30 minutes every Friday: what came in, what went out, what is your margin. Build the habit first, then layer systems on top. Start in the Learning Hub.
Your first hire for freedom is a qualified tradesperson, not an apprentice. Cost every job before you quote. Track hours against every job. Follow the scaling loop — proactive hiring, never reactive.
Delegate the weekly numbers review to your operations manager. Your job is now strategy and work generation. Systemise the Financial Visibility Loop so it runs without you.
Dashboards, not spreadsheets. Margins tracked per job, per team, per division. Hire decisions backed by data. You are optimising a machine, not building one. If you are still firefighting, the system is broken.
The frameworks in this episode are the same ones members use inside Tradies Success Academy.