Psychological safety suffers when people bottle up issues. If a team avoids difficult conversations, it often leads to resentment, frustration and poorer working relationships. When I’ve worked with teams in this situation, what they’ve really needed is a clear, safe way to have those tough conver...
One issue that comes up repeatedly in team culture work is cyber incivility. Not the obvious kind - no aggressive messages or full-blown arguments. It's the low-level, often unintentional stuff that chips away at trust....
I’ve seen first-hand how hard it is to translate survey results into real action. Every NHS trust dutifully runs the NHS National Survey each year, but are leaders actively using it to improve workplace culture, or just going through the motions?...
In medicine, a diagnosis like IBS can be reassuring. It acknowledges that something is genuinely wrong, even if we can’t pin it down. In organisations, “culture” serves a similar function. It gives leaders and teams a way to talk about hidden dynamics, tensions, and the emotional undercurrents....
An NHS trust recently apologised for what it called a toxic workplace culture in healthcare. But what does that actually mean?...
Incivility at work often hides in plain sight. It’s not always shouting or open conflict. Sometimes it’s subtle such as eye rolls, ignoring others’ input, cutting people off....
You’ve probably heard a lot about building trust at work by listening better. Listening is important, but it’s only half the equation....
Most people associate toxicity with bad bosses or difficult colleagues. But these are symptoms, not the cause. According to a 2024 conceptual review by Priesemuth and Schminke, toxic work culture is not about isolated behaviours. It’s about shared perceptions of an organisation....
An NHS Trust was recently ordered to pay £29,000 in compensation after an employee was repeatedly mocked and called “Darth Vader” by colleagues. The tribunal ruled it wasn't harmless fun. It was exclusion. It was bullying. And it reflected a wider issue within the team’s culture.If you work...
In recent years, the term "toxic work climate" has gained significant attention, highlighting the harmful effects of hostile work environments on both individuals and organisations. A recent article in the Journal of Applied Psychology offers a comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon, providing...
Career purpose entails aligning work with your values, interests, and talents, with the belief that your contribution matters....
Imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern where an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud, despite evidence to the contrary....
Lessons from the 2022 NHS staff survey results...