Fear of lost revenue or performance if they go. “Too hard to replace” skills or client relationships. Leaders avoiding conflict. Mistaking bullying for “drive” or “high standards.” Managing up well while managing down badly. Results trump respect. Rules are...
Employees aren’t quitting quietly anymore, it seems they’re hanging on. The buzzwords may change, but the underlying story is about how people respond to uncertainty. A couple of years ago, the headlines focused on disengagement: employees doing the minimum as a way of protecting themselves...
When most people think of workplace bullying, they picture shouting, insults or open confrontation. But bullying can also be subtle - hidden behind gossip, cliques and social exclusion. This is called relational aggression. Relational aggression in teams uses relationships as the weapon....
Compassionate leadership is characterised by empathy, active listening, fairness, support, accountability and authenticity, It fosters trust and psychological safety at work, promoting staff well-being, engagement, retention. It can be instilled through leadership development and inclusive policies....
A curt interruption in a meeting. An eye-roll when someone speaks. Leaving a colleague out of a decision they should be part of. These behaviours might seem harmless in isolation. But together, they corrode trust. Micro-behaviours are subtle actions that communicate disrespect or exclusion....
You can’t fix a culture you’re actively harming. But many leaders try. They commission values exercises. They launch listening surveys. They fund training programmes on respect, civility or psychological safety. But at the same time, their own behaviour quietly undermines all of...
It’s one of the questions I get asked most by HR professionals, OD leads, operational managers and leaders who can see the impact of poor culture, low morale, and burnout… but feel like no one at the top is paying attention....
Toxic workplace culture doesn’t always show up in obvious ways. My simple Toxic Workplace Culture Health Check, is a practical reflection tool for leaders, which can help you spot the signs....
Most people try to handle conflict by staying calm, rational, and solution-focused. It’s a reasonable instinct after all, staying composed should help, right?But in team dynamics, especially when tensions are high, this approach can actually escalate things.During a recent team development...
A recent LinkedIn post I shared on this topic reached 40,000 impressions and was seen by 30,000 professionals, mostly senior leaders and HR professionals working in regulated sectors like finance, insurance and healthcare. Clearly, the message hit a nerve.....here's why....
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...