Are Toxic Cultures Recoverable?

In this edition we’re talking toxic dumpster fires for cultures and can they be turned around. Or is better to escape while you can?

It started with a question

I was sharing a client’s workplace drama with one of the team and as I did I could see their eyes going as wide as saucers. I stopped mid-sentence and asked, “What’s up?”

They hit me with, “Are there some cultures you just can’t fix?”

Instinct said, "Hell no, everything’s fixable!" But then I paused. What if I'm wrong?

Sometimes you walk into a business, and it’s a raging dumpster fire, like, “Welcome to Sh*tsville, population: 1012 and falling.”

Maybe in some places, the culture is so corrosive it’s beyond saving, but I’d like to put that to the test.

What Is toxic culture?

Where do I even start.

Imagine walking into work and feeling like you’ve entered a game of Survivor. The alliances are petty, the challenges are pointless, and everyone’s just waiting for someone else to get voted off the island. Meanwhile the company is going to hell in a hand basket.

Forget teamwork—it's everyone for themselves. Productivity is tanking, morale hits rock bottom, and the only thing on the rise is the desire to GTFO. And it’s so $%@! exhausting.

The collateral damage

Toxicity is like cultural contagion—it spreads, it destroys, and it costs. Let’s talk damage:

1. Financial Impact Toxic cultures haemorrhage money. Turnover, absenteeism, disengagement, it all adds up. Gallup (2024) tagged the cost of disengaged employees at $8.9 trillion USD globally, or 9% of GDP. That’s one big fat hole in the bottom line.
2. People Wellbeing Impact - This stuff isn’t just costing dollars, it’s costing us our mental health. In a 2023 survey by the American Psychological Association, they found 1 in 5 workers say their workplace is toxic. And those in toxic workplaces, were three times more likely to have their mental wellbeing impacted.
3. Talent Retention Impact: McKinsey (2022) found that toxic workplace behaviour was the single largest predictor of negative employee outcomes, including burnout symptoms and intent to leave. This is backed up by MIT Sloan's analysis that found toxic culture is 10.4 times more likely to contribute to employee attrition than compensation.

Think about it. If your best friend was in a toxic relationship, would you recommend they stick around? And would you warn off others from going out with the toxic partner?

Why toxicity happens

I often here nobody wants a toxic culture—it just happens. I call BS!

Here’s the deal: Toxic culture doesn’t just pop out of nowhere. It’s built on three pillars of dysfunction: Sh*tty leadership, toxic social norms, and crappy work design.

Let’s break it down:

1. Leadership Behaviour: The Rotten Core - MIT Sloan, (2024) named toxic leadership as the biggest driver of toxic culture, and it ripples through every layer of the organisation. Bosses set the tone, and if that tone is all about blame and ego, you’re in trouble. Whats worrying is WBI found that 66% of workplace bullies are bosses.
2. Social Norms: The Nasty Playground - Toxicity thrives in unhealthy social dynamics where disrespectful, non-inclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive behaviours are the norm and no one steps in. This list of attributes was pulled together by MIT Sloan after analysing 1.3M Glassdoor reviews. You just read bosses can be bullies, but the remainder are your peers. No wonder folks are looking for the exits.
3. Work Design: The Bad Blueprint - Work isn’t just broken—it’s designed to be toxic. Gallup points to burnout being caused by overwork, unclear roles, chaotic deadlines, silent comms, and unfair treatment. All of these thrive in toxic workplaces. Toxicity isn’t just a people problem, it’s a structural design flaw.

6 moves to detox

So if we now know what drives toxic culture are you up for changing it? Because it takes a lot of energy, grit and at times you will doubt yourself.

Just starting can feel daunting. So what follows is not a grand plan, its about you changing your own habits as leader:

1. Own the Mess: Step one admit there’s a problem. By you acknowledging it your team can feel a sense of relief “They finally get it”.
2. Bin the Blame Game: Stop the finger-pointing. Create a space where mistakes become lessons, not an excuse for a witch hunt. Ask “what can we learn from this?”
3. Lead with Empathy: Switch from barking orders to asking questions. “What do you need?” goes a lot further than, “Get it done.”
4. Reboot Recognition: Toxicity runs on fear; healthy culture runs on appreciation. Celebrate wins, however small. Make people feel seen.
5. Invest in Your Development: Level up your soft skills. Im talking about those mother of mary moments where you need to tackle conflict, motivate exhausted staff, and grapple with uncertainty. My advice - find a mentor.
6. Reset Workload Expectations: Help your team make smart calls without worrying they’ll get slapped for it. Bring them into the mess, budget cuts, challenging deadlines, all of it. You may just be beautifully surprised how brilliant they are when given the opportunity to step up.

That’s a wrap

So can you fix every dumpster fire?

Maybe not, particularly if you’re not the CEO. But you sure can make your team a place worth showing up for. People don’t leave companies, they leave bosses.

Think back to when you started out in the working world. What kind of place did you dream of working for? What’s stopping you from creating that environment now?

Thanks for tuning in.