Signs of a Toxic Work Culture and How Leaders Fix It
No company sets out to build a toxic culture. It usually grows from small behaviors that nobody addressed, until they became the way things are done.
Signs of a toxic work culture include people being afraid to speak up, gossip and cliques, blame instead of ownership, high performers who behave badly without consequences, constant turnover, burnout treated as normal, and leaders who say one thing and do another. Leaders fix it by naming the behaviors, addressing them consistently regardless of who is involved, modeling the standard themselves, listening to employees and protecting the right of great people to work with great people.
A woman once told me, I know the problem. We do not have a culture here. But every organization has a culture. If people arrive late, ignore standards and face no accountability, that is the culture. It may not be the culture anyone wanted, but it is the culture that was allowed. Culture is not written on the wall. It is shaped by what happens repeatedly inside the walls.
Toxic cultures rarely start with one dramatic event. They grow from small things leaders let slide. And the cost is high. SHRM found that 53% of workers who saw or experienced incivility said it hurt their mental health, and the American Psychological Association’s 2026 Work in America survey found that 37% of U.S. workers say their work environment harms their mental health.
Eight signs of a toxic work culture
- People are afraid to speak up. Bad news gets hidden and meetings go quiet.
- Gossip and cliques. Information travels sideways instead of openly.
- Blame over ownership. Mistakes lead to finger-pointing, not fixes.
- Stars get a pass. High performers behave badly without consequences.
- Good people keep leaving. Especially the dependable ones.
- Burnout is normal. Exhaustion is treated as commitment.
- Words and actions do not match. Leaders say one thing and do another.
- Nobody celebrates. Wins pass without anyone noticing.
What leaders tolerate becomes the culture
The single biggest driver of a toxic culture is unaddressed behavior. When someone is rude in a meeting and nobody says anything, the team learns that rudeness is acceptable. When a top performer bullies colleagues and is still rewarded, the team learns that results excuse everything. Leaders shape culture whether they realize it or not, and choosing not to address something is still a choice. I wrote about this in Not the Culture You Wanted. The One You Allowed.
Protect your great people
Great culture is about protecting the right of great people to work with great people. Your best employees want to work beside other people who care. When low standards, drama or destructive behavior go unchecked, your best people feel it first, and they are usually the first to leave because they have the most options.
That is why addressing toxic behavior, even from talented people, is not just about fairness. It is about keeping the people you most need. See How to Handle a Toxic High Performer.
How to start fixing it
Start by listening. Hold one-on-one conversations, run a short anonymous survey or read your online reviews, and look for patterns. People will usually tell you what is broken if they believe it is safe.
Then name the specific behaviors that need to change and address them consistently, no matter who is involved. Consistency is everything. If the standard applies to some people and not others, nothing changes.
Model it yourself. If leaders gossip, avoid accountability or ignore their own rules, no policy will fix the culture. Your team knows whether you do what you tell them to do.
Rebuild with small, consistent moments
Culture does not change through one big initiative. It changes through small moments repeated over time: a leader who addresses a problem right away, notices good work, tells the truth and follows through. The SPARK framework gives you five places to start: Support, Purpose, Appreciation, Relationships, and Knowledge and Growth.
Fixing culture is the focus of my keynote, You Are Capable of a Better Culture. See also The SPARK Framework and How to Improve Workplace Culture.
Toxic cultures grow from small behaviors nobody addressed. Watch for fear of speaking up, gossip, blame, stars who get a pass, constant turnover and leaders whose words and actions do not match. Fix it by listening, naming behaviors, applying one standard to everyone, modeling it yourself and rebuilding through small, consistent moments.
Frequently asked questions
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Chris Sund speaks on this in You Are Capable of a Better Culture, for conferences, leadership teams and company meetings.
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