Culture doesn’t fail overnight, it unravels in small, often overlooked ways until performance, engagement, and trust are quietly eroded.
If you’re leading a team or organisation, here are three clear warning signs your culture may be heading off course, and what to do about it.
1. Silence in the Room
When team members stop speaking up, it’s not always because everything is fine. A 2023 Gallup study found that only 3 in 10 employees strongly agree that their opinions count at work.
Silence is often a sign of fear, disengagement, or lack of psychological safety.
What to do: Build an environment where safe challenge is welcomed, not punished. Model vulnerability, ask open questions, and reward those who speak with candour.
Leaders must ask first, consistently and visibly, and show it is safe for their people to engage and share.
2. Performance Conversations Are Rare or Avoided
When feedback becomes infrequent, unclear, or sugar-coated, it signals cultural complacency.
In high-performing cultures, conversations about performance are ongoing, not saved for annual reviews. According to PwC, 60% of employees say they would like more feedback than they currently receive.
What to do: Shift from a performance management mindset to performance enablement. Equip leaders to give real-time, coaching-based feedback that’s focused on growth, not blame.
Make expectations visible, and hold people accountable to them, fairly and consistently.
3. “That’s Not My Job” Thinking Creeps In
When collaboration breaks down and silos grow, teams lose sight of shared purpose.
You’ll notice people protecting turf, avoiding ownership, or deferring decisions. This mindset kills adaptability and erodes trust fast.
What to do: Reconnect teams to a common vision and the “why” behind their work. Reset clarity around roles and interdependencies.
Leaders must reinforce the mindset that outcomes matter more than titles—and reward behaviours that build collective accountability.
The Bottom Line
A faltering culture rarely shouts, it whispers. But the consequences are loud: declining engagement, high turnover, poor execution.
The fix isn’t perks or posters. It’s leadership clarity, honest conversations, and the courage to reset expectations.
Culture is built, or broken, in the behaviours leaders tolerate or transform.
Great leaders don’t react to drift, they build cultures where people lead themselves, and do the right things naturally.
