A toxic culture in an organisation or in one department rarely fixes itself. Leaders need a structured response that both uncovers what is really happening and demonstrates a genuine commitment to change, often starting with a targeted cultural review.
Recognising a toxic micro-culture
A department’s culture can be toxic even where the broader organisation appears healthy. Common warning signs include:
• Persistent conflict, cliques, or “us versus them” dynamics within or around the team.
• High turnover, grievances, absenteeism or informal complaints about “how things are done around here”.
• Patterns of disrespect, exclusion, or poor behaviour being normalised or excused.
• Staff avoiding speaking up, giving feedback, or raising safety and workload concerns.
Because micro-cultures can vary widely across teams, it is important to measure culture at a granular, department level rather than relying on whole-of-organisation averages.
First steps leaders should take
When you suspect a toxic culture in a particular department, the first step is to listen and understand rather than jumping directly to solutions. Practical early actions include:
• Meeting with key stakeholders (executives, HR, WHS or employee representatives) to clarify concerns, risks and desired outcomes.
• Stabilising any immediate risks (for example, bullying, discrimination or psychosocial hazards) through appropriate HR or WHS processes.
• Communicating with the department that issues have been heard and that there will be a fair and confidential process to understand what is happening.
• Avoiding scapegoating individuals too early; cultural issues often reflect broader system, leadership, workload and behavioural patterns, not simply “one bad egg”.
This framing reassures employees that the aim is to improve safety and wellbeing, not to punish people for speaking up.
How a cultural review helps
A cultural review is a structured way to “take the pulse” of a department, identify patterns, and create an evidence-based plan for change. It is especially useful where:
• There are anonymous or whistleblower complaints and workers are reluctant to go through formal grievance channels.
• There is a cluster of conflict, bullying allegations, or psychological injury risks within one team.
• The organisation suspects deeper issues but cannot clearly pinpoint the drivers or their scale.
In a typical culture review, an external reviewer will:
• Clarify the scope and objectives with leadership (for example, focusing on one department, its interfaces with other teams, and leadership behaviours or workload issues).
• Review relevant background information such as policies, complaints data, exit interviews, EAP themes, turnover, absenteeism and WHS reports.
• Design and run confidential processes such as surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews to gather candid feedback.
• Analyse the evidence to identify patterns and themes (for example, poor leadership behaviours, unclear roles, unreasonable workloads, or tolerance of incivility).
• Deliver a report outlining findings, risk assessment and practical recommendations, prioritised by impact and feasibility.
External reviewers bring independence, confidentiality and specialist expertise. This encourages honest participation and helps leadership identify blind spots that may have become normalised within the organisation.
Turning findings into real change
Uncovering issues is only half the job; credibility lives or dies in what leaders do next. Once the cultural review is complete, organisations should:
• Share the key themes and recommended actions in a transparent but de-identified way, making it clear what will change and on what timeline.
• Implement targeted measures addressing the drivers of toxicity, such as leadership coaching, workload redesign, clearer behavioural expectations, and stronger responses to bullying and discrimination.
• Embed regular pulse checks, engagement surveys or listening forums within the department to track progress and maintain psychological safety.
• Align HR, WHS and grievance processes so that individual issues are managed fairly and consistently with the organisation’s cultural objectives.
For example, if a review reveals disrespectful leadership and unchecked incivility, the response might combine leadership development, clearer conduct standards, early intervention feedback processes, and additional support for staff who have been affected.
How I can help
I partner with organisations at every stage of the process to ensure any cultural review of a problematic department is both safe and effective:
• Risk triage and legal framing: Assess WHS, bullying, discrimination and adverse action risks, and advise whether immediate interventions are needed alongside a review.
• Designing the review: Define the scope, terms of reference and methodology so the process is fair, trauma-informed and consistent with legal obligations, awards and enterprise agreements.
• Facilitated conversations and mediation: As an accredited mediator, I am skilled in facilitating constructive conversations between employees in conflict and can assist organisations to address relationship breakdowns within teams. This may include facilitated discussions, structured feedback processes and practical recommendations to support particular employees and rebuild working relationships.
• Governance and documentation: Draft staff communications, confidentiality arrangements, consent wording, and protocols for handling reportable misconduct or notifiable incidents that emerge.
• Action planning and implementation: Translate review findings into a practical action plan that addresses structural issues (work design, policies and leadership capability) as well as behavioural expectations, with clear timelines and accountability.
• Training and capability building: Deliver training for leaders and HR on bullying, reasonable management action, psychosocial risk management and how to lead culture change lawfully and effectively.
