10 signs you have an unhealthy workplace culture

Every leader I know wants their charity to be a great place to work. They want to do their best to make sure the work doesn’t have a negative impact on their staff, but they also want to ensure that their charity has the greatest impact possible. Which means these two ambitions can sometimes feel like they are in conflict – there is so much to do, there aren’t enough resources, and at times it just feels like everyone is keeping their heads down, working as hard as they can to deliver. And this way of working looks like dedication and commitment to the organisation, but it can hide unhealthy working practices, which create a culture that is not only unhealthy, but also has a negative impact on the delivery of the strategy and mission, because overworked and exhausted staff can’t work effectively. 

So here are the 10 signs that I’ve seen across charities which you should look out for: 

1. You describe your organisation like a family.  

I hear charities described as families often, and I think the intention behind it comes from a good place. It’s meant to reflect the closeness of the team, the feeling that everyone is in it together, and reflects the grassroots nature of many charities. In the early days, and for small charities especially, everyone needs to pitch in. 

But whilst the intention may be to describe the positive, supportive connection between staff, it might not feel like that for everyone. Think about it, not all family dynamics are healthy; think about the things which are unsaid; the behaviour which is accepted, because that’s just how a certain family member is; the imbalance in the dynamics; the family member who is the scapegoat.  

This might also reflect a surface niceness, where everyone gets on, but actually no one shares different opinions, where there is no respectful debate, and where cliques thrive. 

Think about the behaviour in your charity, what is simply allowed to slide? Think about the relationships, are these of equal adults, or is there a parental aspect to any of them? 

2. You’re stuck in back-to-back meetings. 

Yes, there’s loads to do, yes there is lots to discuss, yes you need to reach agreement to take action. But if you’re finding yourself in meeting after meeting, to the detriment to time taking action, or thinking & reflecting, the balance of your time is out.  

And it might reflect that your organisation is stuck in busyness as opposed to effectiveness. 

Think about whether agendas are well thought out, and sent with sufficient notice (not the night before or morning of the meeting), are actions actioned before the next meeting, or are you stuck in a cycle of discussion, and carrying decisions/actions over, because everyone is too busy? 

3. You work through lunch and there’s no time to take 5 minutes if you need it. 

If it’s become the norm for you and your staff to work through lunch, if it feels like there isn’t even 5 minutes to take a break, it’s a sign that the work has become overwhelming. 

I know it feels like if you push through you’ll get more done and that you’re more likely to actually finish on time (maybe). 

But research shows that the opposite is true, when you don’t take a break, you become less productive. It makes thinking clearly more difficult, problem solving harder, and slows down your output. 

4. It's not safe to make mistakes. 

If you or your teams are worrying about making mistakes, especially if people feel like they can’t ask for help, say somethings not working out as they expected, or are avoiding starting a task because they’re not certain they can complete it, it suggests that you don’t feel safe. 

And not feeling safe at work is a clear sign that there is a problem with a culture. Healthy cultures talk about mistakes, see them as opportunities for learning and growth, and deal with them in supportive way. 

5. People work in silos, not together. 

If it feels like your teams are pulling apart, working on their own priorities and frustrated with each other when they ask for something, this suggests two things. Firstly, that they don’t understand how their separate priorities work together towards the charity’s goals, and secondly, that they haven’t build respectful, working relationships.  

You can’t expect your staff to be friends, but they should be able to work together cohesively. 

6. You have more unread emails than you care to admit. 

Nearly every leader I’ve known in the sector is chasing a zero inbox. In the worst cases these have been hundreds of unread emails. The inbox becomes another source of anxiety and overwhelm, something else to rush through, and manage. It means often the important information gets lost in the sea of ‘CC’ing for your information’. 

This reflects a culture that is trying to protect itself, but this gets in the way of actually doing the work which needs to be done. Another source of ‘busyness’. 

7. Overwork is the norm, there’s so much to do after all. 

On average charity leaders spend an extra 10 hours at work each week, add to that most won’t take breaks, will at best be available during their leave and at worst work through it, add to that the norm to work though sickness and just get on with it, because all that work will be waiting when you get back, and you’ll have to do two weeks work in one. 

It’s like busyness has become a badge of honour, it turns those in the sector into martyrs, and it’s what leads to burnout, stress, and rentetnion & recruitment issues.  

8. Time is spent in the day to day, and the strategy is lost. 

Once everyone is overwhelmed, it’s easy for everything to feel urgent, to get pulled into everything, and respond on autopilot. The strategic work, the plans, the vision, keep getting pushed to when things are quieter. But that quiet time never comes. And so the charity keeps delivering, but not developing. Everyone is busy, but the organisation isn't moving forward in the way it should. If you find yourself regularly cancelling supervision, 1-to-1s, or team meetings because there is something more urgent, that's a sign the urgent has completely overtaken the important.  

9. There’s a resistance to and fear of change. 

When we hold on tightly to how things have been done, to the usual way of doing things, it’s typically a sign of fear. A fear of change, of doing things which will be hard, or because staff don’t feel they have the capacity to change, because they are maxed out. This can show up as a reluctance to try new approaches, a tendency to revert to how things have always been done, or a quiet cynicism about whether anything will really change. Sometimes it shows up as endless discussion without decision, or decisions made but never implemented. When staff don't feel safe, or don't have the capacity, change feels like one more thing to manage rather than an opportunity. 

10. Learning isn’t prioritised and is rarely embedded. 

When we're focused on the day to day, and training feels like an add-on, learning stops being something the organisation does intentionally and becomes something that happens by accident, if at all. Supervision and 1-to-1s become rushed, or surface level, focussed on the operational, not the developmental, and become transactional. Appraisals, where they happen at all, become a paper exercise, completed because of a deadline, and are quickly forgotten about until the next cycle. People repeat the same mistakes because there is no space to reflect on what went wrong. 

This matters because a team that isn't learning isn't developing. And a charity that isn't developing is at risk of stagnating, however hard everyone is working. 

In conclusion 

If you recognise several of these signs in your charity, I want to say two things. The first is that none of this means you are a bad leader, or that you don't care. Most of the leaders I work with who are navigating these challenges are some of the most committed and capable people I know. These patterns develop gradually, often in organisations where everyone is doing their best under significant pressure. 

The second is that it doesn't have to stay this way. Culture can change. But it requires someone to name what is happening honestly, and to decide to do something about it. 

If you'd like to understand this further, my two recent blogs on the dark side of purpose-driven work explore why these patterns develop and what can be done, both at an individual and an organisational level.  

And if you'd like to talk about what you're seeing in your own organisation, I'd love to hear from you.