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Dysfunctional Cultures “If your body gets hurt at work, you're covered, but if your soul is hurt at work, you're on your own.”
—E. F. Schumacher
Over my years as an employee and in running Compassionate Coding, I’ve encountered all kinds of company cultures with varying degrees of psychological safety. It’s often clear from a handful of interviews with employees what the glaring issues are, and which levers we might adjust to begin transforming the culture. That’s how I decide what to cover in the team training. As depicted in the above cartoon, it’s sometimes hard to identify these problems when you’ve been at the company for a long time. People early in their career may not even realize healthier cultures exist. So, here are a few warning signs to look for: Widespread burnout
We all experience ebbs and flows in our energy, but if you look around the office or Zoom calls and consistently find tired, dejected faces, there’s a problem at the organizational level.
People are afraid to speak up
For all the talk about psychological safety in recent years, there are still so many fear-driven cultures out there. If the difficult conversations are only happening behind closed doors—or worse, not happening at all—you do not have a psychologically safe culture. It’s a little trickier to figure out the root cause, but incompetent leadership is often a contributing factor.
Insecure leadership
Do you trust the leaders at your company? Do they support and inspire you? Do they care about you at all? Many people in tech are thrust into leadership positions without guidance or training. They may never even have witnessed competent leadership. In some cases, these inexperienced leaders step up to the challenge, educate themselves, and set an example for the next generation. Sadly, in many cases, new leaders choose to mask their inexperience and insecurity with arrogance and may even sabotage employees out of jealousy. Insecure leaders are more likely to perceive threats to their power when people point out problems. They may refuse to acknowledge morale problems, for example, because that would reveal their own weaknesses. They also tend to micromanage.
Scarcity mindset
Does your company compensate you fairly and provide the necessary training and equipment for you to do your best work? Or do they question every pencil you request? Companies of course need to be financially responsible, and there will be real constraints, especially for early stage companies, but an overwhelming feeling of deprivation is a strong signal for how much the company values you.
Too much—or too little—turnover
Are the top performers constantly leaving? On the flip side, is no one leaving? If the turnover is too low, it may be a sign that people haven’t received the necessary experience and training at this company to feel confident in securing another position.
There are many other signs. What are the top red flags for you? Feel free to respond to this email and let me know. I love hearing from you. :) What if you find yourself in a toxic culture? What can you do? One option is to try to improve the culture. You can gather allies throughout the company who also understand the problems. You can then tactfully share your concerns with leadership, along with proposed solutions. What happens after that is out of your control. If anyone in leadership cares enough, this can be the start of positive change. It’s often at this point when a company contacts me about a training. However, if no one in power cares about creating a healthy culture, you may be out of luck—and out of a job. My core values won’t let me stay quiet when I see people around me suffering, no matter the consequences, but trying to create change from within a company is risky business. In fact, that’s why I love what I do now. I can speak the hard truths without worrying about political consequences. The alternate path while you’re inside: keep your head down, don’t make waves, focus on what you can control (potentially moving to a healthier team within the company), practice self-care, and—importantly—dust off that résumé. It may be time to escape. Which path do you take? It depends on how bad the situation is, the likelihood of change, and your own core values. Just remember—you do have power and you do deserve better. Yes, even in a tight job market. Yes, even though there are bills to pay. You might not be able to leave today, but you can take a small step. Update one bullet point in your résumé. Check out a book from the library. Take a free online course. Reach out to your network. These small steps help you break out of a cycle of learned helplessness and assert your personal power.
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