It’s not the workload that’s breaking people. It’s the culture. And chances are, you’ve felt it yourself. I have.

According to recent McKinsey research, toxic workplace behaviours are the single biggest driver of “negative workplace outcomes”, the corporate euphemism for burnout, distress, depression, and anxiety.

Maybe you’ve worked with someone who poisoned the atmosphere. Maybe you’ve tiptoed through a workplace where fear and ego ruled. Maybe you’re leading a team right now, trying to stop history from repeating itself.

We’ve all been there. Some of us more than once.

So what do we do about it?

You can’t train out toxicity

As Steven Bartlett recently put it:

It’s true.

People aren’t spreadsheets. Teams don’t fail because of technical gaps, they fail when trust erodes, assumptions build, and behaviours go unchecked.

Yet we still over-index on CVs, hard skills, and impressive career histories, even when the emotional cost of a bad hire can ripple across an entire organisation.

What are you modelling?

This isn’t just about recruitment. Culture isn’t something HR owns, it’s something every leader, peer and team member shapes, every day.

If we want healthier workplaces, we can’t just remove toxicity. We have to consciously model the opposite. And that can be really hard.

And no, that doesn’t mean forced positivity or performative wellness.

It means showing:

• Humility: being open to learning and unlearning, even in leadership
  
  

• Vulnerability: allowing space for imperfection, honesty, and growth
  
  

• Empathy: understanding that people carry things we don’t always see
  
  

These aren’t “soft” skills (how I hate that phraseology - these are core and human skills). They’re core leadership competencies in any high-performance culture.

And like any behaviour worth building, they start with a conscious choice.

One small shift.

So here’s the challenge.

Pick one of those behaviours, just one. Humility. Vulnerability. Empathy.
And make a commitment to consciously demonstrate it to your team, your peers, or your leaders.

Not once. Not just when it’s easy. But consistently, in moments that matter.

You might be surprised at the power of the ripple effect.

Culture starts with you.

Whether you’re leading a team or influencing one from within, the environment you create will shape how others show up.

And in the battle between skill and behaviour, behaviour wins every time.

So don’t just hire for capability. Lead with character.

It’s the only way to build teams that last, and people who thrive.