3 Subtle Ways You May Be Undermining Your Work Culture

It doesn’t always take a major disruption to damage work culture.

Sometimes, all it takes is letting things slide, over and over again.

In my time as a family therapist and now as a workplace conflict expert, I’ve seen it too often: issues are ignored in the name of empathy or avoidance, and by the time action is taken, the damage has already spread.

Here are three common, and often unintentional, ways leaders allow work culture to erode:

1. Ignoring complaints from your team: When employees raise concerns about a colleague’s behavior, it can be tempting to rationalize or dismiss it as a personality clash. But your willingness to listen (or not) sends a message. Ignoring complaints doesn’t make them go away. It makes them louder in the long run.

2. Accepting excuses without change: We all experience stress and challenging seasons, but persistent poor performance without genuine ownership is a red flag. 

Pay attention to patterns. 

Is the employee demonstrating insight, remorse, and a willingness to grow? If not, your culture is absorbing the cost.

3. Downplaying the impact: You may see what’s happening and choose to believe it’s not that serious. But minimizing poor behavior or performance allows it to fester, and sends the message that standards don’t matter. Who’s really running the team: the employee, or you?

What to do instead:
→ Listen. Without judgment, without assumption.
→ Clarify your expectations. Don’t assume they’ll “figure it out.”
→ Follow through. Create a path for accountability, not just conversation.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Now is the time to act. 

Work culture doesn’t erode overnight, it wears away slowly, unless leaders take action.