Should you call 911 on your workplace culture?

Recognize these warning signs of a culture in distress

If your workplace culture had to call for help, would it be a minor check-up or a full-blown emergency?

Culture crises don’t happen overnight. They build up, often unnoticed, until one day leaders are scrambling to understand why top performers are leaving, employee engagement is plummeting, and workplace conflicts are rising … and performance standards are sinking fast.

Corporate culture can seem abstract, but it’s the most powerful leading indicator for long-term performance.

The question is not whether your organization has a culture—it does. The real question is:

“Is your culture supporting success, or is it silently creating barriers to performance, engagement, and trust?”

The good news is that culture transformation isn’t a one-time event but an ongoing journey. Recognizing the early warning signs of a poor culture allows leaders and employees alike to take proactive steps to shape a workplace where people want to stay, contribute, and thrive.

Recognizing the early warning signs

Your company culture is constantly evolving and, without intentional leadership and collective responsibility, it can easily shift in the wrong direction. In the absence of a dire crisis, many leaders make the mistake of assuming the workplace culture must be fine. In reality, many warning signs show up long before an obvious crisis.

A number of organizations are focused on reacting to external events while paying too little attention to their employees and culture. What they don’t realize is that this problem-focused mindset is actually contributing to culture deterioration in the workplace.

Which of the following early warning signs of Culture Emergency apply to your organization?

Employee disengagement: people are doing the bare minimum or have mentally “checked out”.

High turnover rates: top performers are leaving, not just struggling employees.

Objection to change: employees ignore initiatives or actively resist change.

Increase in workplace conflicts: HR sees a spike in complaints or unresolved tensions.

Higher levels of short-term absences: employees withdraw, citing stress or burnout.

Missed deadlines: apathy replaces urgency.

A “just do my job” mindset: going above and beyond becomes rare.

Apathy toward company goals: a poor understanding of how tasks, investments, objectives, goals, and strategies link to success.

“Us versus them” mentality: employees view leadership as disconnected or untrustworthy.

Low collaboration and siloed departments: departments compete rather than cooperate.

It’s not just company leadership who is responsible for addressing these issues; workplace culture is not a “done to” process but a “done with” transformation.

Culture is everyone’s responsibility

A company’s culture is formed through the collective behaviours, attitudes, and values of the entire organization, so while leadership sets the company’s tone, pace, and priorities, every employee plays a role in shaping its culture.

Leaders influence culture through decisions, policies, and communication.

Employees reinforce culture through daily interactions, teamwork, and accountability.

HR and management shape culture through hiring, recognition, and feedback systems.

Teams and departments contribute to culture by how they collaborate.

An organization experiencing growing disengagement and declining morale must involve employees in the transformation process. A leadership-driven culture shift—without employee buy-in—is doomed to fail.

For example, a company leader with whom I worked implemented another company’s initiatives that had helped improve workplace culture—such as giving employees the ability to bank hours so as to get every other Friday off during the summer, monthly employee lunches, etc.—yet they had no positive impact on his company’s culture.

The leader could not figure out why these initiatives worked at the other company and not his own, but the explanation is simple: the other company’s initiatives were “done with” its employees, whereas my client attempted a “done to” transformation.

Don’t wait to take action

If your company culture is suffering, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Leaders and employees must work together to create a culture where people feel valued, heard, and motivated to contribute. You must create an environment where everyone can listen to each other’s concerns and work together to move forward.

When the culture is in distress, leaders should:

Listen to employees: Conduct a culture pulse check through surveys or direct feedback.

Identify quick wins: Small, visible improvements show commitment to change.

Fix broken systems: When processes, policies, or leadership styles fuel disengagement, adjust them.

Make culture transformation a shared responsibility: Engage employees in addressing these issues.

For example, a company experiencing declining morale and disengagement could take immediate action by:

Implementing regular recognition programs for desired behaviours to boost motivation.

Creating cross-functional collaboration opportunities.

Improving how change is communicated, and listen to understand concerns.

Adjusting workplace policies to better align with employee needs.

Pick just one of these, and act on it.

Shape a culture that will last

Workplace culture is not something one department owns or one leader fixes: it’s a shared asset that everyone influences daily. It thrives when leaders guide and employee engage.

Shaping your organization’s culture is not a destination but a journey. Building and maintaining a successful culture is never complete; it is something you nurture on an ongoing basis.

The strongest workplace cultures don’t develop by accident; they are built with clear intent, reinforced by consistent leadership and full employee participation, and sustained through trust and accountability.

More than just an internal priority, a thriving culture serves as a competitive advantage, attracting and retaining top talent, driving engagement, and positioning the organization for long-term success.

Let’s Connect and discuss your needs for moving your organization forward.

Published as a Features Articles in Electrical Business

Ravi Tangri, CSP, MSC, MBA, is the Chief Cultural Officer for Simul Corp. where, for over 15 years, he has worked on change and leadership development programs in the energy sector in Canada and the Middle East. He has been catalyzing corporate change, strategic planning, and culture change for 33 years—helping his clients find those simple leverage points that produce the changes they desire.