Workplace Culture Evolution: Toxic Work Cultures, Gaslighting and More

In today's hyper-competitive business landscape, workplace culture has emerged as the critical differentiator between organizations that thrive and those that merely survive. Let's dissect the key elements of cultural transformation and why it matters more than ever.

The Toxic Workplace Reality Check

Toxic workplace culture extends far beyond occasional office politics. It manifests through systemic dysfunction, where gaslighting and manipulation become normalized operating procedures. Think less "difficult boss" and more "calculated erosion of professional confidence." When managers consistently deny doing what is right then criticize team members for non-compliance, we're not witnessing simple miscommunication – we're seeing tactical psychological manipulation at work.

The Junior Employee Vulnerability Factor

Here's an uncomfortable truth: junior employees bear the brunt of toxic cultures, creating a problematic talent development pipeline. Why? They're navigating a perfect storm of vulnerabilities:

- Limited workplace navigation experience
- Strong validation needs
- Minimal support networks
- Heightened susceptibility to power dynamics

This combination creates a breeding ground for burnout and career stagnation – exactly what forward-thinking organizations must prevent.

The Leadership Imperative: Why Cultural Change Starts at the Top

Remember the garden analogy: organizational culture grows what leadership plants and tends. When toxic behaviors (weeds) go unchecked, they flourish. C-suite leaders aren't just cultural influencers – they're cultural architects. Their actions, not their words, set the template for organizational behavior.

Practical Steps for Leadership Evolution

For C-suite leaders and managers committed to cultural transformation:

1. Model Transparent Communication

- Share decision rationales openly
- Demonstrate accountability
- Create clear feedback channels

2. Implement Structural Safeguards

- Establish robust anti-harassment policies
- Create anonymous reporting systems
- Provide comprehensive mental health support

 3. Develop Leadership Capabilities

- Invest in emotional intelligence
- Build conflict resolution expertise
- Foster inclusive decision-making

The Customer-People Connection: A Strategic Necessity

Here's the business case that gets the CEO’s attention: customer experience will never exceed employee experience. I first learnt of this concept during my time in OCBC when I was part of the pioneer customer experience team. It has inspired my work ever since. The math is straightforward:

- Engaged employees = Delighted customers
- Toxic culture = Compromised customer service
- Healthy culture = Sustainable competitive advantage

Think about it: How can we expect employees operating in toxic environments to deliver exceptional customer experiences? They can't – and that's the bottom-line impact of cultural negligence.

Building Integrated Experience Systems

Modern organizations need frameworks that align employee and customer experiences:

1. Cultural Assessment Metrics

- Track employee experience indicators
- Map customer journey touchpoints
- Measure psychological safety
- Monitor engagement patterns

2. Communication Architecture

- Define clear information flows
- Set response expectations
- Create constructive feedback loops
- Enable cross-functional collaboration

3. Diverse Perspective Integration

- Establish mentorship programs
- Create inclusive dialogue forums with actionable and measurable steps
- Enable cross-cultural learning
- Foster innovation through diversity

The ROI of Cultural Excellence

The investment case is compelling:

- Reduced turnover costs
- Enhanced productivity
- Improved innovation through psychological safety
- Stronger employer brand- Higher customer satisfaction
- Sustainable competitive advantage

Moving Forward: The Integration Imperative

In today's experience economy, treating employee and customer experience as separate domains is a strategic mistake. The most successful organizations recognize these elements as an integrated system requiring holistic management.

Remember: Culture isn't just what you promote – it's what you permit. What's growing in your organizational garden?

The question isn't whether to prioritize culture transformation – it's how quickly you can make it happen before your competitor does.

What's your next move in creating a workplace that drives both employee and customer success?

Mad About Marketing Consulting

Advisor for C-Suites to work with you and your teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.

Be the Good Leader You Never Had

Not everyone is born into leadership at a young age; most would have made it after years of working. I had the honour of being invited to a few networking sessions last week, including one that talks about women empowerment and leadership in the workplace. This topic is always close to my heart as I have worked with numerous leaders and people managers in the course of my career since 2000.

I like to differentiate between leaders and managers as there is a clear distinction between both per what I wrote in my earlier post around leading versus managing. Most people I have observed, including peers I have worked with, are more managers by appointment rather than true people leaders as they either lack empathy or are purely self centered in their outlook.

The worst would be people who have been so affected and influenced by bad people managers that they failed to learn the right lessons and instead become one of them. It might have been an unconscious choice or shaping of the behaviour simply because they just have not been exposed to a positive management style.

This article is specifically targeted at this group of folks, especially if they have been told the ugly truth in the employee surveys/performance reviews or they have a sneaking suspicion that their admiration by their reporting lines are as real as the smiles they get whenever they tell their subordinates bluntly to “do as they are told; because I said so”.

If you even have trouble remembering the name of your reporting lines and you are managing less than 20 people who are all located in the same country/office as you; you’re likely to be one of the so-called “bad managers”.

If you enjoy layering your reporting lines as much as you enjoy layering your club sandwich and not make an effort to talk to your one-downs’ reporting lines at least once a quarter or check in on how they are doing even if it’s through your direct managers; you are also likely to be one of the so-called “bad managers”.

Regardless of what your personal experience have been with previous managers, as long as you now have a chance to be a people manager, remember how you felt back then when you had that bad manager.

Ask yourself:

• What was so bad about that person’s management style?

• What did you wish he/she would have done differently?

• How would it have made you act/think/behave if he/she had a different management style?

• Are you spending more time just managing upwards instead of downwards?

In a nutshell, be the kind of people manager and leader that you never had but wish you did. Be the kind of leader that you would want for your kids/siblings/partners/friends and not the kind of leader you wish on your worst enemy.

As leaders, you are responsible for shaping and nurturing the next generation of leaders. Cause and effect; what goes around, comes around and karma can be a bitch sometimes. Karma aside, it is a wonderful opportunity and privilege that not everyone can have, so why not make something good out of it.

About the Author

Mad About Marketing Consulting 

Ally and Advisor for CMOs, Heads of Marketing and C-Suites to work with you and your marketing teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.

Passion, Purpose, Potential or Profits - What Motivates You?

This came as an inspiration as I spent the last few weeks catching up with various folks be it from my previous companies or conferences and even the recent SMU Mentoring Event I had the honour of attending as a guest speaker.

It struck me that regardless of the stage of their career they are at, many people are still seemingly either searching for that ultimate professional end-goal or just going through the motions of what they are doing for work with a view of what they ultimately want to achieve for their personal end-goal.

It also occurred to me that many people are still unsure of what really motivates them to take on certain roles or join certain companies beyond say “being able to meet their pay expectations”, “being stable and unlikely to cut jobs”, “being well known in the industry, region or country”, “being able to fully utilize their skills and learn something new”, and recently, “having flexible or hybrid working arrangements”, just to name a few that I have heard.

During the course of my career, as I often made conscious decisions to join certain companies and leave others, I also struggle sometimes between what I really want versus what I could get at that point of time. Not everyone has the luxury of time and choice and during the earlier parts of my life, that was definitely the case. Time and choice plays a dependent role in whether you are able to take time to choose and if circumstances allow you to.

Ultimately, as I moved into my 40s, I started thinking a lot more about this as I used my 20s as an exploratory stage of learn, learn and learn. 30s for me was a stage to harness my past learnings, expand on what I have garnered previously and apply that experience while still learning.

What hasn’t changed for me though is what really drives me professionally and to join certain companies, then stay on with them and later leave them. It has always been first and foremost - the ability to apply my Passion for 1) helping people to solve their problems and 2) the field of marketing and communications, the Purpose of the company that ties back to my personal values, which are 1) enabling people and other living beings to live quality lives, thrive and sustain and achieve my Potential based on the stage of my career with them. Profits, which you can say are monetary benefits I always believe will come as part of the reward if I am good at what I am doing for a purposeful company.

Thus sharing below what I interpret in terms of passion, purpose, potential and profits in terms of what motivates you ultimately in choosing your career journey:

• Passion - some people choose roles and companies that enable and empower them to fully utilize their passion in what they are skilled to do, maximizing their skillsets and love for their craft. This typically is rare it seems as most people are not sure if what they have been trained academically and later professionally to do is really what they are passionate about. This causes quarterlife or midlife crisis sometimes and they can change their career paths once they have uncovered that passion. This also sometimes mean that certain people will prioritize being able to continue to apply those skills beyond what the company’s ultimate purpose stands for, be it good or bad.

• Purpose - some people choose roles and companies that tie back to their personal values that translates to a purpose that they can identify and relate with. It doesn’t always have to be the holy grail status of being up there with Nobel peace prize types of purpose so long as it is something that speaks to them. It can be as simple as providing happiness to people or animals and supporting their personal values to live a happy life no matter what they do. For such folks, often they do get disillusioned after spending some time in their companies and realizing that their perceived purpose is not quite true to what they had signed up for. Thus people who highly value that will also choose to leave despite being still able to apply their passion or make profits.

• Potential - this can be considered as your aptitude, ambition and attitude. Some people know they have the potential to achieve certain career heights be it expansion of their portfolio, moving up the ranks or achieving certain career milestones and be recognized for it. Most of who could, would actually want to as well, especially if it is something they are passionate about. However, the opportunities to reach one’s potential in the companies they are with might not always be possible or available. It is sometimes a tricky one as it depends on a lot of factors beyond your actual potential, including availability of opportunities, availability and access to the right career mentors and supporters to help you achieve your potential. People who highly value being able to fulfil their potential would choose to leave certain companies once they have ran out of pathways to either move up or laterally, depending on their ambitions

• Profits - other people choose roles and companies that pay the best or enable them to fulfill their earning potential. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this as such folks might also see the ability to earn being a type of fulfilment and achievement for them even if they are not truly passionate about what they do. They will instead use what they have earned to support their personal passions outside of the companies. They might also place less emphasis on the values and intended purpose of the company. They are thus less impacted by the company’s values as long as it doesn’t directly impact their ability to continue to make money or fulfil their earning potential. For such folks, they will choose to leave if the company is showing signs of financial instability, unless it benefits them to hold on and wait for some sort of payout.

As I am closing the most recent chapter in my professional journey working for someone else by end April, I am glad that I have been able to fully maximize my time during this winding down period to reflect, learn, write, network, advise, travel, enjoy life and create something new and close to my heart. This new venture allows me to fully maximize both my passion, purpose and potential, staying true to my values. I am thankful that I am at the stage of my life where I do have time and choice.

For those who are still searching for their north star and exploring different paths, I hope you can do the following, come what may:

• explore as many pathways as possible especially if you have both time and choice

• don’t hesitate to create your own path(s) and journey(s)

• try to make the best of your journey even if the path turns out rocky

• if the path reaches a dead-end, you can always create your own or turn back and start on a new one
  

About the Author

Mad About Marketing Consulting

Ally for CMOs, Heads of Marketing and C-Suites to work with you and your marketing teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.

Corporate Succession Planning: When the King of the Jungle Vacates and Monkeys Run Amok

I liken the corporate environment for certain organizations to a jungle sometimes in terms of the power plays that come into the picture when the king of the jungle vacates its position for whatever reason.

This happens often in organizations that are undergoing transitions or that lack a good succession plan to prepare for senior movements. This, I have come to observe is regardless of organizational size and years in existence. The situation worsens for sure if both are true for the organization - lack of a good succession plan when you are undergoing a transition.

When it comes to succession planning, just having bums to fill seats is not good enough. It needs to be the right bum for the right seat so you avoid a square peg in a round hole situation. You also need to ensure these transitional leaders are actually capable of leading and not just PowerPoint slide reviewers or campaign and content approvers since both roles can be replaced by Gen AI strictly speaking.

By leading it means, they need to be capable of planning, developing a strategy and capable of engaging their new teams as part of the planning process. In short, treat them like people that matter and not treat them as just arms and legs to do the work that you don’t wish to do or are incapable of doing yourself.

This is also where the power plays start coming into the picture like monkeys having a field day calling the shots and insisting that every animal should only eat fruits and nuts like them and swing around by their tails from tree to tree because that is how they know to eat, live and act. There is a reason why monkeys are not the king of the jungle just as there is a difference between a leader versus a manager by appointment.

Although it’s normal to have layers of reporting lines if you have a huge team of more than 15 people or where you need to split the team into sub functions and appoint team leads or function leads, I personally believe every leader should still remain connected with even the most junior member of their team. This is especially during times of transition and if you are a newly minted lead. Until you are fully confident and sure of your functional leads or team leads’ capabilities as well as alignment on the way forward as a team, you should ensure the rest of the team is not left behind in terms of important communications, planning sessions and not being relinquished to silent executors or you will end up with a bunch of quiet quitters.

The power plays become more evident especially when you have team leads or functional leads who are actually in a square peg, round hole situation and act out their insecurities with a few obvious actions, including:

• pushing down work and delegating all the hard to do stuff to their one-downs, who might not even be able to do the work without guidance or clear direction of how this fits into the intended plan or bigger picture. I.e. they are told to just do blindly.

• fighting for the limelight by focusing on presenting the nice and showy stuff instead of doing actual work that matters to customers. I.e. power point becomes their best friend and their one-downs spent most of their time doing slide after slide showcasing how well they have done, so they can in turn present that to their bosses.

• taking credit for others’ work or worse, not giving credit to their one-downs for fear that they themselves will be made redundant.

• thinking and acting selfishly by not working with other colleagues on projects that they know would be relevant to what they are doing currently and by working together, it would enhance the output. Instead, they choose to shut them off having access to the project so they can be seen as the sole owner for that project though it would create win-win outcomes for their customers.

Organizations therefore should always take succession planning and leadership development seriously, regardless of whether they are in transition mode or not. Succession planning should not be a game of thrones, musical chairs or a case of appointing people you are familiar with or like even if they don’t actually have the capability to be that bum on the seat without breaking the chair.

About the Author

Mad About Marketing Consulting 

Ally for CMOs, Heads of Marketing and C-Suites to work with you and your marketing teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.

Leading Others, Managing Self

Having spent the last two decades both being managed under various types of leaders and managing others, I can safely say I have a pretty clear idea of the type of leadership that works for me. Alongside that, I also have a good idea of the type of leader I aspire to be.

I believe that leadership is something that is attributed by others and not something that you bestowed upon yourself. Management on the other hand is given as a result of your title and official responsibility but leadership is earned and not given.

I have met several outstanding managers who are inspiring leaders that command respect no matter where they go and what they do. 

On deeper reflection, I have narrowed down to the following admirable traits that serve as a personal guide to me:

• Knowing what you want and how to get it

Good leaders are decisive, confident in their decisions and not easily influenced and swayed without good and sound reasoning. They don’t let their emotions get the better of them, especially in times of extreme stress and pressure. Eagle-eyed in their target and end goal, they know the path to victory and though the course might change along the way, the end goal is crystal clear once their minds are made up.

Instead, they inspire others and ignite excitement in them to follow their vision and work jointly in their own ways to achieve success.

• Good decisions are not always popular

If they are in only to be popular, they will never be a convincing leader that does the right thing. Leadership is not meant to be a popularity contest. The best leaders often make the most difficult and unpopular decisions if these are deemed to be for the greater good in the long run.

They are not afraid to face up to the judgment of the people especially those who don’t see the benefit of it from the onset. They know they cannot please everyone and their purpose is not to please everyone but to do what is right.

• Empowerment, trust and impartiality

Everyone has a place and a role to fulfil within the organization in accordance to their expertise and talent. Good leaders know and appreciate that. They know they are not supposed to know everything and be able to do everything themselves. Instead, they empower and trust the people working with them to do exactly that and giving advice where needed along the way.

Importantly, they don’t let the politics get in the way of empowering and disempowering people to take on certain responsibilities for the common goal they set out to achieve. Micromanagement and favouritism have no place in good leadership.

• Admitting to your own fallacies

We are not meant to be saints and good leaders know that. They don’t let their egos get in the way of admitting to their mistakes when certain wrong decisions have been made. Instead, they bite the bullet like everyone else, are not afraid to apologize and own up to it instead of throwing their employees under the bus.

Good leaders know as well that when mistakes are made, there is no time for finger pointing. They don’t get lost in their mistakes and wallow in them for too long. Instead, they quickly pivot to the right course of action, taking recommendations as well where needed from the people they have empowered. 

• Having your life together

It’s not about having the perfect life, if there is such a thing but keeping how you manage it in check. Everyone has their own issues to sort through but what’s more important is how you deal with your personal versus professional life.

Good leaders are not emotional rollercoasters and by that it doesn’t mean to be a cold and heartless person. Instead, it is to be able to compartmentalize and segregate the issues and whatever emotions you’re facing at the home front and the work front.

An easy way to do a sound check on yourself is when you observe people walking on tip toes around you and do ‘weather checks’ before they speak to you.

• Being connected and seeing the bigger picture

Interpersonal connection doesn’t come naturally to most people. This has to do with the level of connectivity you have with the team on the ground and understanding their challenges and issues faced.

It’s only then that you can see the bigger picture of how it works and how your team can put their skills and talent to good use collectively. It involves looking beyond their background, what they have done on the surface and actually understanding them as a person, how they work and mentoring them to be better.

Good leaders should not find themselves so far removed from the ground that they no longer see the complete picture but a blurry mirage that will soon be out of their grasp of reality.

Personally good leaders and managers should not be mutually exclusive but the former is a lot harder to achieve. There is no golden rulebook or educational pathway to being a good leader. 

Some people do have certain personality traits that put them in a more favourable position then others but all in all, it comes as part of our experience on the field and willingness to learn, adapt and improve.

About the Author

Mad About Marketing Consulting 

Ally for CMOs, Heads of Marketing and C-Suites to work with you and your marketing teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.

The Sandwiched Leadership

The majority of us who have been working for at least two decades and grown into people management roles can probably identify with what I’m about to say.

Not all of us are able to move into the C-Suite level at this point, meaning the bulk of us would be sitting somewhere in mid to upper mid management with direct and indirect reports.

Concurrently, we would also have both direct and indirect managers hovering above us and around us.

This makes us a sandwiched leadership as we constantly need to think about upwards and downwards management and best ways to manage both without tipping that intricate balance.

Team management is not something for everyone nor does having the title automatically makes you a ‘real’ manager.

Having been in roles where I have inherited teams and grown teams from scratch, each has its own unique challenges but also satisfaction when the team flourishes over time.

Team management is also not about micromanaging or throwing them into the pits and leaving them to their own demise. Again, it’s a fine line as it depends as well between individuals. One man’s meat is another man’s poison as we say.

It’s also not about talking down or talking up for that matter but about paving the way to enable your team’s success while managing your bosses’ expectations and enabling their own success.

We are not expected to know everything and be a specialist in every single area that we’re managing but rather, we need to have the strategic view, forward looking vision and appreciation of the ground up challenges and pitfalls to be addressed.

The majority of our time is spent anticipating issues and identifying ways to prevent or address them. We also need to balance the dynamics of the team’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, chemistry and expectations towards each other. The last part is simply shielding them from the upper management’s own expectations, pressures and politics so they can function seamlessly.

It’s not a walk in the park and one thing at least to me for sure is that one can never effectively lead a team to succeed without genuinely caring for them as people.

With that said, I think the sandwiched managers have it the hardest and it’s also not surprising that many have given up, especially when they don’t get the appreciation or support needed from their managers as well as their own teams.

Some simply decided to go back to being individual contributors while others might decide to just venture out to smaller companies where they can be the top management instead with a more manageable leadership structure.

There’s no right or wrong but companies who truly cherish talent and their people should pay more attention to the sandwiched managers before it’s too late.

In my upcoming post(s), I’ll highlight a few key challenges facing sandwiched managers, the impact they have on business continuity and culture, as well as how companies can better support them.

About the Author

Mad About Marketing Consulting 

Ally for CMOs, Heads of Marketing and C-Suites to work with you and your marketing teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.

The Dying Empathetic Leadership

In all my years of working, I have come across very few truly empathetic leaders who are genuine in their treatment of their employees and customers.

Some I wish I can work with them longer when I choose to move on for other reasons as I know they would have taught me a lot more than I know now in terms of thinking, doing and communicating with empathy.

Empathy is something not every senior management or leader has unfortunately and it’s very telling in their behind-the-scenes speech and actions.

It’s undervalued simply because leaders don’t really get rated on their ability to connect with their employees and treat them with empathy.

I have witnessed many failures in terms of leaders in 1) not communicating emphatically to their people, 2) not showing true empathy in trying to understand the challenges faced by their workforce and 3) not listening with empathy when their employees provide feedback through forums.

It ends up being lip service or more trying to appear to do what is expected of them to look good and not because they genuinely care.

Classic examples are when there are organizational layoffs or restructuring.

The onset of how decisions are made have nothing to do with empathy but rather the bottom line of cost, profitability and returns.

That is why things never really change for the better in the longer term for most organizations and their leaders that make decisions without empathy.

Over the years, I have been privy to how such decisions are made, sometimes callously and without even sound logic. Rather, it’s more a stop-gap and band-aid approach where true impact on the people are not even considered in the decision making process.

What is worse though is the way such changes are communicated or not communicated to the workforce.

They talk about stock prices, shareholders equity and customers but forget their employees, the backbone of the company carrying that mission on their shoulders and believing in the promises made during the town halls, leadership emails and pep talks.

Poorly worded communications, which is as clear as mud and clueless management sitting around trying to find the right things to say or lend some insights to their team doesn’t help either.

Good, solid, reliable and empathetic corporate communications is a dying art in this sense.

For any self respecting CEO, my advice is to at least make sure you have a solid and empathetic communications advisor if you, yourself are not empathetic by nature.

Empathy might not bring you immediate revenue but it will have longer term benefits to the organization as you will make decisions that actually solve problems for both your customers and employees for the longer term.

Less attrition, less churn and more sustainable growth.

About the Author

Mad About Marketing Consulting 

Ally for CMOs, Heads of Marketing and C-Suites to work with you and your marketing teams to maximize your marketing potential with strategic transformation for better business and marketing outcomes.