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Team Toxicity: Detecting Early Signs and Creating Resilient Teams
- Business Development, Communication, Leadership
- Lifepuzzle
High-performing teams don’t happen by accident. They’re built with intention, trust, and consistent leadership. But just as strong culture compounds over time, so too can dysfunction. Team toxicity often takes root quietly hidden beneath KPIs, masked by politeness, and tolerated until it becomes the norm.
As a leader, recognising the subtle signals of a toxic work environment is your first line of defence. The sooner you act, the easier it is to course-correct, rebuild trust, and create an environment where your team thrives, not survives.
What Is Team Toxicity and Why Does It Matter?
Team toxicity refers to a pattern of behaviours and dynamics that erode collaboration, morale, and psychological safety. It’s not always loud or obvious. Sometimes it’s a series of micro-behaviours that sap energy: backchannel gossip, stonewalling, defensiveness, or passive disengagement.
Unchecked, these behaviours lead to:
- Increased absenteeism and turnover
- Lower productivity and innovation
- Erosion of trust and respect
- A “fear-based” culture where mistakes are hidden, not learned from
In environments like sales teams or cross-functional leadership groups, toxicity can ripple outwards, impacting performance outcomes, revenue, and customer experience.
Recognising the Early Warning Signs of Dysfunction
Most toxic cultures don’t start that way. They drift. The warning signs often appear as:
- Silence in meetings or reluctance to speak up
- Cliques or “us vs them” mentalities forming within the team
- Passive-aggressive remarks or jokes that mask frustration
- A noticeable drop in participation or enthusiasm
- Withholding feedback or avoiding difficult conversations
- Decision-making bottlenecks due to fear of pushback
- Blame-shifting and lack of accountability
As a leader, pay attention not just to what’s said as it’s what’s unsaid that can often be important.
We love recommending great books that help further thinking and ideas. Patrick Lencioni’s, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, reveals how five hidden cracks in any team’s foundation can quietly sabotage success, and how fixing them can transform a group into an unstoppable force.
How Leaders Can Create Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, or concerns. It’s a foundational element of high-performing teams and the antidote to fear-based culture.
To foster psychological safety:
- Model vulnerability (admit mistakes, share learning moments)
- Encourage respectful challenge, even if you disagree
- Respond to feedback with curiosity, not defensiveness
- Set behavioural norms for meetings (e.g. “every voice counts”)
- Address disrespectful behaviour swiftly and constructively
Teams feel safe when leaders make it clear: “You matter. Your voice matters. And we’re in this together.”
It’s important to remember that this topic is nuanced and requires a deeper understanding of the concepts behind it.
For further reading check out this article by the Harvard Business Review.
Building Trust Within Teams – What Really Works
Trust is built by making small agreements that are reinforced by actions repeated over time. It’s about consistency, follow-through, and emotional presence.
Ways to build trust in your team:
- Do what you say you’ll do (follow-through matters)
- Encourage open dialogue and admit when you’re wrong
- Use structured trust-building exercises (e.g. task-focused collaboration or appreciation rounds)
- Share credit generously and take responsibility when things go wrong
Trust is not a one-off exercise. It’s a living, breathing part of your culture and it starts with you.
Communication: The Glue of Resilient Team Cultures
Misunderstandings don’t just break projects; they break trust. Clear, respectful communication is essential for alignment and resilience.
Improve team communication by:
- Holding regular check-ins (1:1s and team meetings)
- Clarifying expectations and roles
- Using feedback loops to close misunderstandings
- Creating space for honest, blame-free conversations
- Leveraging collaboration tools to increase transparency
Teach your team that communication is not just “talking”, it’s making others feel heard and understood and actively being a part of that culture.
Here’s a version tailored to Life Puzzle and the Leadership & Influence program:
Life Puzzle’s Leadership & Influence program equips teams with the communication skills that turn everyday interactions into catalysts for performance. By fostering trust, encouraging constructive dialogue, and aligning every voice to shared goals, we help teams replace misunderstandings with clarity, siloed thinking with collaboration, and hesitation with decisive action. The result is a powerhouse team that not only delivers on targets but does so with cohesion, confidence, and a shared sense of purpose.
Responding to Conflict and Managing Difficult Team Members
Conflict is not the enemy, avoidance is. When conflict is handled well, it strengthens relationships.
If a team member is displaying difficult behaviour:
- Begin with empathy, ask “what’s behind the behaviour?”
- Set clear boundaries without shaming
- Use coaching conversations to shift from blame to responsibility
- Offer support and clear expectations for change
- Facilitate structured conflict resolution if needed (mediation, facilitated dialogue)
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques such as reframing and rapport-building are especially effective here, helping redirect unhelpful narratives and create safety for open expression.
Keeping Teams Motivated and Aligned Through Change
Motivated teams believe in what they are doing and believe that their hard work serves a greater purpose. They see how their work connects to something bigger.
To build motivation:
- Share the “why” behind decisions and goals
- Acknowledge effort, not just outcomes
- Use tools like OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) to create alignment
- Revisit team values and purpose often
- Celebrate small wins and progress, not just results
Transparency fuels trust. And trust fuels motivation.
Practical Team-Building and Trust Exercises that Actually Work
Trust isn’t built in a single workshop. But it can be built intentionally into your team’s rhythm.
Consider exercises like:
- Appreciation circles: where each person shares one positive thing about a teammate
- Storytelling sessions: where people share past challenges or personal lessons
- Collaboration simulations: where small groups solve a timed challenge together
- Vulnerability warm-ups: such as “one mistake I learned from this year…”
Encourage your team to be human. High performance starts with humanity.
From Toxic to Thriving – How to Shift a Team Culture
If your team is already showing signs of toxicity, it’s not too late. Here’s how to shift the dynamic:
- Name it: Acknowledge what’s happening with compassion, not blame
- Reconnect to purpose: What are we here to do, together?
- Reset expectations: Clarify behaviours that support trust and those that erode it
- Lead by example: Your energy, language, and follow-through set the tone
- Coach consistently: Use both group facilitation and 1:1 leadership coaching
- Don’t do it alone: Consider a leadership development or NLP partner to guide the shift
Final Thoughts: Spot It Early, Lead It Forward and lean into your leadership journey.
Toxic teams harm culture and stifle creativity. It may not always be clear but that creativity is what drives collaboration, ideas and results.
The good news? You have the power to change it.
To be a great Leader you don’t need to have all the answers. Asking better questions, listening deeply, and creating the kind of environment where others can shine is part of being a great leader so cultivate these ideals and values.
Spot the signs early. Step in courageously. And remember: high-performing, resilient teams are built by strong and capable leaders.
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