The Hidden Drain on Culture: Why Tackling Incivility Demands Braver Leadership
Summary
Professor Lynda Holt argues that incivility in the workplace — from eye-rolls and sighs to exclusion and withheld information — quietly corrodes culture and performance. These subtle behaviours are often normalised as banter but have measurable harms: reduced cognitive capacity, spreading negativity, damaged trust, lower creativity and poorer customer or service-user engagement.
The piece stresses that culture is built locally and that leaders and HR must act. Holt offers five practical steps leaders can take to restore civility: model behaviour, make expectations explicit, address incidents early, involve staff in solutions, and provide education and tools. The article finishes with a call for braver leadership: one conversation at a time, choose not to look away.
Key Points
- Incivility is often subtle (eye-rolling, interrupting, excluding) but cumulative and corrosive to culture.
- Exposure to rudeness can reduce cognitive capacity by up to 61% and leave people spending large amounts of time thinking about or avoiding the offender.
- Witnessed incivility spreads through teams, breaking down trust, reducing psychological safety and harming creativity.
- Service users notice rudeness — studies show customers or patients become far less likely to engage after witnessing staff rudeness.
- Culture is local: leaders set tone but microcultures determine everyday norms; HR can shape environments, not just enforce policy.
- Five practical actions: model the desired culture, make expectations explicit, address incivility early, involve people in solutions, and equip staff with training.
- Constructive conflict handled well builds trust and resilience; avoiding conflict perpetuates harm.
Why should I read this?
Look — this matters. If your team ever feels tired, cautious or keener to hide than to speak up, incivility could be eating your culture from the inside. This short read gives you real, small things to try tomorrow that actually move the needle. No fluff, just practical steps to stop letting bad behaviour slide and start fixing your workplace climate.
