We have become much better at talking about mental health. That is a good thing. We talk about anxiety, depression, stress, burnout and suicide more openly than we did in the past.
Organisations have wellbeing strategies. Employees are offered counselling, employee assistance programmes, mental health training and resilience workshops. Leaders are encouraged to ask, “Are you OK?” But there is a question I think we are still reluctant to ask: What is the culture doing to people’s mental health? In my work I continue to see that culture is often the uncomfortable part of the conversation. It is much easier to focus on the individual.
Why are we reluctant to talk about workplace culture to address poor wellbeing? For me it’s because we are part of that culture. It’s a bit like the way we discuss violence across society. We are comfortable talking about the violent individual. They are bad. They do bad things. We seldom talk about the situation offenders walk about in. We rarely discuss the culture they are violent in. Is that because we are part of the culture and discussing this makes us see our part in how culture shapes such individuals. To address well-being in likes of police and other settings we have to talk about the contribution of culture. Culture is the killer.
We can encourage people to develop resilience. We can teach them coping strategies. We can tell them to exercise, sleep better, talk to someone and seek professional support. All these things can be valuable however there is a danger that we turn mental health into something that happens inside individuals, rather than recognising that people’s wellbeing is also influenced by the environments in which they live and work.
If ten people in the same team are experiencing stress, anxiety, burnout or disengagement, perhaps the first question shouldn’t be: “What’s wrong with these people?” Perhaps it should be: “What’s happening around these people?”
Culture is about what happens when nobody is watching
Culture isn’t a poster on a wall. It isn’t a values statement sitting on an organisation’s website and it certainly isn’t a wellbeing app. Culture is revealed through behaviour.
It is what happens when someone makes a mistake. It is what happens when a junior member of staff challenges someone senior. It is what happens when someone says, “I’m struggling.” It is what happens when a colleague behaves badly. It is whether people feel able to ask for help without being judged. It is whether people believe that speaking up will make things better or make their own lives more difficult. Perhaps most importantly, culture is shaped by what we tolerate.
We can say that wellbeing matters but if people are routinely rewarded for working excessive hours, expected to be constantly available, frightened to admit mistakes or reluctant to challenge poor behaviour, our culture may be communicating something very different. The message people experience is often more powerful than the message we publish.
Why is culture such an uncomfortable conversation?
Simply because culture implicates all of us. If poor mental health is primarily an individual issue, the solution can sit with the individual. If culture is part of the problem, responsibility becomes more complicated. When we discuss culture leaders have to examine their own behaviour. Teams have to examine their norms. Colleagues have to consider whether they notice when someone is struggling and organisations have to ask difficult questions about workload, leadership, psychological safety, fairness, belonging and behaviour. Such reflections present discomfort and us humans try to avoid feeling uncomfortable.
Such a focus on culture can expose things that an organisation would rather not see.
- Perhaps people are afraid to speak honestly.
- Perhaps poor behaviour has become normalised.
- Perhaps the most experienced people are also the least likely to ask for help.
- Perhaps a team has developed a culture where being exhausted is regarded as evidence of commitment.
- Perhaps people know that saying “I’m not coping” could affect how they are perceived.
These aren’t simply individual mental-health problems. They are cultural questions.
We sometimes confuse wellbeing with wellbeing initiatives
There is nothing wrong with wellbeing initiatives, but we need to be careful about what they are designed to achieve. A mindfulness session cannot compensate for a culture where people are routinely humiliated. A resilience workshop cannot fix chronic understaffing. An employee assistance programme cannot, by itself, create psychological safety. A mental-health first aider cannot carry responsibility for an entire organisation’s culture and telling people to take better care of themselves becomes problematic if the environment continually makes that difficult.
Imagine telling someone: “Make sure you get enough sleep.” Then sending them emails at midnight. “Look after your mental health.” Then making them feel weak for admitting they’re struggling. “Speak up if something isn’t right.” Then allowing people who speak up to be labelled difficult.
The contradiction is obvious. People listen to what we do far more than what we say.
This is where active bystandership matters.
There is another dimension to culture that deserves much more attention. We often talk about leadership as though culture flows downwards. Leaders create culture. Of course, they do but leaders are not the only people capable of creating culture.
Every interaction creates culture. Every time a colleague checks in on someone. Every time someone challenges a harmful joke. Every time a person says, “That’s not how we do things here.” Every time someone intervenes before a problem becomes a crisis. Every time someone accepts a colleague’s intervention rather than becoming defensive. These small moments accumulate. This is the essence of active bystandership. It isn’t simply about intervening when something terrible happens. It is about creating a culture where people feel responsible for what happens around them. That includes mental health.
A colleague noticing that someone has become unusually quiet. Someone recognising that a teammate is working every evening. A friend asking why someone hasn’t been themselves recently. A supervisor noticing that an employee who normally contributes has stopped speaking. None of these observations necessarily mean someone has a mental-health problem but they create an opportunity for connection and connection matters to all human beings.
The question isn’t always “Are you OK?”
“Are you OK?” can be a powerful question but sometimes we need to become better observers. “I’ve noticed you’ve been quiet recently.” “You seem to have a lot on your plate.” “I’ve noticed you’ve been staying late every night.” “You don’t seem yourself.”
These observations don’t diagnose. They don’t assume. They simply open a door and sometimes that is what people need. One of the characteristics of a healthy culture is not that nobody struggles. It is that people don’t have to struggle alone.
We also need to talk about psychological safety
A healthy culture should make it possible to say: “I made a mistake.” “I don’t know.” “I need help.” “I’m worried about something.” “I think we are getting this wrong.” “That behaviour isn’t acceptable.” Those statements require something more than individual courage. They require an environment where people believe that speaking up is safe enough to be worth doing and this is where mental health and active bystandership meet.
We need people who are willing to act however we also need cultures where people are willing to receive the intervention. That distinction is important. It isn’t enough to tell employees: “Speak up.” We also need to tell everyone: “Listen when someone speaks up.”
Perhaps we need to change the question
We have spent years trying to remove the stigma around mental health. We should continue doing that but perhaps the next step is to broaden the conversation. Not simply: “How can we help people who are struggling with their mental health?” But: “What kind of environment are we creating for people to live and work in?” and then: “What can each of us do to make that environment healthier?”
Because culture isn’t something that belongs exclusively to the CEO, the HR department or the wellbeing team. Culture belongs to all of us.
One conversation can change someone’s day.
One intervention can stop behaviour becoming normal.
One colleague can notice what everyone else has missed.
One leader can create permission for others to speak.
One person who decides to act can influence everyone around them.
Perhaps the greatest measure of a healthy culture isn’t how many wellbeing initiatives it has. Perhaps it is whether people feel able to look out for one another. The goal shouldn’t simply be to build people who are resilient enough to survive unhealthy cultures. It should be to build cultures that help people thrive and that means becoming much more comfortable asking an uncomfortable question: What is our culture doing to people’s mental health?
