- External thought leadership isn’t reflected internally. The organisation promotes progressive ideas publicly but does not model these practices within its own culture or ways of working.
- Sales-first culture at the expense of people. Decisions consistently prioritise commercial targets over employee wellbeing, development, and sustainable delivery.
- Work–life balance is extremely poor. Burnout is widespread and, even when raised, is minimised or left unaddressed. Expectations are often unrealistic and unsustainable.
- Client delivery risk due to single‑point dependency. Key accounts are held by one or two individuals with no meaningful team structure or contingency. When those individuals take leave, clients are exposed and internal pressure escalates.
- Low psychological safety. Leadership appears unaware of their role in shaping a healthy culture, and difficult issues are often avoided rather than addressed.
- Significant gap between espoused values and lived behaviours. Leadership frequently says the right things publicly (e.g. LinkedIn) but act internally in ways that contradict the stated values, which erodes trust, respect and compassion.
- Toxic leadership behaviours go unchallenged. Individuals who display harmful, volatile or micromanaging behaviours are often rewarded or protected, creating a culture where issues are normalised rather than resolved.
- Employees who surface issues are frequently ignored, sidelined, or subtly labelled as “the problem,” which creates a culture of silence rather than learning or improvement.
- Hierarchical - Decision‑making is concentrated at the top, with limited genuine empowerment which stifles innovation and honest dialogue.
- Weak internal change management capability. Despite advising clients on change, internal changes are poorly planned, poorly communicated, and inconsistently executed.
- Redeployment is treated as a client-facing narrative, not an internal practice. When redundancies occur, there is little genuine effort to explore meaningful redeployment options for affected employees.
- Organisational tenure is often used as a proxy for expertise. Long service is frequently positioned as deep capability, even in areas that have been underinvested in or lack genuine experience or are net new to the business. This creates gaps in quality, decision‑making, and credibility.
