Workplace toxicity doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes it looks like silence after a survey, or a promise no one follows through on.

In a recent interview with Authority Magazine, WongDoody Strategy Director Amanda Wybolt drew on our Cold Work research and her own experience to share practical ways leaders can repair trust, strengthen culture, and motivate teams to grow.

1. Measure Outputs, Not Presence.

Don’t get caught in the flexibility standoff. Shift to output-based accountability. It’s not about lowering the bar, it’s about agreeing on what the bar actually is, which is a conversation most teams have never explicitly had.

2. Replace the Annual Survey with a “Follow-Up Contract.”

Culture surveys are one of the most well-intentioned things organizations do — and one of the most damaging when nothing comes from them. The fix isn’t a better survey, but a public commitment to what you heard and what you’ll do about it within x number of days.

The follow-through is the trust-builder while the silence after is the trust-killer.

3. Make Recognition Specific and Immediate, Not Ceremonial.

People aren’t looking for a once-in-a career certificate on a stage at the all-hands, but someone naming exactly what they did and why it mattered, in the moment. “The way you reframed that client concern on Wednesday’s call saved the relationship” lands completely differently than a generic shoutout.

It’s not complicated, it just requires paying attention and pausing to give props where they’re due.

4. Treat Transitions as Grief, Not Just Change Management.

Layoffs, reorgs, team reshuffles — these are intense moments of loss and people carry them whether organizations acknowledge it or not. What I’ve seen work is surprisingly simple: name what was lost before pivoting to what’s next.

Create a sincere moment that says we know something ended here and it mattered.

5. Build a “Repair Protocol” for Broken Trust.

Most organizations have no process for what comes after a broken promise like a rescinded flexibility arrangement or a commitment that quietly disappeared. People aren’t expecting perfection, they’re expecting honesty.

Make repairs to the culture. Be empathetic and respond without the HR spin. It’ll do more for a team’s resilience than almost anything else.

‍Originally published in Authority Magazine.