Return-to-office mandate creating drama-filled toxic workplaces: Managers can't cope
Announcement posted by Invigorate PR 02 Jun 2025
Workplace drama and mediocrity rising as people return to the office
Nicole Mathers warns organisations are being derailed by personality clashes, reactive leadership and unchecked culture breakdowns
As workers return to the office and hybrid working models remain the norm, businesses are being disrupted by rising levels of internal drama, emotional volatility and mediocrity. Many leaders are finding themselves caught off guard, dealing with recurring tensions and performance issues that never seem to resolve, only to reappear in a different form.
According to Nicole Mathers, emotionally intelligent leadership expert and cofounder of Uncapped Potential, the return to physical workplaces has exposed cultural cracks that were previously masked by distance. Without the right leadership tools and cultural frameworks, organisations are falling into damaging patterns of conflict, inconsistency and crisis management.
"We're seeing people bring their unresolved issues back into the workplace and leaders simply aren't equipped to deal with the volume and complexity of what's now unfolding," Mathers said.
"Many businesses are lurching from one issue to the next, chasing symptoms while ignoring the underlying cultural dysfunction."
Leaders are being pulled from conflict to conflict without a cohesive strategy to stop the cycle
Rather than using the return to office as a moment to reset, many organisations have reopened their doors with outdated behavioural standards, unclear expectations and a lack of strategy to deal with the change that comes from changing the way people go to work. The result, according to Mathers, is an internal environment driven by personality dynamics rather than purpose and performance.
Mathers explained that leaders are being forced into constant conflict resolution roles, reacting to flare-ups between team members, microaggressions and unproductive tension. Without a broader cultural plan, these moments are treated as isolated incidents rather than part of a systemic issue.
"Leaders are becoming professional firefighters and they are exhausted. The absence of real tools or training, they're either ignoring the drama or trying to pacify it which only feeds the problem," she said.
"The default becomes avoidance and that's where mediocrity sets in."
Emotional volatility and avoidance are destroying focus, trust and performance
Unchecked interpersonal friction is more than a human resources issue, it is a psychosocial business risk. When workplace dynamics become emotionally charged, team members disengage, collaboration suffers and high performers begin to feel undervalued or unsafe.
Mathers emphasised that in this climate, small issues snowball. Slack messages get misinterpreted, eye rolls in meetings go unchallenged, gossip replaces honest feedback and emotional overreactions become daily distractions.
"Drama and negativity are incredibly contagious. When one person becomes emotionally unpredictable, it shifts how others behave. Teams become guarded, performance dips and any sense of flow or creative energy disappears," Mathers said.
"Eventually, the people you want to keep start leaving and the ones causing the damage stay."
Returning to the office should have been a reset moment instead, it has become a missed opportunity
Mathers said that most organisations underestimated what would be required to re-establish team norms after years of hybrid work. Rather than using the return to reset culture, revisit values and redefine communication standards, many businesses simply reopened desks and let the old patterns re-emerge.
"When you bring people back into shared physical and digital spaces without clear norms, they default to past habits, some of which are toxic, exclusive or outdated, this is a massive miss for setting the performance agenda," Mathers said.
"Add unresolved tension, the loss of social nuance and a lack of emotional intelligence and you've got a team that's working around each other instead of with each other."
Why businesses must take proactive, emotionally intelligent steps to lead beyond the drama
Mathers emphasised that organisations need to move away from compliance-based culture strategies and start treating leadership development as a performance investment. Policies and protocols are no longer enough. What's required now is a deliberate, consistent approach to shaping team behaviour, mindset and emotional skill.
To rebuild trust, boost engagement and return to high performance, Mathers said businesses must start by identifying the deeper cultural patterns at play, not just addressing individual incidents. Leadership teams must also be upskilled to manage emotion-driven conflict, reset expectations in real-time and model behaviour that aligns with the organisation's long-term goals.
"Leaders need to become emotionally present. That means noticing the patterns, addressing poor behaviour early and creating a climate where performance and respect go hand in hand," she said.
"Workplaces do not fix themselves. If you allow dysfunction to remain unnamed, it becomes embedded."
Mathers highlighted that drama thrives in silence and mediocrity grows when standards drop.
"We can't keep waiting for the next crisis to act. This is the crisis and it's happening inside organisations right now. It's time for leaders to step up, get the support they need and rebuild workplaces where people can thrive without the drama."
About Uncapped Potential (UP)
Uncapped Potential (UP) is a forward-thinking consultancy founded by Marnie Brokenshire and Nicole Mathers, dedicated to empowering businesses, Leaders and HR practitioners to drive high-impact strategies and build thriving, emotionally intelligent workplaces. The company focuses on providing innovative and practical leadership solutions, challenging traditional methodologies and redefining what's possible in corporate success. UP has rapidly grown, partnering with medium to large businesses, including major corporate entities.
