Do You Work for a Toxic Company? Here Are 4 Not-So-Obvious Signs to Watch Out For. Sometimes, it's immediately apparent a company's culture is toxic. But usually, toxicity isn't outward — it's lurking in the details.

If we haven't said it ourselves, most of us know someone who has. Calling our company culture "toxic" has become relatively common in today's world, and many of us freely use this lingo to describe displeasing situations or people who make us uncomfortable. But what does a "toxic" company culture really look like?

Sometimes, there are rampant examples of toxicity in the workplace in the form of blatant harassment, mistreatment or discrimination. Other times, a developing toxic culture is more subtle and harder to spot. Here are a few not-so-obvious things you might notice if your company is on its way to a toxic culture.

Related: Your Workplace Is Just Pretending to Care — and You're Part of the Problem, Too. Here's Why.

1. No one challenges authority

They say "silence is golden," right? Sure, maybe that's true at the movie theater where everyone came to watch a show. However, consistent silence in the workplace isn't golden; it's dangerous. If no one is speaking up or asking questions in group settings like company town halls or all-hands meetings, your company likely has a major problem on the horizon. If your company never hosts town halls or group meetings where leadership can interact with employees, that's an even bigger problem.

Great organizations want to hear from their employees, and they regularly schedule opportunities for that to happen. Then, they work hard to encourage dialogue at those events. When leaders have done a good job of creating the right environment, employees feel safe to not only share their perspective, but challenge the status quo.

If no one feels comfortable or motivated to ask tough questions or share a dissenting opinion, it's a sign that mutual trust hasn't been established. Over time, that becomes more than toxic — it becomes cult-like. It also causes great talent to leave because they don't feel seen or heard and can't figure out how to make a meaningful impact or contribution. To make matters worse, it's not common for great talent to be replaced with lesser talent in situations like this, which puts the company at an increasing disadvantage.

2. Commitments aren't kept

If you work in an environment where people don't always do what they said they would (and that's accepted), it's another sign of a toxic culture. Especially when leaders do this and fail to take responsibility for it. Making and keeping commitments is the fastest way for us to build trust with others.

When we don't keep our word, people notice. Over time, it becomes harder for others to believe anything we say. This creates an incredible amount of disengagement. When people can't take us at our word, it becomes nearly impossible to inspire or motivate them. That ultimately causes a downward trend in performance. Most often, when we observe others breaking the rules or breaking their promises (and not being held accountable for it), we become angry or frustrated and no longer see the point in trying so hard ourselves.

Over time, this sets a poor precedent for everyone and leads to people ultimately feeling that decisions in the organization aren't made fairly or justly. That's toxic.

Related: Who's Responsible for a Toxic Workplace? If You Do Any of These 3 Things, Look in the Mirror.

3. People openly gossip and cast blame

If you're in an organization where team members (or whole groups) blame others when things don't go well, you're in a toxic culture. In healthy organizations, individuals and teams work together to find solutions when there's a problem. They don't get hung up on whose fault it is or try to prove it's not their own. They don't make excuses for poor results or view failures as final. Instead, they're quick to take accountability and they view mistakes as tremendous learning opportunities. Cultures turn toxic when departments think about their own success first instead of the organization's success first. When teams are allowed to engage in an "us-against-them" mentality, nobody wins.

Healthy organizations create social norms around mindset and regularly remind employees that they're all on the same team and the best success comes from working together; not independently. In healthy organizations, gossip is quickly curtailed and stops before it starts. That's because of the great respect that everyone has for one another and the organization as a whole. If hushed whispers around the water cooler are an accepted part of your company culture, that's toxic.

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4. There's no structured process for employee development

If you can't remember the last time you had a 1:1 with your boss (and that's not uncommon), that's a bad sign. If the only time you meet with your boss to discuss your development and performance is at your annual review, you're probably in a toxic culture. As humans, we desire to evolve. Most of us have an innate desire to expand our knowledge and skills. By nature, we're curious beings and want to learn new things. Healthy company cultures recognize this, and as such, they make it a point to invest in their talent.

In the best organizations, you'll see numerous signs of people being developed or groomed for the future. You'll observe people getting certifications, taking classes or workshops, going to conventions, taking on new responsibilities or getting promoted. These are all active signs that people are on paths and tracks to develop professionally. If you don't see these things happening and/or you're also not getting much feedback about the job you're doing, you're likely in a stale environment where people stay relatively static and even get stuck. Over the long haul, this isn't sustainable and once again, it causes great people to leave and go elsewhere which sends the organization into a slow but steady decline.

While one instance of any one of these things might seem innocuous, beware. A few one-off instances of these things don't necessarily mean that all is lost, but it's definitely a sign of trouble brewing. It's incredibly easy for us to fall into repetitive patterns of behavior and form bad habits. Once that happens, it's very hard to pull back. Consistent examples of these scenarios definitely imply a toxic culture, and once they've happened a few times, it's a slippery slope to those behaviors becoming the norm.

Related: Check Out Amy Chambers' YouTube Channel For Motivation Content