The Bro Culture Exists

On November 7th SHRM released an article entitled "How Masculinity Contests Undermine Organizations and What To Do About It."  The article addressed illegal behavior, harassment and toxic leadership that develops in companies with a bro culture.

It is unfortunate that this behavior exists, but exist it does.  When faced with environments dominated by the bro culture, where actions block female employees from participating in the male-dominated decision-making circles, or exclude them from boardrooms or leadership teams, organization effectiveness is damaged.  Employee engagement deteriorates.  Talent is lost.

For women (or minorities) in these environments, there's not seat at the conference room table - they're not even in the same room.

The bro culture is an office clique.  The really bad news?  If the leadership team are all members of the bro culture, don't expect anything to change.

"Small acts of inappropriate behavior that often go unpunished in a bro culture can normalize, leading to a toxic atmosphere in the workplace."  Adam bear and Joshua Knobe wrote about normalization in the political realm for The New York Times.

My recommendation.  If you want change, change the people inside.  Change your culture.