Why Toxic Workplaces Are a Development Issue in the Pacific
As a life and leadership coach, I’ve been exploring a theme that continues to surface across coaching sessions, research, and conversations with leaders: trauma doesn’t stay at home—it shows up at work.
In my earlier article, The Elephant in the Room: Trauma in the Pacific, I explored how trauma sits at the root of many of the region’s most pressing challenges—violence, inequality, and fractured relationships. That piece focused on the broader societal patterns shaped by patriarchal, colonial, and capitalist conditioning, and the urgent need for more inclusive, trauma-informed approaches across the Pacific.
My latest article, Toxic Workplaces: A Barrier to Pacific Development, takes this conversation one step further—into our organizations.
What I’ve observed, and what research increasingly confirms, is that toxic workplace cultures are not random. They are patterned. When leaders bully, micromanage, or undermine their teams, and when employees feel unsafe to speak up, innovate, or even make mistakes, we are not just dealing with “bad management.” We are often seeing unhealed trauma playing out in professional spaces.
In the article, I describe how workplaces can become microcosms of past pain—where unresolved trauma, embedded in systems like patriarchy and colonialism, reinforce cycles of harm. The result is not just individual suffering, but weakened institutions, lost innovation, and stalled development across Pacific organizations.
The good news is that this is not inevitable.
When we begin to name what is really happening, we can start to change it. Trauma-informed leadership, coaching, and intentional team dynamics work can transform workplace cultures into spaces of trust, psychological safety, and collective care. This is not “soft” work—it is foundational to building strong, resilient, and effective institutions. Those clients who stay the course reap the benefits of psychological safety: retention, a healthy culture, and innovation.
If we are serious about achieving people-centered development in the Pacific, we cannot afford to ignore what is happening inside our organizations.
This is the work.
