Toxic Masculinity at Work: How Coaching Can Change Culture

Organisations across industries are waking up to a difficult truth: toxic masculinity is not just an abstract social issue, it is a concrete business risk that drains performance, drives people away, and quietly corrodes culture from the inside.

Yet the solution is not to attack masculinity itself. Healthy expressions of masculine traits—such as courage, accountability and decisiveness—can be powerful assets. The challenge is to move from a culture of domination and fear to one of shared responsibility, psychological safety and inclusive performance, and coaching is emerging as one of the most practical levers for this shift.

Understanding Toxic Masculinity in Modern Workplaces

Toxic masculinity in the workplace is best understood as a pattern of norms and behaviours that reward dominance, invulnerability and control at the expense of respect, collaboration and wellbeing. It is often reinforced by systems, not just individuals.

Defining Toxic Masculinity at Work

Research on so-called masculinity contest cultures describes environments where employees feel they must constantly prove their toughness, outcompete colleagues and suppress vulnerability to succeed. In practice, this can look like:

• A belief that long hours and constant availability are the only route to advancement.
• Leaders equating emotional suppression with professionalism or strength.
• Jokes, comments or decisions that devalue women and non-masculine identities as less capable or committed.
• A win-at-all-costs mindset that treats colleagues as obstacles or opponents rather than partners.

These norms often coexist with high achievement, which makes them harder to challenge. Short-term results can mask long-term cultural damage.

Masculinity Is Not the Problem—Toxicity Is

Healthy masculinity contributes valuable qualities to organisations: decisiveness, protection of the vulnerable, commitment to goals and willingness to take responsible risks. The issue arises when these traits are distorted into:

• Control rather than stewardship.
• Silencing rather than listening.
• Competition that destroys trust instead of sharpening performance.

A mature culture makes space for a full range of human expression—masculine, feminine and beyond conventional gender norms—so people can bring the capabilities a situation truly requires.

How Toxic Masculinity Shows Up Day to Day

Because toxic norms often feel “normal” to those who benefit from them, they are easiest to spot in everyday micro-behaviours. These may seem small in isolation but accumulate into a powerful climate signal.

Common Behavioural Patterns

• Conversation dominance – interrupting, talking over others, especially women or junior colleagues, and treating meetings as arenas to win rather than spaces to think together.
• Dismissive humour – framing sexist or demeaning comments as “banter” and accusing those who object of being oversensitive.
• Risk-glorifying attitudes – celebrating overwork, unsafe practices or last-minute heroics, while ignoring the preventable causes of crises.
• Emotional shutdown – equating any admission of uncertainty, stress or care for others with weakness.
• Zero-sum thinking – assuming recognition for one group must mean less for another, fuelling resistance to equity and inclusion efforts.

Structural Signals That Reinforce Toxic Norms

Beyond individual behaviours, organisations can unintentionally send structural messages that masculine contest behaviour is required to succeed:

• Promotion criteria that reward visibility, self-promotion and constant availability over collaboration and impact.
• Reward systems built solely around individual targets, undermining team cohesion.
• Unchallenged star performers who deliver results but damage colleagues, with little accountability.
• Lack of protection for those who report harassment, discrimination or bullying.

The Hidden Business Costs of Toxic Masculinity

Toxic masculinity is often framed as a moral or social problem. It is also a material business issue, associated with emotional exhaustion, turnover intentions, health risks and legal exposure.

Psychological Exhaustion and Mental Health

A recent study of masculinity contest cultures found that such environments function as chronic stressors, strongly linked to emotional exhaustion for both men and women. Men who are less naturally competitive are especially vulnerable, as they feel persistent pressure to perform a role that does not fit them.

At the same time, norms that equate vulnerability with weakness make men less likely to seek support or mental health care, even when suffering, deepening the risk of burnout and disengagement.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Setbacks

Cultures steeped in toxic masculinity often directly undermine diversity and inclusion. Research and legal guidance highlight patterns such as:

• Women and minority employees feeling they must outperform to be seen as credible.
• Backlash when women display assertiveness that is rewarded in men.
• Greater incidence of bullying, social exclusion and harassment in highly masculine cultures.

Not only is this ethically unacceptable, it also deprives organisations of the performance benefits associated with diverse, inclusive teams.

Why Coaching Is a Powerful Antidote

Policy changes and training sessions are important but often insufficient on their own. The beliefs that sustain toxic masculinity are deeply personal and relational. Coaching complements structural changes by helping individuals and teams examine and shift their underlying mindsets and behaviours.

What Coaching Brings That Training Often Does Not

• Psychological safety in 1:1 settings – Leaders who might resist public feedback are often more willing to explore blind spots privately with a coach.
• Behaviour-based experimentation – Coaching turns abstract values (respect, inclusion) into concrete behavioural commitments that can be tested and refined over time.
• Accountability over the long term – Regular sessions create ongoing checkpoints, beyond one-off workshops, for sustaining change.

Key Coaching Focus Areas for Reducing Toxic Masculinity

An effective coaching programme will not frame all masculine traits as problematic. Instead, it supports leaders to separate healthy strength from harmful dominance and practice a broader repertoire of behaviours.

• Emotional literacy – Naming and working with emotions (stress, fear, shame) that often sit beneath aggressive or dismissive behaviours.
• Inclusive leadership skills – Learning to listen deeply, invite challenge and respond constructively when confronted with feedback about harmful conduct.
• Power awareness – Exploring how positional and social power shape interactions, and how to use power to protect, not control.
• Boundary-setting – Challenging overwork as a status symbol and redefining sustainable performance standards.
• Allyship competence – Equipping men and leaders of all genders to step in when they witness sexism, harassment or exclusion.

Designing a Coaching-Enabled Culture Shift

Coaching achieves the most impact when it is intentionally woven into a broader culture strategy instead of being treated as an isolated benefit for a few executives.

Practical Steps for Organisations

• Assess the current climate
  Use anonymous surveys, listening sessions and exit data to understand where masculinity contest norms are strongest.
• Align leadership expectations
  Update role descriptions and performance criteria to emphasise collaboration, psychological safety and inclusive behaviour, not just output.
• Provide coaching beyond the C-suite
  Offer access to coaching for middle managers and people leaders, who often set the day-to-day tone of culture.
• Integrate with DEI and wellbeing initiatives
  Ensure coaching goals support broader efforts in equity, mental health and employee voice.
• Measure and iterate
  Track indicators like engagement, turnover, psychological safety and complaints over time, and adjust programmes accordingly.

Healthy Masculinity as a Cultural Asset

The goal is not a gender-neutral vacuum but a culture where healthy expressions of many identities are welcomed. When masculine traits are channelled constructively, they can anchor powerful cultural strengths:

• Courage – Used to challenge injustice and speak up for others, not just to push through discomfort.
• Discipline – Applied to maintaining ethical standards and safety, not just hitting short-term numbers.
• Protection – Focused on safeguarding colleagues’ wellbeing and dignity, rather than status or ego.

Coaching helps leaders redefine what it means to be strong: strength as the capacity to be accountable, reflective and relational, not invulnerable.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Is the term “toxic masculinity” an attack on men?

No. The term describes harmful norms and behaviours, not inherent qualities of men. Research and professional bodies emphasise that the aim is to free men and others from rigid expectations that damage everyone, including men themselves.

Q: How can men be part of the solution without feeling blamed?

Men can play a critical role by listening to colleagues’ experiences, examining their own assumptions, using their influence to challenge harmful behaviour and modelling emotionally intelligent leadership. Coaching provides a confidential space to do this work without shame or public scrutiny.

Q: Isn’t competition necessary for high performance?

Healthy competition can energise teams, but research on masculinity contest cultures shows that when competition becomes identity-threatening and zero-sum, it is associated with emotional exhaustion, lower psychological safety and higher turnover intentions. A balanced culture combines ambition with collaboration.

Q: What signs suggest our organisation needs to address toxic masculinity?

Warning signs include persistent long-hours heroics, frequent talk of “thick skin” as a requirement, gendered jokes going unchallenged, low psychological safety scores, unexplained turnover among women or minority employees, and increased complaints of bullying or harassment.

Q: How quickly can coaching shift a toxic culture?

Coaching can prompt individual behavioural changes within months, but deep cultural shifts typically require sustained effort over several cycles of goal-setting, role-modelling, policy alignment and reinforcement. Embedding coaching alongside structural changes is key to lasting impact.

Written by

Sneha Tete

• Integrated M.A. in Applied Linguistics, University of Hyderabad
• 5+ years in editorial, instructional, SEO, and research-based writing

Sneha is a relationships and lifestyle writer with a strong foundation in applied linguistics and certified training in relationship coaching. She brings over five years of writing experience to theskillvault,  crafting thoughtful, research-driven content that empowers readers to build healthier relationships, boost emotional well-being, and embrace holistic living. Her writing and insights reflect the belief that beauty, happiness, and wellness…