thoughts of quitting?
Hi ya party people,
You know the only thing better than having a week off?
Enjoying the weekend after said weekend off!
Best believe I’ll be back next week, fully energized, and ready to continue celebrating my birthday month with my fav bunch of People Leaders. 💅
🎂 On the note of birthdays, can you make my birthday wishes come true by taking this survey so I can geek out over the data and write about our toughest challenges??? Yes, I'm a nerd. BUT BUT BUT it'll be the best gift because everyone gets something out of it! I get my research on and you get real data you can reference in convos when you need some support. Win-win!
Now onto this week's burning questions. Two bangers!!! First: what do you do when you're the last person standing between your company's culture and total organizational chaos, but you have zero budget, zero trust, and a workforce in full survival mode?
And second: how do you know if you need a career change or just an escape from this specific toxic hellscape you're currently in, especially when you're quitting in your head three times before noon?
Take a few deep breaths, and let’s see what our fellow chaos wranglers had to say about it.
If you have questions of your own to submit, submit them here!
ASK AWAY
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✍🏽 HR is in survival mode right now. Our current people leaders approach is outdated, we don’t have the budget for meaningful engagement, and trust around community initiatives has taken a hit. I’m essentially the last line of defense and need help figuring out how to rebuild the culture.
Context:
- Company size: 108 employees
- Stage: Hotel management / operational maturity stage
- Industry: Hospitality
- Funding: Revenue- and ownership-based (no outside venture funding)
- Culture: Siloed, “every team for themselves” / survival-oriented
📣 Rosetta Williams, Sr. Director, People Talent & Culture @ Immigrant Justice Corps:
I hear you - and you're naming something a lot of us are experiencing right now. The good news is you don't need a big budget or a complete overhaul to start making meaningful progress. You need strategic focus on what actually moves the needle.
Start with diagnostic clarity: What specifically is broken? 'Outdated people leaders approach' could mean anything from managers who can't give feedback to decision-making bottlenecks to lack of role clarity. Get concrete about the 2-3 most critical dysfunctions that are actually impeding work.
Prioritize ruthlessly: You can't rebuild culture while you're drowning. Pick ONE high-impact, low-cost intervention that addresses a core trust issue. Examples:
Decision rights clarity (who actually decides what)
Transparent communication about realistic expectations
Manager skip-level conversations (costs nothing, builds connection)
Simple recognition practices that acknowledge real contributions
Reframe your role: You're not the last line of defense - you're a strategic advisor who helps leaders make better decisions. That shift matters. You can influence without owning every cultural problem.
The budget reality: Most meaningful cultural work doesn't require budget - it requires leadership commitment and follow-through. If your leaders won't prioritize culture without a price tag, that tells you something important.
What's the most urgent trust gap you're trying to close? Let's talk through what might actually work in your constraints.
📣 Lilya Vicencio, People + Culture Manager @ MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation:
Culture doesn’t need to be rebuilt right now, it needs to be made believable again.
That happens when leadership becomes consistent, accountable, and clear enough that people can stop surviving and start contributing AND it doesn't cost a penny!
If I were the last line of defense, I’d focus on three things first:
1. Stabilize before you inspire.
When teams are siloed and defensive, it usually means roles, expectations, and decision rights are unclear. Before talking about values or engagement, leaders need to be aligned on how work actually gets done, what “good” looks like, and what behaviors are non-negotiable.
2. Make managers the culture carriers (without giving them more work).
Culture lives or dies in day-to-day manager behavior; how schedules are handled, how feedback is given, how conflict is addressed. Instead of launching new programs, I’d tighten the basics: consistent expectations, simple people practices, and manager accountability for how they lead, not just what they deliver.
3. Rebuild trust through consistency, not initiatives.
When trust is low, employees watch actions, not announcements. Even small things; fair scheduling, clear communication, predictable consequences, leaders modeling the behavior they expect, do more for culture than any engagement survey ever could.
This isn’t about fixing everything at once. It’s about earning credibility back one decision at a time, especially in an industry where margins are tight and burnout is real.
Culture rebuilds when employees stop asking, “Is this going to change again?” and start believing, “At least I know what to expect here.”
That’s where I’d start.
Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.
✍🏾 I quit in my head three times each day before my noon coffee break. Is it a career change I need, or just an escape from the “human”side of Human Resources? How do I decide if it’s time for a new industry?
Context: non-profit, secures funding through federal and state contracts and foundations
Company size: 1,000 to 5,000 people
In a senior role with toxic culture and micromanaging manager, poor communication, low emotional intelligence and microaggressive leadership
10+ years in HR field
📣 Susanna Williams, CPO - Chief People Officer @ East Bay Community Action Program:
What is triggering this desire? Are you frustrated with the culture? The leadership? The work itself? It might be helpful to do a kind of "time study" where you note when you get that "I'm out of here!" feeling and what led to that. Track it over a period of three months. We all get tired. We all have days we want to quit. The pattern to look out for is consistency over time. It also never hurts to apply for other jobs just to test the waters, too. Try applying for roles that are out of the "human" side but still in HR. Try applying for roles in other industries. Get curious about your frustration! Let us know where you end up.
📣 Julia Schmoyer, CHRO - Chief HR Officer @ DOOR International:
For some of us, the stress and anxiety builds so gradually over time that it's really hard to pinpoint where it's coming from. Do some deep dive thinking in a way that is safe for you - Journaling, therapy, massage, chatting with a friend...
See what central issue keeps coming up in your mind as you think about being under the most stress. Please know that you have our support searching for the best steps to take in addressing it. Essentially this is about your life and health and ability to thrive. That's got to come before any particular job. You're worth it.
📣 Victoria Miles, Global Head of HR @ ALPCO:
I agree with the others what is it that is making you unhappy? Is it the work, the people, the emotional toll? Is it the industry itself? When is the last vacation you had? Have you done a pros and cons list? Track what is sucking your energy. If you start to do data analytics and you just dread it, this may be something that is sucking your energy.
Do you roll your eyes when someone comes to talk to you about a situation? Are you not being challenged? First you need to figure what exactly it is that is draining you and making you feel this way.
Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.
🚨 ON YOUR RADAR
🎧 Gen Z and Millennials are different, and it's because we’ve looked at broken leadership systems and burned them down. Amanda Litman and I talked about the leadership myths finally dying and why work shouldn't define your entire personality. Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
👀 Who’s going to Transform this year? I’m taking over the PISCES Bar at the Wynn for a happy hour on day 2. Request a spot if you wanna come and I can't wait to see you IRL.
📖 What should employee training look like in 2026? EasyLlama's Compliance Leaders of the Year Zine features 12 leaders shaping the future of compliance, security, and job training + an Employee Training Framework Checklist to help you build scalable programs with confidence. Read the zine and download the checklist for free!*
❤️ From ‘I Hate it Here’ to ‘I Love it Here’: Your Culture Transformation Roadmap. HR can influence culture change in any organization, and this course teaches you how. Join the Safe Space community to access it!
*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners
📝 RESOURCE OF THE WEEK
Each week I feature a resource I love from the Safe Space library that I believe would be relatable to this week's newsletter topic.
Today, we’re doing an AI recap. Check it out HERE ⬇️
FRIDAY FUN
🎶 in perfect harmony???Copy anchor linkCopied
When HR and the leadership are in alignment it kind of feels like magic...
Some might call it "in sync" others may say "harmonious" and I'm not sure how many more musical rerferences I can make before I transition to saying Bad Bunny was the best half time show!!!!!!!!
It was. That's all.
That's all for this week! I hope you enjoyed! If you have any thoughts, please let me know. I'm allll ears.
Reminder: Today is FRIDAY. 🙏
