Construction, Culture, and Why You Can't Shape a Bully

In this episode of Inside Out: Mental Health at Work and in Life, I'm joined by Marjorie Thomson, a commercial leader with more than 30 years in the construction industry.

Marjorie's career has taken her from graduate trainee in Croydon to regional director responsible for a £26 million business, through two start-ups, two sales, and the process of leading a company through administration. She's now commercial manager at the startup she helped build, in what she describes as the best place she's been in her entire career.

We talk about what culture actually is, not what the organisation declares, but what people decide to build on the ground. Marjorie argues you cannot shape a bully, and she's honest about the last 18 months leading up to her previous company's collapse, about the mental health crisis playing out in construction right now, and about what kept her going when it would have been easier to walk away.

This is a conversation about what good leadership looks like when it shows up in other people, why mental health first aid training changed how she listened, and why, despite everything, seeing people develop is what still gives her hope.

🔑 Key Topics

• What a mentally healthy workplace actually looks like in practice
• Why culture isn't driven by the organisation, it's driven by the people in the right positions
• Why you cannot shape a bully, and what happens when one becomes your leader
• Leading over 120 people through the slow decline of a business
• Misogyny in construction, then and now
• What mental health first aid training changed for Marjorie as a leader
• The specific mental health pressures in the construction industry
• Why "I stayed for the people" is a leadership stance, not a consolation prize

💡 Did You Know?

Construction has one of the highest suicide rates of any UK industry. Marjorie talks about why the sector's culture of "just get on with it", combined with long hours, financial precarity, and a near-complete lack of psychological safety, makes honest mental health conversations almost impossible on site, and often impossible in the office too.

📝 Actionable Takeaways

• Check where your organisation's culture is actually coming from: the boardroom, or the people closest to the customer?
• If you spot a bully in leadership, don't try to coach the behaviour out. Marjorie's lived experience says it cannot be shaped
• Look at who your team comes to for advice. That's a signal of who's leading in practice
• Audit your approach to wellbeing. Are you ticking boxes, or creating real space for people to speak?
• If you're in a failing organisation, remember the people relying on you. That's a legitimate reason to stay, and a legitimate reason to leave when the damage becomes personal
• Ask yourself: what gives you hope? If the answer is nothing, that's information worth acting on

🗣️ Join the Conversation

What shapes workplace culture more, the people in it or the organisation that employs them? Have you ever stayed for the people when everything else told you to go? Share your thoughts and connect with us on social media.