“Quick Fix Culture” and the Leaders Who Keep It Alive

When care becomes performative, the damage gets deeper - not better.

In times of pressure, uncertainty, or public scrutiny, many organizations default to quick fixes:
- A new training
- An external consultant
- A rebrand of the same behaviors
- A brief mental health week before returning to business as usual

These responses are often well-intentioned.
But they rarely address the deeper dynamics driving staff harm.
And more often than not, they’re driven by leadership avoidance, not real change.

Quick fixes soothe optics.

But they don’t shift culture.

You’ve probably seen it:

• A new wellness initiative announced right after a mass layoff

• A listening session… with no follow-up or change

• A coaching program offered…but staff are too overwhelmed to attend

• A revised policy document that no one reads (because it doesn’t reflect reality)

These short-term efforts may look responsive, but they often serve to protect the organization’s image, not its people.

They become a shield against accountability.
And they keep leaders from sitting with discomfort long enough to understand what’s actually needed.

The deeper truth:

Quick-fix culture is usually a leadership problem.

When leaders:

• Avoid feedback

• Rush resolution

• Minimize staff pain

• Focus more on PR than repair

…they reinforce a culture that values efficiency over empathy and performance over presence.

The longer this continues, the more distrust grows and the harder it becomes to truly shift the system.

So what does it look like to lead differently?

• Slow down. Listening is not a box to tick. It’s a responsibility.

• Build trust over time, not timelines. Sustainable repair doesn’t come from urgency.

• Welcome discomfort. Your job isn’t to fix people’s pain, it’s to stop causing more of it.

• Be visible in the hard moments. People don’t need polished talking points. They need realness.

Real leadership in this space means doing less for show and more for substance.

You can’t build a culture of care

...while rewarding the behaviors that erode it.

The future of humanitarian work requires a different kind of leadership, one that prioritizes integrity over immediacy, repair over reputation, and people over performance.

That might not come in a box.
But it does build something that lasts.

.

Holding space with care and solidarity - here’s to staying whole, together,

~ Kate

Thanks for reading The Olive Pages: Fieldnotes on care, clarity, and staying whole

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KRC provides coaching, psychosocial support, and organizational consulting to humanitarian professionals and mission-driven organizations worldwide. Based in lived experience and trauma-aware care, our work helps clients navigate burnout, moral injury, organizational change, and career transitions — while staying human in the process.