THE CRABS IN THE BARREL PROBLEM NO ONE WANTS TO NAME AT WORK
- Apr 30
- 3 min read
There’s a moment that happens in almost every room I speak in.
I’ll describe a specific workplace dynamic, and you can feel the shift. There's a pause. Sometimes it's a nervous laugh. Other times, it's a heavy silence. It’s the moment people realize what they’ve been navigating isn’t just an interpersonal conflict between two people.
It’s patterned.
As a researcher, I’ve spent years studying this pattern. It’s what I call the Crabs in the Barrel Syndrome (CBS). It’s a metaphor that describes the mentality and behaviors of in-group members who violate the usual social norms of helping and support.
It’s what happens when people who should be able to support one another start competing, pulling back, or protecting their own position instead. It isn't always intentional or visible, but it's consistent enough to shape how everyone in the system engages.
What People Don’t Say Out Loud
Most organizations focus their energy on collaboration, performance, and culture. But just beneath the surface are dynamics that don’t show up in dashboards or strategy decks. They show up in behavior.
CBS rarely looks like overt sabotage. Instead, it shows up as "selective incivility" or subtle discouragement. It looks like:
Subtle resistance to someone else’s new ideas.
Shifting expectations just as someone begins to gain traction.
Increased scrutiny that wasn’t there before.
Lateral violence or conversations happening around someone instead of with them.
It’s the kind of tension that's easy to dismiss as a "personality clash" but hard to name for what it actually is.
Why It Happens
People don’t usually wake up trying to hold others back. These patterns tend to emerge in "the barrel"—environments where success feels limited, visibility feels risky, and the rules of the game aren't fully clear.
When a system feels constrained or hyper-competitive, people adapt. My research shows that CBS is often driven by a need for self-preservation or "competitive positioning". People start to:
Manage how visible they are to avoid being "pulled back".
Pay close attention to how others are evaluated to gauge their own safety.
Make decisions based on what feels safest in the moment, not what’s most aligned with long-term goals.
Over time, that shapes how people relate to each other. They stop seeing each other as collaborators and start seeing each other as variables in a system they’re just trying to survive.
What It Costs Your Culture
The impact of CBS doesn’t show up all at once. It builds. When this syndrome takes root, the collective outcomes are heavy:
High performers second-guess themselves and eventually shut down.
Trust becomes conditional, making real collaboration impossible.
Energy gets redirected toward managing perception instead of doing meaningful work.
Most organizations feel the effects—turnover, stalled innovation, and shifting engagement—but very few ever name the cause.
Bringing a Different Lens to the Room
When I bring this conversation into a room, the goal isn’t to call people out. It’s a strategic intervention to make the pattern visible.
I give teams the language for what they’ve been experiencing but haven't been able to articulate. We create a space where leaders can look at what’s happening without defensiveness or avoidance. That’s where the shift begins.
People don’t leave my sessions with a simple checklist or a script. They leave with a different lens. They leave seeing their environment, and their role in it, with a clarity they can finally trust.
Read the Research: For a deeper look at the data and theoretical frameworks behind these dynamics, you can access my full study: Exploring the Crabs in the Barrel Syndrome in Organizations, published in the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies.
The Path for Organizations
If you’re planning a leadership session or a team experience and you're ready to move past surface-level solutions, let’s talk.
Chemistry Call: A focused conversation to understand the specific dynamics your team or organization's navigating.
Insight & Understanding: An assessment of leadership dynamics, team interactions, and the system design challenges shaping your culture.
Engagement: Designing an experience that helps your team see differently, relate differently, and move forward with greater intention.
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