Getting to the root causes of “Quiet Quitting”
Make way, Great Resignation, the newest labor market crisis is #quietquitting. From Time Magazine to TikTok, people are talking about the phenomenon of workers feeling less engaged and… doing (only) what’s in their job description.
The public opinion and management consulting organization, Gallup, recently surveyed American workers to find out if #quietquitting is real and found that over half of all workers are “not engaged” at work. Their definition? Quiet Quitters are people who “do the minimum required [at their job] and are psychologically detached from their job.”
Gallup’s recommendations for addressing this labor crisis is to focus on managers, as the key to keeping individual employees engaged, but if over half of our workforce self-identifies as “psychologically detached from their job,” it’s a call for individuals, managers and organizational leaders to get curious about the symptoms of more complex and unique challenges facing our organizations.
Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s… burnout
The world went through a collective trauma and transformation over the last two+ years and we’re all finding our way to a new way of living, and a new way of working – and this is true for all of us, regardless of your role.
For individuals, it’s ok to be tired and to start setting boundaries to prevent burnout. It’s also ok to emotionally distance from work that you are undercompensated or undervalued for.
For people managers, it’s ok to be frustrated when you’re expected to support and coach others while also having to meet your deliverables. There’s a lot already riding on your shoulders.
For organizational leaders, it’s ok to be flummoxed on where to start.
Getting to the root cause of Quiet Quitting
When organizations experience dysfunction, consultants often get called in by leadership teams when the problems become too hard to ignore.
What we may often hear is:
“This person doesn’t pitch in and help like the rest of the team.”
“We missed our deadline because we didn’t get what we needed from X team.”
“These Gen Z employees expect to be promoted after 6 months!”
What shows up as judgements about people often reveals differences in workplace expectations. Tensions between people at work are actually symptoms of a breakdown in organizational structures and systems.
While we commonly make implicit assumptions about how team members behave, the person perceived as not “pitching in” may not want to overstep their role or may have no idea on how to help. Similarly, a team leader may not feel empowered to ask directly for what their team needs from another part of the organization.
Newer employees may also have been recruited with promises of growth and advancement and find themselves with managers who don’t have time – or don’t know how – to coach them.
If organizations actually want to learn about why employees feel disengaged, I'd argue they need to look upstream to the root causes.
Where to start
Individuals
If you’re feeling disengaged in your role, clearly you’re not alone. As mentioned above, it’s ok to set boundaries between work and life – many of us are still working and living in the same place and creating that separation is hard.
It’s also helpful to have a third-party person – either a trusted friend or coach – help you reassess what you want in your career and the kinds of work that give you energy. We’ve also seen the benefits of doing this in a group format, where you can align with others who are working through similar challenges. Either way, this is a good time to get curious about the way you’re feeling.
Managers
If you’re a mid- or senior-level manager, you play a critical role within the organization – and it can be a really hard one, especially during a global pandemic. A lot of the women we coach ask, “How am I supposed to do my job and motivate people?”
In addition, the majority of managers have never been trained or given the tools and support they need to be good leaders, so we’re commonly passing down poor leadership habits or choosing alternatives to management roles.
Leadership coaching can be beneficial to help managers – and especially women, who have been increasingly stepping out of these roles – understand that they’re not alone in their experiences and challenges and to start identifying and learning how to be an authentic leader. Because if you’ve never experienced empathetic and vulnerable leadership, how can you emulate it and be the kind of leader the world needs?
Organizations
Now is a critical time for organizational leaders to pause and consider what they actually need from their employees and what the root causes are behind their particular disengagement.
Feeling engaged at work is a complex mix of different indicators. Gallup measures employee engagement through several indicators: clarity of expectations, opportunities to learn and grow, feeling cared about, and a connection to the organization's mission or purpose.
Keep in mind, however, that if your employees tell you they’re not feeling connected to the mission of your organization and they have too much work, those are different issues to address.
Start by getting curious – ask your employees how they’re feeling:
Where are they not feeling connected or supported?
Do you have clarity on your role and the expectations for performance?
What do you need to feel engaged in your work?
Remember that our tendency is to go towards generalizations or judging an individual’s performance (including our own), but it really takes a concerted effort to get curious about what’s happening within your unique organization.
Looking for support with organizational coaching to get to the root causes and address tensions in your office? Let’s chat.