Quiet quitting is a huge opportunity

I know, I know, you’ve probably heard enough about “quiet quitting” by now, but, if you’ll indulge me, I think you could be looking at a huge opportunity.

First off, quiet quitting isn’t new. It’s a term freshly birthed from the roiling cultural phenomenon called TikTok, but it means the same thing as “disengagement,” or “coasting,” or even the Silicon Valley-famed “resting and vesting.”

What they’re not talking about on TikTok is that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores¹. If you’re reading this, that’s probably you.

Are people on your teams “quietly quitting?” Does it matter? What can you do to ensure that your teams are engaged, whether they are “quiet quitters” or not?

I will cover all of that, and more, right here!

Quiet quitters have committed themselves to performing the minimum required of them in their job and nothing more. Another word I use to describe this kind of worker is one who treats their job “transactionally.” The company gives you $100, you give it $100 worth of your labor. That’s it.

But, is that bad?

Quiet quitting is a good thing

Quiet quitting is hitting a cultural chord right now for two reasons:

1. It’s a clever alliteration, and
2. We’re experiencing a post-pandemic resurgence of “hustle culture.”

Our industry has a storied history of lionizing workaholic start-up founders and glorifying the “grind.” The image of a developer asleep at their desk surrounded by empty Mountain Dew cans was so common it became a trope. Many product managers still believe that pizza can be directly converted into software.

The pandemic changed all of that, at least for a while. For some, it was changed permanently as companies shifted fully remote and adopted new ways of working. But for what seems like the majority, companies have returned to pre-pandemic expectations of always-on availability.

Once again, any murmur of “burnout” is met with a slickly produced “mindfulness webinar” from HR.

If quiet quitting is the youngest generation of workers realizing that all of that is a terrible idea, then more power to them!

Quiet quitting is a bad thing

Surely we should all work hard to avoid burning out our staff. But it is possible to be energized by the work you’re doing, and to go beyond expectations (at least sometimes), without burning out. What it requires is motivation.

If your people aren’t actually motivated to contribute, one of two things is true:

1. What you’re doing is not inspiring, nor motivating. If this is the case, you might want to take a closer look at whether you want to keep your own job, let alone work to motivate others. (If you’re unsure, coaching might help).

2. You’ve done a poor job of connecting work to purpose for your teams.

In many cases, someone who is “quiet quitting” simply doesn’t understand how their work contributes to anything of meaning to them beyond a paycheck.

That might seem like a tenable situation in some respects, especially if doing the minimum for that person is entirely satisfactory to you. However, bear in mind that even if that person is satisfied, a disengaged worker is much more likely to entertain other employment opportunities should they arise.

Quiet quitting is not just an engagement problem, it’s a retention problem.

What can you do about it?

Both Daniel Pink (“Drive”) and James Robbins (“Nine Minutes on Monday”) have written about the motivating power of purpose. The word means different things to different people, but it’s your job as a manager to determine what it means for each person on your teams and draw the line from their work to that meaning.

I recommend both of the aforementioned books for understanding how to implement an intrinsic motivation strategy in your teams.

Purpose is the bedrock of a motivating role, but even if the purpose is there, disengagement can result from two other key issues:

1. Lack of growth opportunity, or
2. A poor feedback/improvement loop.

“Growth” is an umbrella term for what Daniel Pink calls “mastery,” which is the opportunity to become better and better at something, and to see the results of that effort. Another important element is safety to fail along the way.

This may sound like “management 101,” but if you fear that someone is disengaged, check in with them on what their personal growth goals are and how you can help them to make progress and to measure or visualize it.

By “feedback/improvement loop,” I mean the ability to submit constructive feedback and to see real change as a result of it. One of the top reasons for distrust and disengagement among employees is feeling like their needs are unmet, their feedback is not heard, and things will not improve.

People have been known to put up with fairly egregious situations if they can see incremental progress toward improving them. Hopefully you wouldn’t describe your own workplace as “egregious,” but you get my point.

Take time in your one-on-one meetings to ask for feedback. Ask for it genuinely and without judgment. Many people will not share feedback, even of a severe nature, without being asked. Hear the feedback, acknowledge it, and then do something about it.

Questions for you

1. If you had to give everyone in your teams an “engagement score” from 0 (going to quit) to 10 (loves every minute of it), what would the team averages look like? Are you satisfied with those numbers?

2. When was the last time you connected work to purpose for your teams?

3. What is your source of purpose, or meaning, in your role?

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