There has been a lot of talk lately about the concept of “Quiet Quitting” and depending on which side of this debate you land, you may either relate completely or you may think that anyone who is “quietly quitting” is just doing the bare minimum to do their job.
But what if it isn’t really that black and white?
What if the concept of “quiet quitting” is just an opportunity to have a bigger conversation about what it takes to be present at work AND your life, so that you can show up as your whole self at work and outside of work?
Here at Leading Edge Teams, we believe and teach that aligning and making conscious agreements with your team (and with yourself) is needed to take effective action that leads to successful outcomes in your business. Without good agreements in place, you may be operating ineffectively as a team and putting yourself at risk for overwhelm and burnout—the very things that lead to employees wanting to “quietly quit”.
What I think may be at the heart of “quiet quitting” is that individual team members are not only making agreements with other team members that may leave them overextended, overwhelmed, and on a path to burnout, but they are also not making great proactive agreements with themselves.
It is easy to get caught in the trap of saying yes when you really want to say no, and it is easy to do whatever it takes to get the job done and done well. But, I promise you that when you keep going and giving your all without putting your needs high on your priority list, you will become so overwhelmed that you’ll feel you have no choice but to quit or “quietly quit”.
But it doesn’t have to be that way…
The more you practice addressing an issue for yourself within your organization, the better chance you have for creating a better environment for yourself and your teammates. Say for example, you have a manager who is always texting you after hours with “urgent” requests. Before you decide that this is just the way it is and there’s nothing you can do about it, you can address it with the manager (and with other team members). You can make a new, conscious agreement that the manager waits until office hours to send messages and / or you can decide as a team what constitutes urgent so that there is a clear group agreement about when it is okay for after hour requests. That way you are helping to create a better environment for yourself (and your team) where your needs are better met.
I hope you can see how being willing to raise the issues and make better agreements not only serves you, it serves everyone on the team. In fact, good agreements are the secret ingredient of high performance and a healthy culture.
To bring your best thinking and do your best work, putting your well-being and self care on the top of your list is a non-negotiable. So if you feel like, “Quiet Quitting” instead grab the opportunity to make better agreements that serve your overall well-being, so that you can do your job to the best of your ability today and in the future.
To your most empowered self,
Heather
Praise for The People Part:
“Annie’s approach to managing people has transformed our business here at Hay House and my life as CEO. Let her help you and your business too.” — Reid Tracy, CEO of Hay House, Inc.
