Welcome to another episode of the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast! In this solo episode, your host Scott McCarthy delves into the topic of “quiet quitting,” a new phenomenon that challenges traditional work expectations. Quiet quitting refers to employees adhering strictly to their job descriptions and work hours, without going the extra mile or sacrificing their work-life balance. McCarthy explores why quiet quitting is not necessarily a bad thing and provides actionable tips to help leaders better understand and support their team members. So, sit back and enjoy this thought-provoking discussion on embracing a healthier approach to work.
McCarthy introduces the concept of quiet quitting, which involves employees adhering strictly to their defined roles and hours, without going above and beyond. He explains that this phenomenon emerged due to the increasing prevalence of hustle culture and a lack of work-life balance. However, McCarthy posits that quiet quitting is not necessarily a negative trend and offers insights into its potential benefits.
While quiet quitting may result in less burnout among employees, leaders must take this opportunity to reevaluate task alignment within their teams. McCarthy emphasizes the importance of constantly reassessing task expectations to ensure employees are not left with idle time despite completing their assigned work ahead of schedule. By doing so, leaders can optimize productivity and prevent burnout.
One unexpected advantage of quiet quitting is the potential for increased creativity. When employees have more free time and are not constantly under pressure, they have the mental space to think outside the box and explore innovative ideas. McCarthy encourages organizations to embrace creativity as a driving force for improvement and success.
To prevent team members from quietly quitting, McCarthy suggests several strategies. Leaders should prioritize open communication and engage in regular conversations with their team members to understand their needs and concerns. Practicing empathetic leadership and promoting work-life balance helps foster a supportive environment where employees feel valued. Recognizing and celebrating achievements is another crucial element in preventing quiet quitting, as it motivates employees and reinforces their dedication. Lastly, cultivating a culture of continuous learning encourages growth and personal development within the organization.
In conclusion, quiet quitting challenges the traditional notions of work by highlighting the importance of work-life balance and task alignment. By embracing this concept and adopting the strategies discussed in this episode, leaders can create a more productive and fulfilling work environment. Remember, quiet quitting can be an opportunity for positive change. So, join us in reshaping leadership and promoting peak performance.
Don’t forget to tune in to the full episode to gain more insights and practical tips on combating quiet quitting.
Topics
During this episode I talk about the following topics:
- 00:03:09 Re-sign up for newsletter and podcast notifications. Discussing quiet quitting phenomenon.
- 00:07:41 Empty, alone—quiet quitting becomes new phenomenon.
- 00:11:53 Leaders must connect with their team.
- 00:15:34 Limited personal time? Work from home.
- 00:17:29 Flexibility in work hours for productivity.
- 00:20:45 Support the podcast by sharing with friends.
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Scott McCarthy
Transcript
The following is an AI generated transcript which should be used for reference purposes only. It has not been verified or edited to reflect what was actually said in the podcast episode.
Scott McCarthy [00:00:00]:
It’s on 234 of the peak Performance Leadership podcast. I go solo again and I’m gonna be talking about this new phenomenon known as Quiet quitting and how you can combine it, but also why it’s not even that bad of a thing. Are you ready for this? Alright, let’s do it. Close. You welcome one, welcome all to the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast, a weekly podcast series dedicated to helping you hit peak performance across the three domains of leadership. Those being leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. This podcast couples my 20 years of military experience as a Senior Canadian Army Officer with world class guests to bring you the most complete podcast of leadership going. And for more, feel free to check out our website@movingforwardleadership.com.
Scott McCarthy [00:01:02]:
And with that, let’s get to the show. Yes, welcome one, welcome all. It is your Chief Leadership Officer, Scott McCarthy. And thanks for coming out and checking out yet another episode of the podcast. If you’re listening to this show in real time, I got some bad news and I want to head this up right away, first thing, and let you know I had a catastrophic failure with my website. In very short terms, she be gone. The entire website. Five years worth of content is gone.
Scott McCarthy [00:01:54]:
Yeah, it was quite an ordeal. Anyway, I won’t get into the nuts and bolts of how that happened. Just know I have fixed the problems. That will never happen again. But what I’m saying to you is please be patient with me as I get all those things back up and running. Everything that was there before, it’s going to take me some time. But you know what? As I say, out of every challenge, there is an opportunity. And I’m going to take this opportunity to make the site a bit better and improve it and just make it flow better and based off a lot of your input.
Scott McCarthy [00:02:38]:
So thank you for those who provide me input. Thank you for the couple of messages of wishing me well and saying sorry that this happened to you. You know what? Good old Forrest Gump. It happens sometimes and you just got to roll with it. So here I am. I’m rolling with it. But I wanted to let you know so there’ll be more information to come, but I’ll be starting everything from scratch. That includes mailing lists as well.
Scott McCarthy [00:03:09]:
So if you were signed up to in my newsletter or even the auto notifications of podcast episodes, please note you will have to sign up for them again in the future when I’m ready for you to do so. And I’ll let you know that as soon as it’s ready. Anyway, we’re not here today to talk about my website, but rather we’re here to talk about this whole quite quitting phenomenon and all about it. So I recently went live in our free Facebook group, leadership skills for managers who want to be leaders, not bosses. And this is the clip where I talk about all of that quiet quitting. What it is, why it’s occurred, why it’s not even a bad thing, and how you can help your team members not need to quietly quit. So how about you sit back, relax, and enjoy this recording of me talking in that group all about combating the quiet quitting everywhere. How’s everyone doing? It is your chief leadership officer, Scott McCrafty.
Scott McCarthy [00:04:38]:
And we’re live, we’re live in our free Facebook group, leadership skills for managers to be leaders, not bosses. And thanks for tuning in. Thanks for tuning in live. If you’re watching this live on the Live stream, feel free to give me a shout out, drop it in the comments below. Let me know where you’re watching from, who you are, whatever you feel like doing. But today, tonight, wherever you are in the world, we’re talking about the quiet quitting phenomenon that’s going on around. And we’re going to talk about what it is, why it’s occurred, why it’s actually not even a bad thing, and that may sound strange to you. And then finally, we’re going to talk about how to help your teams, to your team members, I should say, to understand that they don’t need to quite quit anyway.
Scott McCarthy [00:05:40]:
And I’m going to give you some actionable tips and advice out there. So if you’re watching live, feel free to let me know what your thoughts are. I am watching the comments below and give me a thumbs up for things that resonate with you. All right, so let’s talk about this whole quiet quitting thing in the first place. And it comes from a TikTok video, actually, that went viral. And essentially what it is, it actually isn’t quitting at all. Rather, we’re getting back to the old quitting time saying, you see, quiet quitting is actually all about holding people to their job description and their hours of work and expecting people to stay within those lanes and not do more than what is asked of them in the first place when they get hired on. That’s it.
Scott McCarthy [00:06:47]:
That’s what this whole quiet quitting thing is all about. And this has gone on before. This is not the first time that we’ve seen such a movement. I’ll call it, you see, quiet quitting, word to work was another one that was out there, work to word or something along those lines. You see it in union movements all the time, where it’s the work to rule. So I e where you only do the work that is covered by the rules of the organization and so on and so forth. So is it really something new? I would argue no, it’s not. But it’s definitely something that’s coming out because we’ve gotten into this hustle mentality and hustle culture and working ourselves.
Scott McCarthy [00:07:41]:
Work, work. And ultimately what people are feeling is they’re feeling empty, they’re feeling alone and they have no connection because they believe there is no work life balance. So now what’s happening is this quote unquote new phenomenon coming out of quiet quitting and basically people are just clocking in when their time is up or when all of our tasks are done. They’re not doing anything extra, they are not really going above, beyond, they’re not chasing that next carrot per se, so on and so forth. So these are the reasons why it’s actually occurred in the first place is people are getting tired of that wholesale culture. They’re getting tired of feeling like a number to the organization. They’re getting tired of having no work life balance and feeling empty inside as they go through their workday. So as I’ve said, therefore people are actually just not doing it and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, right? Let’s think about this.
Scott McCarthy [00:08:59]:
If people are leaving work, they’re not communicating after hours. They’re doing what’s expected of them and nothing more. What you’re going to get is actually less burnout. But as well, what we as leaders, and I’m going to get to the managerial side of leadership here, is that we can have a look and see, okay? Jane and Joe there are done their jobs. They have nothing left to do today. And it’s only 01:00 P.m.. We still have another 4 hours to go. So do I have their tasks aligned properly in the first place? And that’s something as leaders we need to be constantly doing.
Scott McCarthy [00:09:41]:
It’s something I’ve done just recently with my team in that I’ve actually completely changed all the team’s work descriptions and what’s expected of them and so on and so forth because things just didn’t line up well. So that’s actually a good thing. No less burnout because people aren’t going around and working themselves essentially to death. Another actual good reason is that you get more creativity when people have more free space, more free time, ability to actually think. And they’re not constantly under the gun of pressure. They’re enabled to be creative. They can think more, they can trial different things, they can do whatever, they get more creative. And creativity is a great thing to have in any organization because it enables people to bring new ideas forward, which could in turn drive your profits, make things more efficient, more effective, whatever have you, right? But creativity is something that every organization needs, no matter where you work.
Scott McCarthy [00:10:57]:
I don’t care. Okay? So that is why it’s actually not really a bad thing. Now let’s talk about how you can stop your team members from quietly quitting in the first place, okay? And my suggestion to you too is to have conversations with your team members, especially if you notice those who are quietly quitting. One, check in on them, they make sure that there’s nothing going on that you need to be aware of. Maybe they have family trouble at home. You don’t have to prod for details or anything, but check in on them to see if there’s something up that is either distracting them or keeping them away from work, et cetera. If the answer is no and they’re simply you know what, this is what’s expected me and I’ve done what’s expected of me. Awesome.
Scott McCarthy [00:11:53]:
The problem is that when times get tough, we need our team members to go above and beyond. And I’ve talked about this on my podcast many times, right? So this is where we as leaders need to step in and show our team members that they don’t need to quietly clip, but rather we need give and take. Okay? So the first step you need to do to combat the quality quitting is have a connection with your team and have your team have connections with each other. And the best way to do that is simply getting away from your desk. I cannot tell you how many times I have to coach leaders on getting away from their desk. Every morning I do my best spend my 1st 30 minutes maybe a little bit less, maybe a little bit more, but roughly 30 minutes not doing work but rather getting out and talking to my people. And it’s not about work, but rather how is their evenings, how is their weekends, how is their family doing, so on and so forth. What hobbies they’ve been working on? I’m trying to get know my team members at a more deeper level.
Scott McCarthy [00:13:18]:
It’s not simply business. We spend a third of our day on average at work. The other third you should be spending sleeping. And then the final third is all the other stuff. So think about it. If work is only reserved for work stuff and you spend a third of your time only focused on that, how are you going to build those bonds? How are you going to build those connections? You’re not. So get away from your desk. Inspire, motivate, and enable your team to get together and discuss things and be present with one another.
Scott McCarthy [00:14:09]:
Find opportunities, find ways to go out for team lunches or breakfasts. I actually like to break bread, have evenings out, so on and so forth. Enable those. Okay, maybe you do something like a walking meeting where you go out and you walk together. Or you do some kind of team bonding exercise and building exercise. The moral of the story is these things are important. But you’re like Scott, what’s that I got to do with quietly quitting? Because when people feel connected, they won’t quit on each other. If I’m done my job and I’m connected with Jane and I see Jane is struggling, she has a lot on her plate.
Scott McCarthy [00:14:49]:
I will not go well, not my job description. Jane, sorry. Go ahead and sink here. No, I’m connected with Jane. I’m going to go in and help her. I’m going to go above and beyond what’s expected of me and take care of her. You need to build those relationships and those relationships do not come from clocking at nine, clocking out at five, and only discussing work topics. Now, another reason why people quietly quit and I didn’t really get into it is that whole work life balance.
Scott McCarthy [00:15:34]:
People have lives, right? We all have lives, obviously. And one of the biggest things is most people work nine to five Monday to Friday. But if we’re all working Monday to Friday, nine to five, how can anything get done in our personal lives? I buy a new couch and the delivery company calls me up and they go, hey, your couch is ready, we’re going to deliver it Tuesday between the hours of nine and five, which is kind of delivery timing windows. There are many employers out there say, hey, you have to take a day off. We’re now in never been so much situated in an amazing environment to enable people not to have to take that day off. Instead, something I do all the time is allow my team to work from home for that time. For that day. Yeah, don’t take the day off work from home.
Scott McCarthy [00:16:36]:
I know you’re going to be doing things. Get at it. Get at it from home and basically enable flexibility. So this is one of those very tactical things. Tangible things you can do is if you’re an environment where you’re enabled to enable people to work from home, then allow them to work from home when they have life things going on and that’s going to inspire them not to quietly quit on you. The other thing is if you work in an environment where not service industry fully understand you can’t do this. But in other places, who cares if they show up at 920, or if they show up at nine five, or if they leave at 445 or 450, so on and so forth. I often use the phrase use but don’t abuse with my team.
Scott McCarthy [00:17:29]:
Meaning that I don’t care what time they show up at. They’re expected to be there for nine to four. For us, I don’t care if they show up at 910. I don’t care if they show up at 930. Heck, I don’t care if they show up at 1030 or leave at three. I don’t care. What I care about is them getting the things done that they need to get done. But Scott, isn’t that quietly quitting there? No, what I’m doing is enabling them to have flexibility with their lives, to take care of things before they show up that will enable connection with your team members, okay? Because you’re showing them flexibility and then in turn, one day you’re going to ask them for that flexibility back.
Scott McCarthy [00:18:20]:
You’re adding deposits to the trust and the balance piggy banks. One day you may have to withdraw. But if you explain this to your team, you know what they’ll understand. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you combat the quiet quitting. You build that connection. You show them flexibility. You show them grace. You give them the tools that they need to be able to live their lives, but at the same time provide to you your team and your organization.
Scott McCarthy [00:19:06]:
And that is going to help you combat it. And the final thing I should say is this is all wrapped up with the understanding of the greater cause that you’re achieving. If people understand the greater cause that you’re achieving that you’re going after, they will not just mail it in and mail it back out. If they are connected with that cause again, back to that connection bit and they understand it, they’ll go above and beyond what’s required. That’s it. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in. For everyone that tuned in live, it’s great to see you all. Thank you again.
Scott McCarthy [00:19:48]:
Love you all. And if you need more, check out the website leaddomboss.com. Feel free to reach out to me direct. I am here for you and of course, the Mastermind community. If you haven’t checked that out yet, please do. It is a great community that we have there where we get together weekly and we discuss topics just like this. And this week, live or real time, what we’ll be doing actually is reflecting on the past quarter and leading our organization. So that’s the mastermind.
Scott McCarthy [00:20:23]:
Feel free to reach out to me if you want more information. Just reach out to me if you got any questions at all. And until next time, remember, as always, lead. Don’t boss. Take care now. And that’s a wrap for this episode, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the peak Performance Leadership podcast.
Scott McCarthy [00:20:45]:
But you know what you could do to truly support the podcast. And no, that’s not leaving a rating and review. It’s simply helping a friend. And that is helping a friend by sharing this episode with them. If you think this would resonate with them and help them elevate their performance level, whether that’s within themselves, their teams, or their organization, so do that. Help me help a friend win win all around. And hey, you look like a great friend at the same time. So just hit that little share button on your app and then feel free to fire this episode to anyone that you feel would benefit from it.
Scott McCarthy [00:21:27]:
Finally, there’s always more, there’s always more lessons around being the highest performing leader that you can possibly be, whether that’s for yourself, your team, or your organization. So why don’t you subscribe subscribe to the show via movingforwardleadership.com subscribe. Until next time. Lead. Don’t boss. And thanks for coming out. Take care now. Bye.