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There's Nothing Quiet About Quitting

There’s Nothing Quiet About Quitting

In the first article of the There’s Nothing Quiet About Quitting series, we explored the term Quiet Quitting and some of the ways we at OfficeChaos interpret its meaning. We will continue to avoid social media and hashtag pitfalls and focus on the real-world aspects of the relationship between managers and their reports, bosses and employees.

To highlight some of the complexities involved, we referenced an exchange between a team member and their manager. We covered how organizational behaviors impact current workplace sentiments, and how the measure of success (or failure) directed at managers perpetuates evaluation, critique, and correction practices.

We also stated we will explore the topic from both sides. Since we picked on managers in the first article, it’s time to turn our focus to employees.

Important conversations should always be held in person, as long as
everyone is in the right mindset to have the conversation.

Employees:

Looking at the example exchange, this time from the part of the team member, some aspects give us pause. Those are the setting and format of the exchange.

The organization is fully remote, and while we’re not sure what was said during the meeting, we know there was a live, real-time discussion – either over a phone or video call – then an email follow-up. While video calls can be an effective way for people to communicate, they do not provide the best conditions for giving and receiving non-verbal queues, which are further diminished or completely absent over the phone and in an email, emojis aside.

Conversations involving important topics or decisions should always be held in person – and – as long as everyone is in the right mindset to have the conversation.

But what does one do when that isn’t possible?

We’ll touch on this in the next article, but to avoid withholding details, it’s critical all participants be made aware of the important issues and use the best format and setting available. In Jan’s case, perhaps email wasn’t the best format to broach suggestions for fixing the team’s situation. A live call with the manager might have provided the right setting to share opinions and propose next steps.

email is the worst vehicle for communicating
our thoughts and engaging in conversation.

I have said for years email is the worst vehicle for communicating our thoughts and engaging in conversation. How many times have you read an email and completely misinterpreted the intended message because of your feelings and frame of mind at the moment? I know I have, more times than I care to share.

Just as we proclaimed “managers need to pay more attention to how they engage with their direct reports,” so do employees need to pay more attention to how they engage with their managers. It isn’t the 1980s, and while some may not have been around at that time, the way organizations look at management’s role has changed dramatically. The term ‘middle management’ was once commonplace and organizational structure allotted for many managerial positions, which allowed for closer relationships between managers and their reports. The ratio of reports to a manager was smaller, fostering more opportunities to engage and build rapport.

That each of us has our own perspective on how we see the world, including our work, hasn’t changed. That’s been around for longer than the concept of employment itself. And perhaps the command-and-control approach is a product of the environment; organizational structure is focused on getting the most output from the least input (read: cost). Labor is the number one cost of doing business and though there are fewer managers in the current org model, it’s the manager’s responsibility to meet strategic goals of the business. Of course, this is oversimplifying, but these are real components in the intricate equation of business – one that drives employees, including managers, to adopt more transactional behaviors.

We pay attention to what’s measured because that’s how our performance is evaluated. “What gets measured, matters.” It’s hard to work on relationships when those aspects of life aren’t factored into what’s measured. The same goes for our work relationships.

Not to worry, employees, we have some ways to help you engage with your manager, and teammates, and with a little effort, will have many benefits in the long run. Please look for Part 3 of this series: Summary and Solutions.

Next, we look at some solutions and wrap up the series.

There’s Nothing Quiet About Quitting​ series: