Talk of the town these days is the phenomenon of quiet quitting.
Folks phoning it in. Doing the bare minimum. “acting their wage”. I’ve read many articles of late, about leaders incentivizing employees. Or threatening and punishing them. There’s a wave meeting this trend to get people “back on track”. Large corps “turning up the heat” on underperformers.
Hustle and grind culture makes me cringe. And breaks my heart.
Personally, I’m excited about this trend. Not because I want to see people shirking responsibility or taking employers for a ride, but because I think it points to a necessary crisis of meaning.
What is all this working actually for?
Built into the western cultural landscape are working values that prize productivity and achievement. Which could be argued as a good thing, making for a progressive and forward-moving society. But at what cost? Leisure and personal well-being rate lower in the value hierarchy than output and productivity. Burnout is regarded as a personal failure and you’re only as worthy as the metrics you’re meeting.
One of the gifts of disruption is the opportunity to see our lives and circumstances through a new lens. The pandemic created this to kaleidoscopic proportions.
One example: People who’d been vying for hybrid work-from-home opportunities for years, and were told it was impossible, were suddenly thrust into the collective reorganizing of how things are done. Work-from-home hybrids became the new normal. With it, a veil was lifted.
Do things really need to stay the way they are? Are norms, standards and expectations around work and productivity the only way or the best way?
Do the games you play or standards you strive for actually serve you? Or do they serve an institutional or systemic purpose that leaves you out while feasting on your efforts?
Dominant work culture aside, I’m not surprised that some folks want to coast for a bit. We just survived a pandemic. That was hella traumatic, y’all. People need a minute to reorganize their priorities.
Once you see that it may be possible to do work that aligns with your values and advances the things that matter to you, it’s hard to unsee it.
As long as we buy into the belief that our personal value is tied to “being someone” in the eyes of others and to wealth acquisition, then our time, attention and labour can be exploited.
It’s not just employees who are quietly quitting. It’s the self-employed and entrepreneurial too.
Last year, I ‘quietly quit’ when I hit a wall. I scaled things back and went as lean as I could to winter deeply. I’m not alone.
I have colleagues, friends and clients, tired or disillusioned, wondering how the business that was supposed to bring them freedom and flexibility has become a machine to which they’re beholden.
Whether it’s the same “it only matters if it’s visible and measurable” ideologies sucking on their entrepreneurial teets or looking to ‘proven ways’ to climb the ladder of success, even when your gig is your own, you can end up being run by cultural programming not of your own making.
So what do you do when you want to come into deeper alignment? When you need space to gain clarity? When you want to be able to trust yourself to really go for it and create the kind of work and impact that feels soul-aligned while honouring the season you’re in?
Do the work of co-creating a new relationship with your work. One where you’re the steward. Where you examine and dismantle the patterns and conditioned beliefs that keep you feeding the things that starve you.
This is an ongoing and lifelong practice for me, and one I bring to my clients and we endeavour to free ourselves to deeply pursue what’s calling us.
If you want to consciously create some meaningful transitions in your work and life, LEAD is the program and container to do that in.
If you work for an organization and you want to take the reins on your role within it, creating win/win opportunities for alignment and impact, or if you’re done with the institution and need support as you straddle your exit and build your new thing, we have a method and approach to help you do that.
If you’re a practitioner, coach, educator or service provider growing your own practice and business and want to ensure the foundation you’ve laid is solid and the moves you’re making are yours, we have a method and approach to help you do that.
If you’re an entrepreneur feeling a big expansion coming and want to trust yourself to fully show up for the occasion, wielding your gifts and genius with powerful authenticity, we have a method and approach to help you do that.
When you enroll in LEAD, you will join other mission-driven leaders embarking on the program that’s designed to be a significant turning point.
You will be guided by your Personal Leadership Development Plan, a highly customized program and plan that meets you in the season and circumstances of your life.
It incorporates your values, aspirations, and the meaningful change you seek.
It targets what you want to leave behind with tested and true processes and practices to truly pull that off while shining a light on what you want to grow.
You’ll have a roadmap. This roadmap is not a cookie-cutter solution, we create it together, suited to the unique road you’re travelling, leading to your True North.
We begin in two weeks. If you’re curious or feeling called, learn more or apply here.
Scholarships are available.