Quiet Cracking at Work: The Hidden Leadership Crisis Costing Billions

Your highest performers haven't quit, but they're not fully there either. They are quietly breaking or cracking under the stress, pressures, workloads, politics, lack of opportunities, and poor leadership. So they are simply showing up, checking the boxes, and slowly breaking. Just look at the last 6 months with the explosion of AI and the very public elimination of many job functions and the people that do those jobs, people are running scared. Your people are running scared. Maybe you are too. And I wonder if you even recognize the pressure that they're feeling as a result. According to Forbes, quiet cracking is the new workplace phenomenon that is sweeping offices all around the world. And it has resulted in a staggering $438 billion loss in productivity in the past year alone. So we're getting into all of it. What is quiet cracking? How does it show up? And what is the cost or impact to teams and businesses? And then an action plan that you could be taking in order to prevent it or minimize it. Let's get into it.

Welcome to Shedding the Corporate Bitch, the podcast that transforms today's managers into tomorrow's powerhouse leaders. Your host, Bernadette Boas, executive coach and author, brings you into a world where the corporate grind meets personal growth and success in each and every episode. So if you're ready to shed the bitches of fear and insecurity, ditch the imposter syndrome, and step into the role of the powerhouse leader you were born to be, this podcast is for you. Let's do this.

Back in 2022, we were dealing with quiet quitting. When employees were deliberately making the decision to not do anything more than what they were expected to do. And now you, me, and all the leaders are dealing with quiet cracking where employees, they keep delivering, but they are slowly deteriorating mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, right in front of your eyes. If you're paying attention, you might see it. Subtle changes or even drastic changes in those people that typically show up very energetic, very motivated, and raring to go. Now they're not so disengaged that they're going to bail, yet at the same time, they just don't feel supported. They don't feel valued and they don't feel as as if they're a priority to, to you and to the business. And so over time, they are just quietly falling apart within themselves. And as that happens, it'll start projecting out in the way that they behave, the way they show up, the way they talk, the way they collaborate. The way they deliver their products or deliver on their work deliverables. And so it's going to be critical for you to really pay close attention to those subtle or drastic changes that any one or more of your team members are experiencing, especially when it comes to— I mentioned in the opening— when it comes to these drastic changes as a result of AI. As a matter of fact, one tip I'd give you right now is to have a conversation with your team members about what their thoughts are in regards to how AI is going to change the way that we all do business and going to change the job functions that have been there traditionally, but may be going away as a result of the capability of AI. Displacing people, altering, shifting, transforming job functions, and how they feel about that. Do they feel threatened? Do they feel as if they're going to be impacted? Without addressing that right up front, and that's why it's a good time to do it now, will only cause your employees, if not yourself, to get more and more scared. Threatened, intimidated by anything that might come down the road when it comes to any business incorporating AI into the organization. So it's a great conversation that you could be having right now to ask them what are their thoughts about it? What are their concerns? Are they worried about their own job functions? While at the same time you could be having a conversation about how it could benefit. What it is that they do each and every day. But you can't ignore any of the subtle to drastic changes I mentioned in any of your team members, because it could be them quietly cracking under just the pressures and the politics and, and even poor leadership that they might be getting somewhere within the organization. So I have an initial challenge for you. Give yourself 30 seconds right now as you're engaged in this discussion and really think about your team members. Is there anyone that suddenly isn't showing up like they typically do? Suddenly isn't engaging, isn't collaborating. Maybe they are copying an attitude in some way, shape, or form, or getting you know, short or curt with, with someone when they typically don't. What you wanna be careful about is you don't wanna automatically assume it's something external. It's something outside the workplace. You first want to, you know, think about, is there something going on in the workplace, in the team, in the relationship with you or others within the organization? In just their overall satisfaction with their job and their role, or the threat of like things like AI. You don't want to bring the personal into it until you actually eliminated the fact that there could be something within the culture, within the organization, within the team. You also wanna put some intentional attention to it within your team. So let me give you some statistics as to why. According to Gallup, only 21% of the workforce is fully engaged, and that's as of 2024. 21% of workers are engaged. That leaves 79% aren't. So look at your team. You know, that's 2 out of 10 that are engaged and the rest of them are not engaged. Why? What is causing that? What do they need? How can you help? 67% of workers reported at least one burnout-related symptom in the last month. And that is lack of concentration, headaches, insomnia, changes in appetite, chronic fatigue, so forth and so on, resulting in lower productivity, increased PTO, and, you know, far more financial and personal impacts to the business, impacts to the team, impacts of you achieving your goals. That's according to APA, the American Psychological Association, in 2024. You want to get ahead of that. You want to get ahead of those negative impacts to what it is you're working your tail off to achieve. And if you are the one who's quietly cracking under the pressures, under the politics, under the poor leadership, lack of opportunities, then you need to go and seek support, resources, and help in order for you to be able to slowly climb out of that state of being. Because you, as the leader, if you start falling apart, Even if it's subtle, even if it's slowly, that is going to project and that is going to start eroding and feeding your people. And then all of a sudden you have a bigger cultural issue than you might just one or two people who are feeling kind of disengaged, threatened, or intimidated by changes. And, or, and, or just don't see opportunity and they, and they need to be motivated. And guided into what opportunities there are for them as they move forward. In a conversation I had a couple weeks ago on this exact subject, one of my clients asked me, so what should I be paying attention to beyond, you know, someone being disgruntled, someone projecting, you know, negativity, all of a sudden not engaging? What are some other things that they could be looking for? Well, first off, I would say since we do so much, you know, on camera and we are remote and therefore we don't necessarily get to see our team members in person, even on Zoom calls, you can see a change in someone if all of a sudden they have their cameras turned off, whereas before they were pretty actively involved and engaged and had no problems with their camera being on, but they all of a sudden are turning their camera off. Or maybe, you know, they're kind of just sitting back and really not engaging at all, not asking questions, not getting themselves involved in the conversation. They're not even necessarily taking notes actively, you know, so they're just really, you know, checked out, so to speak. If they are avoiding asking you for any new projects or new opportunities, whereas before they were always looking for them, they were always aspirational, they were always ambitious, and all of a sudden they seem to not be. Those could be early signs. You could have had individuals who were risk takers, individuals who definitely, I don't want to say they didn't play it safe, but they, they knew when to push themselves. They get out of their comfort zone and then all of a sudden they're playing very safe and they're not wanting to, you know, be fully engaged. I can absolutely tell from my coaching clients if something's going on with them personally or professionally in our, even our coaching sessions, because all of a sudden they're not taking the feedback. They're not really wanting to consider not only things about themselves, but they're not even look— wanting to have a conversation, get really deep into working through a situation they might be having with someone else. They kind of just don't care. And, you know, I'm done type of attitude. You might find that somebody who not only was always fully engaged, but they were always kind of the life of the party, always socializing, always networking, always collaborating, always kind of, you know, throwing in some humor, you know, telling stories. And suddenly they're not there. You know, they're just, they lost all their shine, so to speak. You know, that should definitely be an indication. That something would be going on. We talked about the— and then of course, the big, big, big one is with employees who were— would take their PTO, but they would not exceed it, or they wouldn't even take all of their PTO or their, or their vacation days. But all of a sudden they are. All of a sudden they're out sick a lot more than they ever had been. And remember, I had mentioned burnout is fatigue. Chronic headaches, insomnia, and all of a sudden they're out sick and feeling under the weather a lot more than what they typically are. All of those are signs that you want to be paying attention to. And again, first go to, is there something in the job, on the team, in the organization that is causing these changes? Before you go and assume, oh, there must be something going on in their personal life. It's not my business. And therefore I'm not going to address it. Address it no matter what. Let them tell you it's personal and it's not your business. But first, go at it as, you know, is everything, you know, okay with your job? Is there anything that you're looking for that you need and you're not getting? Are you feeling as if you don't have the opportunities that you really want and that you've expressed to us? Go at it from a business perspective first and then move into whether or not there's something going on externally. And if there's anything that you could do, is there anything that you could do even around the work to ease whatever it might be going on? Outside. So say, for instance, they have a sick relative and, you know, therefore they're, you know, having to take them to the hospital more or take them to the doctor's appointments, whatever. And yet they don't want to be, you know, taking all their PTO, calling out sick. Well, you could work with them to say, okay, look, I don't want to add pressure. On you. I don't, you know, you have enough. I don't want to be a source of additional. So how can we, you know, make sure that you take care of your relative the way you need to take care of yourself as well? Because that doesn't do us any good if you're not fully showing up. And how can I support you? So you want, so again, quiet cracking, they're showing up, they're delivering. But emotionally, mentally, spiritually, physically, they're exhausted, they're frustrated, they're angst. Angst. And that will only lead to bad things for themselves, for the team, and then ultimately for you. Let's get into what you could be doing. First off would be definitely get ahead of it. Definitely. See it before it becomes a problem or a bigger problem than what it might already be. So for instance, we talked about that AI. Be open, have the conversation, ask them if they're worried, if they feel threatened, if they're concerned about their job, how it's going to impact, you know, the business, the job functions, themselves. Just be open and honest about it. Listen for the concerns and listen for the ideas that they might have and the possible solutions and workarounds. So then they at least feel as if they're, they are being listened to, they are being heard. So they gain a bit of confidence, a bit of certainty that you have their back and you'll be taking care of communicating and continuing to collaborate with them on anything that might be coming down the road when there is a big transformational shift or change within the organization. Then you could be tracking kind of changes or tracking the patterns that you're finding of your team members. You know, so if you have Joe, Sally, Tom, and Peter, then, you know, how does Joe, Sally, Tom, and Peter typically show up, typically behave, typically perform? And then make note of that, even physically, literally make note of that and look for any patterns that could be changing, could be shifting in, in the errors, in the initiative, in the engagement, whatever the case might be, and literally make note of it. So then you could track it, look for those patterns and address it before it becomes bigger than it needs to be or bigger than it could be in the future. You could be doing that in one-on-ones, 10, 15-minute pulse checks. You still alive? You still good? Do you need anything? Your heart's still beating, but let's talk about, you know, what's going on with you and how I can support you. They don't have to be long conversations. They don't have to get personal. But they get personal enough to where you're addressing what it is you need or don't want from them as it impacts their performance. And then of course you can, you know, do that individually, but then engage the team and have discussions about, okay, what's working, what's not, what's on your mind, what are your concerns, what are opportunities that you see. Use your team meetings monthly, whatever that frequency is that works for you, to ensure that you're staying ahead of any possible erosion or cracking. Because you can certainly address it if you are paying attention early than once it's already eroded, as we've talked about earlier, that, you know, once it's eroding the team or the culture, it's very hard to shift. It's not impossible, but it just makes it that much more difficult and challenging and frustrating for everyone. Whereas if you're paying attention to it now, you can address it up front. And that kind of leads into needing to be courageous, needing to, you know, kind of wear your heart on your, on your sleeve, identifying and pointing out to someone where they might be slipping or changing or shifting into a place that's not gonna work well for them, even, you know, not from a job risk perspective, but even from an overall performance. You know, you could simply say to them, hey, I've noticed that you might be under a lot of pressure. You might be unhappy with what, you know, the job that you're doing. You know, can you help me understand what might be going on? You're not as talkative. You're not as engaged. You're not as proactive as you typically are. And I really would just, you know, like to understand so I know what I could be doing to support you. It should never come in, come across from a negative blame perspective. So it shouldn't be criticism. It should be inquiry, curiosity. And if you approach it that way, you'll get your people to open up. And if you don't at first, because maybe they're not accustomed to you, you know, getting that— I'll call it intimate with them, but that vulnerable with them, that open with them. Well, then just continue to do it and do it and do it. And then when they see that consistent pattern, that consistent behavior from you, they'll slowly let their walls down and open up. Because they trust that you're— this isn't like a one-shot deal, a one-and-done type of thing. This is something that obviously you seem to care about, and therefore they will open up to you. And when you, when you do, when you have those type of conversations, you have to keep in mind it's not about you. It's about them. And if you are, you know, genuinely wanting to understand, if you are genuinely curious, if you are genuinely wanting to help, then you need to pose the observation that you're having, you know, and then shut up and listen to them, not correct them, not defend anything, and just simply listen so you can then create solutions with them. So how can I support you? What if we were to do this? Do you have any ideas of how we can minimize you know, this workload, this pressure that you're feeling, whatever the situation might be. Engage them in that problem solving. It'll, again, it'll help them gain confidence and stability in that you have their back and you are genuinely interested in making sure that they're okay. Now, one big, big, big area a manager would make tremendous strides in when it comes to the health of their people, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, is look at the way business is done amongst your team and see if there's changes or redesigns that can happen that would make things a lot more not only just productive, but efficient, effective, streamlined, less chaotic. So I'm always talking to my clients about opening white space on their calendars and actually opening white space in their head. You know, when people are so overwhelmed and stressed and feel pressured, there is no white space in their mind to be creative, to be open, to feel fulfillment of any kind because they just have so much going on internally. And a lot of times that is being caused by the fact that they have so much going on externally. And you're in total control for your team as to how the work gets done, as to how the prioritization is done, how the work is structured. And the processes and procedures are followed. So there's a great opportunity for any manager to work, look at how people, individuals are doing their job. And then collectively, how's the team doing their job? Keeping in mind too, that every one of your team members is unique and has their own way of doing their job. And it's not a, you know, one size fits all. Joe might have the same job function as Sally, but yet Joe gets it done just as equally as well and on time and everything like that as Sally does. But the way he goes about it is different than Sally, and that should not be criticized, judged, or disagreed on. Because your ultimate goal as a leader is just to get the job done. With whatever deadlines, expectations that you have. And therefore, you know, if you really want a healthy team, let alone individual team members, then really create or redesign how they do their job that is going to be the best environment, the best processes and procedures. The best way for them individually to do their job. Now, there are some policies and procedures and processes that are standard that have to be followed, especially in certain job functions. I'm not ignoring that, but at the same time, if there are ways for an individual to, you know, adapt their style in the manner of which gets to the same end goal, then be flexible and be open to making those changes and making those adjustments because it'll benefit everybody. Now with this whole, you know, discussion on white space, a lot of this comes to even meetings, for instance. We have meetings for meetings. It's un— you know, it's unreal. You know, people have meetings for meetings just because they want to fill their calendars up. They think they have to fill their calendars up. They think they have to have the same meeting and talk about the same things 2 or 3 times during a work week. And yet, yet they're— the people in the meeting are just so disgruntled and they're so frustrated that nothing of value comes from those meetings. And so I really implore my clients to look at not only their own, but their people's calendars. What meetings are you going to? What meetings must you go to? What meetings, if you have time, then it's a nice to have to go to it. What meetings are, you know, critical? What meetings are, you know, not necessary at all, but looking at that to create that white space, even literally on someone's calendar, because if they can go to their calendar and see white space, you'd be stunned as to how that helps them to breathe. Helps them to clear, helps them to feel some energy as opposed to exhaustion. Look at the redesign of the work or the restructuring of how work is done along with that white space, opening it up, uh, literally on calendars, looking at meetings that are necessary, not necessary, nice to haves, must haves, so forth and so on. And, and then on top of that, then have a system, have a process of prioritization or deprioritization. Looking at team members' workload and seeing if there are things that really aren't as high priority as someone might indicate, and therefore they can deprioritize them and therefore open up that white space. And open up their mental space. So then they are a little bit more energetic, confident, and motivated to do their job and slowly heal from that cracking due to the weight of all the pressures going on around them. Lastly, this goes to you specifically as leaders. Get the training that is needed to really understand the mental health and performance of your team members, what it, what is really needed in order to provide them the support, the tools, and the resources that they need. If you're not strong, you know, in the coaching area, the development area, the time management, in the prioritization processes, in providing a psychologically safe environment for team members and having critical conversations. In managing workloads. If there's skills or techniques and practices that you're just not trained on or not well-versed in, then work on, you know, becoming that leader that your team members need in order for you to be able to proactively address any type of issues that could come up for your team members. There is By doing that, you're improving the guarantee that your people won't quietly crack, won't quietly quit, won't quietly anything because of the fact that you're providing them everything that they need to be the best contributors that they can be. Because what you want to keep in mind is quiet cracking is not one's character flaw. It's actually your leadership signal. If you have an individual who is subtly or slowly deteriorating in any way, shape, or form, it's merely a signal to you to say, hmm, what's happening? And how can I support? How can I help? And what do you need? So don't look at it as a negative. Look, don't look at it as something to be judged. Look at it as, oh wait, I need to pay attention to this because I certainly don't want to have a poor performer individual, let alone I don't want to lose a potential contributor and someone who is highly valued, let alone I don't want it to all of a sudden start eroding and start seeping into the team culture 'cause that'll hurt us overall. You simply want to kind of see it as a signal for you to do some investigation, do some inquiry, be curious, listen to understand, and find the solutions that will allow eventually that energy, that confidence, that motivation, that performance to return in that individual and in the team as a whole. In closing, there's a couple of other things that you could do. You can go to ballofirecoaching.com/opt-in and download our free Powerhouse Communication Assessment and really kind of get a handle on where are you, you know, in a rating, so to speak, on your communication, on your collaboration, on your ability to ask questions and to provide difficult feedback? Where are you as a communicator, which is going to be that key, key, key tools and skill that you want in order to prevent or minimize quiet cracking. So you, again, you can go to ballofirecoaching.com/op-in and download that free Powerhouse Communication Assessment. Secondly, think about doing a 45-minute Workload and Well-Being Reset workshop with me and give your team and yourself an opportunity to really understand what they even could be looking at when it comes to their own workload design, workload execution, workload white space, as well as what are those self-care type of practices and techniques that they could be using in order to reset themselves into a place that will allow them to be high performing and high engagement. So you can go to coachmebernadette.com/discoverycall and let's have a conversation about it. And I can walk you through an outline that you can use for a simple 45-minute workshop with your team members. Third, our next episode is a great sequel to our discussion today. It's going to be with Greg Morley as my guest of BSL International, and he and I are going to talk about belonging and connection, the keys to belonging connections. So tune in for our next episode with Greg Morley as our guest of BSL International. Lastly, be sure to follow the show, go to ballofirecoaching.com/podcast so you don't miss any episodes or any one of our great guests. You'll also find all of our past episodes and great guests there as well. I look forward to having you for another episode of Shedding the Corporate Bitch. Bye.

Thank you for tuning into today's episode of Shedding the Corporate Bitch. Every journey taken together is another step towards unleashing the powerhouse leader within you. Don't miss any of our weekly episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you love to listen. And for those who thrive on visual content, catch us on our Shedding the Bitch YouTube channel. Wanna dive deeper with Bernadette on becoming a powerhouse house leader, visit balloffirecoaching.com to learn more about how she helps professionals, HR executives, and team leaders elevate overall team performance. You've been listening to Shedding the Corporate Bitch with Bernadette Boas. Until next time, keep shedding, keep growing, and keep leading.