Quiet Quitting for Small Business | S04E14

Let's talk about the TikTok phenomenon called quiet quitting. It's affecting you. Did you know that? Let's go.

Well, heydy, hey, listen, I am not a tiktoker but I got my eyes on a TikTok phenomenon called quiet quitting. Hashtag quiet quitting. And it's a Gen Z viral movement on TikTok. And yeah, I'm poking fun a little, but it's real and so we should talk about it. I think it's a real, real problem.

For employers to first of all understand it. And then I think, you know, I'm always about like, all right, so this is a thing. What do I want to do about it? Well, how do I want to think about it? And then ultimately if I'm running a company and this is a legit potential issue in my business, then maybe I need to consider it. So basically the premise of quiet quitting is that gen zers are sort of saying and maybe others too. It's just that that's kind of who's targeting, who they're Targeting here on TikTok is that they want more work, life, balance. They don't want to hustle, they don't want to go above and beyond, you know, to the point where they are completely burnt out and exhausted and they want more balance. Right. So listen, I don't actually think that's a bad thing and I think it's a little bit of an interesting commentary that there is a hashtag quietquitting and that people are like it's become a thing when in actuality.

Should be the expectation. You shouldn't have to always be over delivering, always going above and beyond, always hustling in a work environment. But there's a real philosophy that that's true. And so I actually this. There's lots of different people who've been bringing up different things in my how to CEO program that relate to this, that touch this. And what I want to say first is that we, you know, understanding sort of generational belief systems and I hesitate to over stereotype entire groups of people based on when they were born, but I think we can all sort of make some general agreements that we know some, some things, right? So right now we potentially could have four, even five generations at work. Depending on where you work. You can have the great generation when these are people who work were World War II, they're in their 70s, 80s and beyond. And then we have the boomers who were really more in their early 60s, 80s sort of crossover there. And then we have The Gen Xers, who are getting up to about 58ish, 59, and then, I don't know, somewhere around 45. And then we've got millennials and then we've got Z's. And what we know is that the belief system about work has changed so dramatically over the course of all of these generations. So, Jen, you know, the great generation, this was, this was after the Depression. These were people who worked for everything they had, right? These are the people that you still know who have things. You know, they have two pieces of bread left and they pack it and they cut it into four slices and they freeze half of it. Then they make banana bread, right? They're incredibly thoughtful about the value of what they've earned and what they bought with their money and maximizing. Boomers have a little bit of that. But boomers really, really got the notion of hard work. And not that the great generation didn't, but work meant something different when half of them weren't working and the other half were in the, in the war. Your boomers are the, the ones who really, really laid the groundwork for that 9 to 5, started really, really building that management class and the CEO class, like really developing that piece. And then the Gen Xers came along and were the children of these boomers and saw how hard they worked. And of course, we had all the kids, latchkey kids, including myself. My key was on a ribbon, literally, that I wore around my neck. So single mom couldn't get a credit card, right? She had to work so hard to put together a life for the two of us to live. And she did a beautiful job at that. And I know so many other people like that. And so as Gen Xers, we came along and said, you know, I kind of want to work at Club Med. I kind of want to go be a ski bum for a little while. And we started that notion of self help, right? We were the ones who were the self help generation. Like, how many books have you bought? Exploring yourself, figuring out your feelings, how to pursue your purpose, right? The boomers were not doing that. Great generations not doing that. We were, we were like, there's got to be more than what we just watched our family go through, right? There's got to be more that to retiring. This is my experience. My grandparents retired and they laid on La Z boys all day and watched the prices, right? Like, really? And they were young. They were like, probably not Even this is 60. I don't know. They were really young. Such different perspectives. And then the millennials came along and they really pushed the envelope, right? That's why even Xers are annoyed because Xers like to talk about how hard they worked. And now we have the Z's who are like, listen, y' all are working too hard. Life is amazing. Why do we got to work so hard? And that is not to disparage anyone, I actually think we need a lot more of balance. And I work in the entrepreneurial space so I watch my clients especially before they've really developed how to think about and build team, run themselves into the ground and for what. And then they hire people. And if a leader is not self aware, she will burn people out. She will burn them through and churn them through a cycle in her company because that's the only way she thinks work gets done. And so the Gen Z's are putting the brakes on according to this movement.

And what we've also got now is we have a generation of people who, especially the younger of them, right? We're coming out of pandemic where mental health issues are. We are at an all time high, a huge crisis, suicide rates huge. And what all that means to me, I am no psychologist, I am just an observer. But what that means to me, oh, and let's just couple that with people, people on their phone insatiably buffering, not feeling feelings, not in their life. And so we come into a work environment where there's expectations, there's deliverables and because I haven't learned the landscape of my own feelings, I don't have, as one of my clients said to me a while ago, feeling acumen. And I'm a younger adult and I'm feeling pressure, I'm feeling anxiety, I'm feeling fear, I'm feeling overwhelmed. I hear I'm feeling burnt out, but I don't know how to communicate that because I haven't really been in an environment yet where I have to communicate that with a boss.

Right. I'm pretty confident this is why we have people just quitting by text. And if you've got a difficult person at work, they're not going to negotiate that relationship, they're just going to leave. And so as leaders we have to, you know, I've had this conversation with several of my clients over the honestly over the last several years we can get mad that people are coming into the workforce now who are overly informed about all of the potential things that could be wrong with them because of social media, but under prepared for actually communicating them in a way, in a professional way in at work. And I Think we should couple that with our own expectations of what it means to be a high producing professional. Does that mean we should compromise performance 100%? No. If you've listened to my podcast for any hot minute, you know that that is not true. What is true to me is that you're clear about expectations, that you need to be honest with people about what it means to work for and with your business. And you've got a gut check that. Because if your expectation is that people should be working 10 to 12 hours a day.

Unless you are matching their desired needs on the back end of that, you will fail.

You will have turnover.

And if we aren't creating space to have the discussions, I teach having one on ones with all of my clients and I feel as though sometimes I'm begging people to please do them because it's the only way.

I think you're going to get the kind of information you need from your team. So if you've started noticing the people in your business, you know, I hear it as half assing, lack of work ethic, phoning it in, right? These are our words that I think we might say. They're like I'm quiet quitting hashtag. How about before we just rule them out and character, assassinate them and be pissed at them and judge them, how about we first say, hey, what's going on here?

And there's a series of questions you could ask yourself. The first one have I clearly established the values of my business? And if the answer to that is yes, have I communicated them? And if the answer to that is yes, do I communicate them on a regular basis? Do I recognize people who align with them? Do I fire people who don't? Have I clearly set expectations for what it's like to work here? What the behaviors are, how we roll with each other, how we support each other, what we can expect of one another. Have I clearly defined that? If the answer is yes, have I clearly communicated that? If the answer is yes.

Do I clearly and consistently revisit them? Talk about them? Have I clearly defined performance expectations for all the roles? Productivity expectations for all the roles? If I clearly define them, have I clearly explained them? If I clearly explain them, do I clearly review them? Are on a regular basis, which is what one on ones are for? We do have the least prepared workforce coming into the workforce than we've ever had before. And I do not say that to be disparaging. I say that because that is true. And so there is more responsibility now than ever on employers to help people learn what it means to work.

And also to work with balance. Because if you don't know what real work feels like, all of it feels like too much. And if you have clear expectations and you sign up for what you know it's going to be like and that's what's delivered, then we know, as the owner of this business, you are clear, you are delivering on a promise of a position. But if there's gray area there and you're random with your requests, you're inconsistent with your expectations, you're inconsistent with your requests, they've got a difficult person whose behavior is getting ignored. All of those things will contribute to someone thinking, I'm working way too hard right here. And like I say, you can argue with me all day and tell me that's ridiculous. They need to toughen up. This is. This is time for the adults to. So all the things that I know, I hear people say, listen, I don't disagree. Like, I think people need to understand if you're going to go to work, you go to work. But I also think it's incumbent upon the leader of a business to outline what that means and not just expect people that are going to show up and do whatever you ask them to do. Those days are gone. All you have to do is like, look in the world and look at how irreverent people are. I think that's a whole other commentary that I'll talk maybe about another day. I mean, I just don't think we have regard for one another like we did. And so as a result, we have to look. I hear it on both sides. I see employees who are very disrespectful and have no regard for their employer. And I see employers who are incredibly disrespectful and have no regard for their team. We need each other. Right? You need them to deliver on the role and they need you to generate revenue and make money for themselves. We need each other, but we have to find a new way to connect here. And I know the employers who go all in on that will thrive. And that doesn't mean you have to pay people a ton more money. That's an easy out for people. Oh, well, they just all want more money. I don't actually agree. And that has not even been my experience. People want to work somewhere they feel valued, heard, they want to grow, they want to be mentored, they want to be led, they want to be coached. So you, as a leader, you're the one who has to change to match so that you attract the team. Member who does want to perform, who does have pride in their work. But if you're no different than the rest of them, they're going to come in and see it and walk out. And if you get the text that they quit, you're lucky. So I don't say this to you because this is your personal problem. I say this because I believe it's a systemic issue. And I think in entrepreneur cultures we fall more into hustle and grind than even some big companies do. Big companies, people can hide. It's the small ones where everybody's really seen. And if the founders work in 14 hour days, that sets the tone for what it means to work there. And if you need more support to get the work done, then you're going to have to start to evaluate that. So there's a balance here. This isn't all employers need to get with this program and listen to the quiet quitting. And this also isn't all the employees need to get over themselves and stop quiet quitting. We have to find a balance here. But you have to look at this honestly. This is happening. So we can either argue and come up with all the reasons and shame all the people why it's happening, or we say, you know what, I think they make a point. I think I'm 55 years old, I've worked my whole life, and if I had to do it over again, maybe I wouldn't have worked quite as much and I would have savored some stuff along the way. Why can't that be a win also? And it's all based on your values. I like to make money, but money is not a value for me. Connection is, authenticity is, relationships are, kindness, fairness, loyalty. So if I went to work for someone that money was their top value, I might be in conflict. So let's just be honest about what our values are. Doesn't mean you have to change them, but because there are the team people that you could hire right now. If you're all about money and hustle and grind and working hundreds of hours, I get it. And I'm not saying that's even mutually exclusive. You can have the value of money and like balance. So they're not, they don't all have to go that way, but you've just got to be honest about it. So if all of a sudden you're noticing the dial got turned down on the team, then I would pay attention. We had a guest speaker in the lab in our HAPA CEO program to come in and talk about mental illness at work. To huge issue. How do you handle that? There's you as the person and then there's the business and mitigating risk. How do we handle conflicts when people really feel unsafe? Like, these are the words we're hearing now, right? I feel unsafe. I feel attacked. When really maybe it was just somebody asked them where their time card was.

Right. But in their brain because they haven't developed the skill to have that kind of a conversation. They mean it's, we have work to do. And I think it's an opportunity. I think as a woman running a business, you have an incredible opportunity to develop and mentor and demonstrate and model for other young people in the world. What's possible when we listen to each other and we lead and we invest in ourselves as leaders so we can be better for them. So I don't know. I always love to know what you guys think, but quiet quitting is a thing. So you can argue or you can ask yourself, okay, it's happening. What do I want to do about it? What do I need to know about it? What's true about it in my business? And then we look at the other things I mentioned. Vision, values, expectations and roles and get honest. Okay, hey, we're going to be registering for how to CEO here, so if you'd like some support during these crazy times of running your business and figuring out team dynamics and team design and who to hire next and should I fire them and how do I delegate and oh, yeah, how do I just get people to do their job?

We'd love to work with you personally. So come on in. We're having a great time over here. It's lovely to be supported by and supported with other women like yourself. Talk to you next time.

Hey, entrepreneur. You started that gorgeous business of yours to do some really good in the world. You probably didn't start your business to manage people, but here you are having to figure out how to manage people to get work done and maybe it's not going so well. So head on over to Chrisplacki.com howtoceo and let's talk about how we can help you. You learn how to lead, manage, hire, fire, and all the things so that you can build a team that expands on your amazing dream.