Interview: Strategies from a leader to fight Quiet Quitting
Table of Contents
Identify Quiet Quitting
Every other day there’s a viral article about quitting your job or quiet quitting it. Whether it’s workers unhappy with their current roles or simply seeking out new opportunities, it seems that quitting is becoming more common by the day. But why? Can it be avoided it? How do you handle this situation as a leader?
One of DNAMICs managers shares some tips on how to fight quiet quitting!
But first, let’s go over this trend and why it is happening.
Who can be a Quiet Quitter?
From the outside, it may appear that someone who “quietly quits” simply checks out — stops trying, stops caring. But quiet quitting is a bit more complicated than that. It’s a coping mechanism for people who struggle with the challenges society today can bring, whether it’s the workload, culture, or their personal life.
And despised what may seem or the concepts that keep popping up, quiet quitters are often some of the most dedicated employees.
What can leaders do to avoid it?
All DNAMIC teams work remotely yet have to count on each other daily. That’s why, as a company, we are committed to creating the best work environment possible and leading them with highly well-prepared professionals and extraordinary people. However, the quiet quitting trend can affect even the best teams if they don’t have the right strategies.
Natalio Villanueva is our Marketing Manager and a great asset to our business. His desire to keep on learning, pushing creative boundaries, and embracing mistakes are the pillars he made sure to add while building his team.
In the following interview, he explains how he feels about the quiet quitting trend, how he tries to fight it in his team, and how following certain mentalities and experiences prepared him for this as a leader.
What have you heard about Quiet Quitting?
– In addition to a large number of jokes and memes on social media, I have found that we have an obsession with labeling things. For me, the term “quiet quitting” would be more accurate if it really led to leaving the job or functions that are being performed, instead of as it is described now, which is simply doing the job for which a company hired you without any engagement or extra effort.
That is fulfilling a responsibility, not giving it up.
What type of leader do you consider yourself to be?
I believe that to lead professionals, you must understand them as human beings and their personal and professional motivations. Nobody likes to work with a strict manual of instructions or procedures, and there is no room to create and evolve, at least in our field. The structure is important, but letting everyone find their way is vital too.
Understanding the team’s goals, building new plans, and growing from daily learning is what I expect from a leader, and it is at least the least I try to give when I am in that position.
How do you maintain creativity in your life, and how do you reflect it on your team?
– I have two children; with them, no two days have ever been the same. We are always playing something new, transforming an old game, and enjoying the process. My advice is not to have children but to play. Never stop playing, making mistakes, experimenting, reworking old things, and making them fresh. Reinvent processes, ideas, and hairstyles. Always being open to the unknown is the best way to create new things.
So, in a team setting, you have to be the owner of the game, the one who proposes, the one who encourages mistakes and even celebrates them. The one that puts points of comparison between the work that was done and exposes the growth that has been achieved to continue growing with this evidence.
All my life, I have considered myself a WIP = work in progress, so it is effortless for me to be in a constant learning and unlearning process.
Do you think there are benefits in Quiet Quitting?
– I think the most important benefit is for companies: it is an excellent opportunity to analyze systems, goals, and how management does things. Keeping a team inspired is complicated.
We are not in an industry that operates like a production line where nothing changes in months or years. Here, things change every day, and innovation is constant and sometimes even overwhelming. Not wanting to grow is to withdraw from your first day.
Do you feel responsible as a manager for the morale of your team?
– A good leader guides and inspires. But a team stays afloat thanks to all the members that show up. And the essence that each one brings to the team.
I believe that as professional adults, fulfilling our responsibilities is the first boost to morale. And I also believe in being responsible and empathic regarding the emotional situation of each team member, which can vary their performance.
I don’t believe in always positive coaches because they can become toxic, just as I don’t believe in a culture that consistently delivers results without rest.
There will be times when the pause is a strategy, as well as others, when efforts have to intensify to deliver the best. Everything is balanced, and intelligence lives in adapting to those moments and getting the best out of them.
Are there any strategies that you use for your team to be motivated?
– I am going to tell you about three techniques to stay engaged and excited about what we do:
Curiosity:
From a new breakfast recipe to a new productivity framework. If there is no curiosity, there is no learning, and without learning, there is no growth.
Playfulness:
When playing, there are only two options: win or lose. Both teach us, and both show us new paths or that we need to shut down others. After winning or losing, it only remains to decide what we will do with the result. (not sorry if I got very poetic)
Communication:
Always clear, without ambiguity, to have clear goals, and understanding how to reach that goals helps us to consider new ones.
I believe that when our work results from these three points, we can proudly display our ideas and achievements
Do you consider yourself a quiet quitter?
– Like I said before, I’m a Work In Progress (WIP), doing WFH right now.
That’s who I am today: someone in constant research and development, personally and professionally, who continues to play like there is no tomorrow.
How has Working From Happiness affected you?
– Wherever you are pushed to be happier will definitely influence your attitude towards different things.
It’s very easy: if you’re not a happy professional, you’re a frustrated professional, and frustration leads to poor performance, constantly moving jobs, and not being satisfied or happy.
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