Why does it matter?
A recent report by GALLUP (GALLUP: “State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report) stated that “51% of currently employed workers said that they are watching for or actively seeking a new job”. I don’t know if that is the technical definition of “Quiet Quitting” but I would wager that it’s a pretty good description. As the recent owner (until April 2023) of a small business with 23 employees, working from (5) different company locations and two working from home, I was constantly thinking about how to keep our team fully engaged with our culture, our mission, our VALUES and our clients.
“Quiet Quitting” or a disengaged team member could and on occasion did, pull down the rest of the team, if the situation was not addressed and resolved quickly by me or by any of the other 23 “leaders” that made up our team. The old adage that “A chain is only as good as its weakest link” is certainly true in small business and within departments or functions of larger organizations. If the leader allows “one link” to hurt the morale and productivity of the entire team, that leader will lose respect and engagement among some of the other team members will begin to fade.
The 2023 GALLUP report provides an even better definition later in the report when it states that “Quiet quitting is what happens when someone psychologically disengages from work. They may be physically present or logged into their computer, but they don’t know what to do or why it matters”. That last sentence is what really hit home with me….”. or why it matters”.
Workers/employees, the lifeblood of an organization don’t know why it matters! 51% of the current workforce doesn’t know why they are spending ⅓ of their 24 hour day doing matters! That is not only sad, but it is a poor reflection of the leaders of today’s businesses. Its a poor reflection of a company’s culture which should not only communicate “why it matters’, but should reinforce “why it matters’, on a weekly, daily and sometimes hourly basis!
Culture is shaped and sometimes driven by the companies or organization’s Mission, Vision,
Purpose and/or VALUES. If leadership doesn’t take the lead on “sprinkling” their team into the company culture with all interactions, the team members will get the impression that the “culture” is
just a bunch of words hanging on the wall somewhere at the main office. A soft or “on occasion” culture doesn’t work and the result will be that the company’s people/teammates will adapt whatever style the leaders in the company reflect, or there will be a purpose void expressed in the GALLUP report as 51% of the people not having an answer to “why it matters”.
I was recently talking with a friend of mine who is the COO of a $3 Billion company. This company is what I would describe as a “VALUES Driven” company. They have had tremendous success over the past 10 years and experienced phenomenal growth. My friend, the COO, told me that, when discussing the ever expanding team with the company’s CEO, he, the CEO reminded her that the success of this business was due to having a strong company culture, and that it was imperative to not only maintain but to continue feeding that culture to all employees. This is clearly a company that understands the importance of engagement and that employee engagement starts at the top!