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I’m not sure if it’s just me tuning into it more, or if this is a real phenomenon taking off, but everywhere I consume content at the moment I seem to be subjected to buzzwords for behaviours that have been around us for all of time. ‘Quitting quietly’ and ‘quiet thriving’ are two of my particular favourites right now. Have you noticed this too?

These newly coined phrases do seem to be working particularly well on social media. ‘Quitting quietly’ is an efficient descriptor for a mindset shift that is gaining momentum, espeicially amongst GenZ.

Really, it’s a kick-back to regain work/life balance (I’m all for that). It’s about setting healthy boundaries and no longer accepting the expectation from some employers that you must give 110% at all times to be a success. You’re not quitting your job – you’re just not prepared to go above and beyond every day without the compensation you deserve. Fair enough!

‘Quiet thriving’ is the cousin to quiet quitting and started gaining popularity last winter (2022). Not surprisingly, it’s the transverse in terms of mindset. But rather than going above and beyond in your role, it’s about taking specific actions to help you feel more engaged and motivated in your job from the outside in.

Values are different now and I personally love that there’s a buzzword attached that helps to call out unhealthy work culture. There may well be a marketing bandwagon being jumped on. The phrases lend themselves so well to hashtags, but as Coreyne Woodman-Holoubek (founder of Progressive HR) says, “It makes it easier for people to bring it up. It’s annoying, but it does help people talk about it.”

If it helps people talk about what’s going on as an employee or contractor and be more open then in my opinion, it’s a good thing.

Jumping on the quietly thriving bandwagon

Buzzword or otherwise, the idea of thriving quietly is an appealing one to me – it’s actually something I’ve been doing without realising it throughout my whole working life. I now just have a phrase to describe it! So, to round-off this blog with some useful take-aways, here are some tips to help you ‘quietly’ thrive and some pointers on how to make sure your team aren’t ‘quitting quietly’ behind the scenes.

6 tips for quiet thriving:

1. Join a club or start one yourself. A book group or a local informal networking meet-up for other business owners in your area maybe?
2. Volunteer your spare time to a good cause that supports a local charity.
3. Incorporate some nourishing time into you work day. 15-minute mindfulness break anyone?!
4. Decide on your boundaries and commit them to paper. Writing them down will help you solidify them and make you more likely to enforce them.
5. Create a positivity log. Write down or copy/paste all of the good feedback, testimonials and results you get in your business or job role. Keep them somewhere you can easily take a look whenever you need a confidence boost.
6. Nurture your work relationships. Ask a colleague or team member out for a coffee and ask them about what life is like for them outside of work. Human connection is so important.

How can I prevent ‘quiet quitting’ within my team?

I work with many clients who run their own businesses with teams to support them. Finding the right staff and keeping them engaged is a frequent theme in the support I offer. Here’s my advice…

1. Make sure your job descriptions for new roles are well-written and accurate – you would be surprised by how many people have the most basic, non-detailed JD’s and then wonder why they can’t recruit the right people or have the flakiest people show up for their interview.
2. Make sure you have an interview process that includes you and some of the existing team members – that way you get a better overall picture of the person and feedback from the team.
3. Schedule 121s with people and stick to them. It is really annoying and disrespectful to cancel them and not put the effort in. One of my old clients told me that they get bored in the 121s so they always either cancel them or do their emails while on the meeting – that is not a positive management approach and shows poor leadership. Needless to say, that working relationship ended pretty fast!
4. Plan some team events during the year to bring the team together and have some creative time – you need to involve your team in making and realising your mission and vision, if they are not eager to make it happen, they will not last.
5. Review performance and make proper development plans for team members – this will make them feel valued and allow them to learn new things. No one wants to feel stuck in their job, what are you going to do make them feel alive and eager to stay?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog today and taken away some useful information. If you need more guidance on how to get the most from your team or you’re just getting started with building one, let’s chat! Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts.

For a more in-depth convo, head over to my bookings page and get a coffee chat in the diary. A problem shared is a problem halved as they say!