Quiet Quitting is not new. We use to talk about the individual who had retired in the job, meaning they hadn’t left yet but might as well have for all they contributed. As managers and colleagues we have all come across people who were coasting in a post they had occupied for too long and who did the absolute minimum they could get away with.

There has always been an issue particularly in large organisation at middle management level with those over 35 with families who are no longer ambitious so see no need to impress, have lived through too many change agendas and become cynical about senior management. This state of affairs explains senior managers enthusiasm
for all those reorganisations as they presented an opportunity to weed some out.

There are of course some excellent middle managers who exhibit enthusiasm and ability but not ambition. Even before Covid this group were not interested in chasing promotion if advancement involved a display of committed to the organisation in the form of excessive hours. Their life outside work meant they could not make the before everyone else arrives  “informal“ breakfast meetings or the let’s finish this after hours sessions. Unfortunately this leaves the way clear for the very ambitious but mediocre to rise with in organisations.

What’s happen since Covid is that it has become more acceptable to admit to not being ambitious , to indulging in a bit of coasting and think that maybe the organisation has been taking your good will for granted.  However anyone applying for a management post knows that they are expected to express their ,” passion” for the cause! The cause being changing the culture of the organisation, taking performance to the next level or resolving the financial problems.

So here we have it organisations that expect managers to be passionate but have  a significant group who are not only not passionate but cynical and coasting. Others who get promoted due to demonstrating commitment and ambition (keen to please) rather than ability. The third group, the ones who demonstrate respect and compassion for those they manage because they recognise employees as parents, cares and individuals with a life outside of work – good people managers but apparently not interested in promotion.

The most effective organisations will be the ones that rethink their idea of commitment, recognise that passion is different to personal ambition and place a much higher value on managers who demonstrate respect and compassion. And yes accept that people have a life outside of work and should be able to have a health work/life balance.