When “quiet quitting” first made headlines, the instinctive response from many leaders was concern. Was it disengagement? A dip in performance? A lack of ambition?
But a deeper look reveals something else: quiet quitting isn’t always a performance problem—it’s often a culture signal.
What Quiet Quitting Really Signals
At its core, quiet quitting describes employees who do the work they’re paid to do—nothing more, nothing less. They meet expectations, but don’t stretch beyond them. And while that might sound like a productivity issue, it’s often a trust issue.
Quiet quitting may point to:
- Unclear or unfair expectations
- Lack of recognition for going above and beyond
- Burnout from blurred boundaries
- A culture where extra effort doesn’t lead to growth
In short: people stop giving extra when they stop seeing a reason to.
Performance Without Context Misses the Point
Too often, performance is evaluated in a vacuum—without understanding the motivations, blockers, or unspoken norms that drive behavior. An employee doing “just enough” may not be slacking; they may be sending a message.
That message? “I don’t feel safe, seen, or supported.”
If we only measure outputs, we miss the insights that help us fix the inputs—the conditions under which performance thrives.
What Great Managers Do Differently
Rather than rushing to discipline or disengage, great managers ask:
- What changed?
- What’s missing?
- What would make this role energizing again?
They treat performance patterns as conversations, not judgments.
And they focus on visibility with care: making great work visible, but also making blockers, frustrations, and misalignments visible too—without blame.
From Compliance to Commitment
Ultimately, solving quiet quitting isn’t about nudging people to do more. It’s about designing environments where people want to bring more.
That means:
- Making expectations transparent
- Celebrating contribution, not just overachievement
- Listening to early signs of burnout or disengagement
- Turning pulse data and team reflections into action
In that light, quiet quitting isn’t a failure to perform—it’s a cry for better performance conditions.
Wanna learn more? Here are some other reads you might want to check out:
- An article on why traditional metrics miss invisible work: https://makegreatworkvisible.com/why-traditional-performance-metrics-miss/
- …and what we are doing about it: https://makegreatworkvisible.com/introducing-libra/