At the start of the COVID pandemic, I was an executive consultant for nonprofit leaders.
My role quickly pivoted to coaching leaders on how to effectively manage remotely as I've worked from my home office for 15+ years.
I remember one leader called me one day really upset because their employees were not logging in daily to one of their technology platforms according to the login history. They were enraged. They assumed their team wasn’t working and were instead taking advantage of the pandemic by skirting out of work.
I paused.
The silence was uncomfortable.
Finally, they asked if I was still there. I said yes and then asked “what else might this data be telling you?”
Perhaps the technology is not crucial to their minute-by-minute duties. Perhaps the technology is ripe for improvements to become a useful daily tool. Perhaps their lives just got flipped upside down and they could use compassionate leadership.
What if your response to quiet quitting is quiet leading?
David Rock describes quiet leadership as helping people think better -- not telling them what to do.
Quiet Leaders don’t micro-manage or tell employees how to do their job. Instead, they build a high level of trust with the team and empower their employees.
This way, leaders are supporters of their staff and create space in their own role to become visionaries rather than task managers for their staff.
I recently had a coaching session with another leader who wants to re-design their interactions with staff to be inspiring and motivating vs simply information-telling and boring. We came up with a meeting agenda rubric. The 4 Cs of meetings - click here for an agenda template.
This is an example of quiet leading.
When a leader notices a desire for something different and takes initiative to make the change they want to see, that's quiet leading. If there's something you'd like to see differently, lead by example and trust your team will come on the journey with you to a better way of working.
*Curious about what bottom-lining or the 10% right rule? I've got you covered - contact me and I will get those to you!