Latest news with #managers
Fast Company
6 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Forget quiet quitting: I'm using ‘loud living' to redefine workplace boundaries
In my twenties, I was the kind of employee managers loved and therapists worried about. I worked late without being asked. I answered emails during vacation and treated 11 p.m. messages like asteroid-headed-for-Earth emergencies. My identity was stitched to my output, and I wore burnout like a badge of honor. Somewhere along the way, many of us signed this invisible contract stating that success demands sacrifice. For us, time, health, and relationships were all fair game in the pursuit of professional validation. But now, more people are realizing it's a contract they want to break: According to Gallup's most recent global report, employee engagement is down two percentage points to just 21%, and manager engagement saw an even more dramatic drop. An alternative to quiet quitting For me, becoming a parent made me realize that 'powering through' was not just hard, but unsustainable. My time was no longer mine to give away so freely. I started making small changes like declining late meetings, muting notifications after 6 p.m., and blocking Friday afternoons for deep work so I could log off fully over the weekend. Each change felt like a micro-rebellion against my internalized idea of what defines a great professional. Subscribe to the Daily newsletter. Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you every day Privacy Policy | Fast Company Newsletters Many employees today just make these shifts subtly—somewhere between 20% and 40% of the workforce are quiet quitters, according to data from McKinsey and the Understanding Society—and part of me was tempted to just pull back quietly, too. Instead, I decided to swing the other way. I got louder about what I needed. I told colleagues when I was logging off, and then actually logged off. I pushed back on two-day timelines and offered alternatives that protected both the quality of my work and my sanity. Most importantly, I stopped padding my newly found boundaries with apologies. This approach—what I've come to call loud living—isn't about doing less. It's about showing up better, with focus and clarity. It isn't about less ambition, but ambition that doesn't cost you everything else. Here's how anyone can move from burnout-fueled achievement to sustainable success, without even having to be quiet about it. 1. Redefine Success for Yourself First Traditional success metrics like promotions, title bumps, and glowing performance reviews are easy to chase because they're visible and externally validating. But I realized that those wins don't mean a lot if they come with a side of chronic exhaustion and missing important things in my personal life. I started redefining success on my own terms: Did I get the important work done and make it to storytime? Did I show up fully without sacrificing my health, sleep, or relationships? Measuring success this way didn't make me less ambitious—it made me more intentional. And it gave me a reason to protect my time as fiercely as I used to chase someone else's version of achievement. 2. Tag Your Calendar Transparently I used to write 'busy' as a default time block, thinking it made me look like I wasn't slacking but having things other than my 'job responsibilities' on my calendar. But 'busy' doesn't communicate priorities. Swapping it for things like 'deep work,' 'school pickup,' or 'thinking time' not only made my day more manageable, but gave colleagues insight into how I work best. It signaled that all time—not just meetings—is valuable, and that caregiving or creative work deserve just as much space as Zoom calls. Transparency in your calendar builds trust. And when people see you respecting your own time, they're more likely to respect it, too. advertisement 3. Clearly Communicate Personal Nonnegotiables It still feels moderately uncomfortable telling my team, 'I'm not available before 9 a.m. because that's school drop-off.' I expected eye rolls or assumptions that I was less committed. Naming nonnegotiables doesn't mean you're rigid. It means you're clear on what keeps you grounded, and you're modeling a healthier way to mesh life and work without hiding behind vague time blocks and secret stress. 4. Put Up Your OOO Message, Even If You're Not on Vacation Out of office replies used to feel like something reserved for work travel and time off. But I think we can all agree that life doesn't wait for vacation. When I started using OOO messages for moments like caring for a sick kid and going offline to reset, I noticed something powerful: people responded with understanding, not judgment. By expanding what's worthy of an OOO message, we start the process to normalize that time away is not always tied to beaches and life milestones like weddings. Sometimes it's about boundaries, bandwidth, and being human. 5. Ask Your Team (and Yourself) the Tough Questions Work–life alignment starts with curiosity, not just policies. What does someone really need to feel present at work and at home? What's the thing they never want to miss, or the time of day when they're truly in flow? These aren't just nice-to-know details, but critical inputs to help teams collaborate effectively and do their best work. By asking these questions not just as a manager, but as a teammate, and answering them for ourselves we start treating each person as a whole human, not just a job title. This kind of clarity reduces burnout, builds empathy, and makes it easier to plan work that honors priorities and the people. Normalize having honest conversations around personal priorities and boundaries. Managers and teammates alike can ask: What are your personal nonnegotiables? What time of day do you work best? What's one thing you want to protect weekly? What do you never want to miss? 6. Practice Saying No Without Apologizing If you were raised in hustle culture, saying 'no' can feel like a big ol' failure or make you seem weak. For years, I padded every boundary with 'I'm so sorry' followed by justifications. But over time, I realized that being clear about my limits wasn't disrespectful. It was actually responsible, both for myself and my team. Saying, 'I can't take this on right now, but here's when I can revisit based on what's on my plate,' is honest and professional. The Boundary-Filled Future of Work Work–life balance may not be a universal reality. But work–life alignment—a career that adapts to your life, not erases it—is worth building toward. Is this realistic for everyone? Not always. Some roles require reactivity, and others rely on client schedules, shift work, or global time zones. But even in those cases, we can normalize transparency over perfection. Being clear about bandwidth, boundaries, and priorities helps teams operate more effectively and with more empathy. And, we could all use a bit more empathy. Parents and non-parents alike. We need to start treating boundaries as a performance tool, not a privilege.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Why Only One-Third Of Your Team Is Delivering Great Work, And How To Change That
Why Only One-Third Of Your Team Is Delivering Great Work A new study reveals that managers across 484 companies believe only 35.7% of their employees are delivering great work. This isn't just a performance problem—it's the biggest untapped opportunity in corporate America. Leadership IQ's new research surveyed 7,225 managers with one simple question: "What percent of your employees do you think are delivering great work right now?" The results should alarm and inspire every leader. Nearly two-thirds of managers (62%) believe that fewer than half of their employees are performing at their potential. For most executives, this finding lands somewhere between devastating and puzzling. After all, these aren't problem employees being discussed; these are the solid performers, the ones who show up, complete assignments, and keep operations running. Yet managers see them as capable of so much more. Study: Only One-Third Of Your Team Is Delivering Great Work The conventional wisdom suggests that great performance requires superhuman talent—the Michael Jordan or Serena Williams of the corporate world. This belief creates a dangerous blind spot: it assumes great work is reserved for the naturally gifted few, leaving organizations to accept mediocrity from everyone else. The reality is far more encouraging. In nearly every organization studied, the difference between good work and great work isn't supernatural ability—it's a set of simple behavioral choices that anyone can make. Consider this real example: A CEO struggling with technology adoption noticed two distinct groups during the rollout of a new ERP system. The "good work" employees supported the change, saying things like "Okay, I'll give it a try" or "I'm excited to learn this new skill." The "great work" employees did something subtly different. When they heard negativity from colleagues, they actively encouraged others, redirecting conversations toward the positive and helping teammates focus on what they could control. The difference required no additional training, no special talent, and virtually no extra time. It was simply a choice to take one step beyond personal compliance toward helping others succeed. An engineering firm focused on accuracy provides another telling example. Good performers who found mistakes would report them to supervisors and propose solutions; solid, responsible behavior. Great performers did all of that, then took one additional step: they shared their mistakes with the entire team, creating learning opportunities that prevented others from making the same errors. Again, the distinction wasn't about technical skill or intelligence. It was about choosing to elevate the performance of others, not just completing individual tasks. These patterns repeat across industries and roles. Good work means accepting assignments; great work means volunteering for them. Good work means supporting changes; great work means championing them and bringing others along. Good work means completing tasks; great work means helping teammates succeed. The mathematical implications are staggering. Organizations currently operating with roughly one-third of their workforce performing at peak levels are leaving massive value on the table. Consider the potential impact if that percentage moved from 36% to 60% (that's a 67% increase in great performers). The research suggests this isn't wishful thinking. In many cases, employees already possess the skills and knowledge needed for great work. They simply lack clarity about what great work looks like in their specific context, or they operate within systems that inadvertently discourage the initiative and collaboration that characterize peak performance. The most successful organizations in the study had leaders who could clearly articulate the difference between good and great work using what researchers call "word pictures,' (i.e., specific, observable behaviors that distinguish performance levels). These leaders didn't rely on vague concepts like "exceeding expectations" or "going above and beyond." Instead, they painted clear mental snapshots of what great work looked like in action. When a new software system required adoption, they could describe exactly how a great performer would respond differently than a good performer. This clarity serves two crucial purposes: it gives employees a concrete target to aim for, and it helps managers recognize and reinforce great work when they see it. The research reveals that most performance gaps aren't about ability, they're about environment. Organizations with higher percentages of great performers share several characteristics: They define great work behaviorally, not just by outcomes. Rather than focusing solely on numbers and deliverables, they identify the specific actions that create impact beyond individual tasks. They connect daily work to organizational impact. Employees understand how their contributions matter and how great work in their role drives broader success. They remove barriers to great work. Many well-intentioned policies and procedures inadvertently discourage the initiative, risk-taking, and collaboration that characterize peak performance. They provide frequent coaching, not just annual reviews. Great work develops through ongoing guidance and real-time feedback, not periodic formal evaluations. The study's findings suggest that hidden within most organizations is a reservoir of untapped potential. The question isn't whether employees can do great work—it's whether leaders are creating the conditions for it to flourish. This represents a fundamental shift in how executives think about performance management. Instead of assuming that great work is rare and difficult to achieve, leaders can recognize it as an accessible choice that becomes more likely when people understand what it looks like and feel supported in pursuing it. The companies that figure this out first will gain an enormous competitive advantage. While their competitors accept that only one-third of employees can deliver great work, these organizations will systematically move that number higher by making the invisible visible and clearly defining the small but powerful behaviors that separate good from great. The 36% problem isn't really a problem at all. It's an opportunity disguised as a challenge, waiting for leaders bold enough to unlock the potential that's been there all along.
Khaleej Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
You don't have to do it all: The case against multitasking at work
As stated in last week's column, the advancement of personal technology and its use in most of our daily lives for our work is the bare minimum. Beyond being taken for granted, it's also forgotten — how could it not be, when the job was found online? An Internet connection and sufficient tech in hand to even think about starting a job, the effort of everything we don't do anymore — snail mail, relying on phone calls before email, cutting the cord outside of official work hours, commuting — we allowed all that additional effort to be claimed by managers. Tasks and responsibilities became more intensive, the pay and hours got worse, and when you're on shift, you're struggling to keep up with the bare minimum. You can't put effort into it because you're still trying to find your footing. Though oftentimes a lack of communication confidence can hold us back — it's held me back talking to my boss sometimes — there has to be a line of respect and responsibility. When I clock in, it is because THEY need ME. This is an EXCHANGE of goods and services, I did not become a bear chained to the ground that must dance whenever my master says so, because if I can so easily lose my job and income, they can lose their employees and reputation. This gets to the overall decline in the value of merit and the much more overt importance of personal relationships and social dynamics to sustain hiring and promotional practices. Though many places are better for the average worker — I would argue the vast majority of employers, offices, companies and modern cities that need workers to call them home — the horror stories rise to the top, and so there must be constant focus on improving the material conditions of that worker. How do we do this? Am I going to solve the ethical dilemma that is the international supply chain that upholds the economy in this column? No, but we can all start moving with a little more awareness of how much we have at our fingertips, and that we should take pride in the end of multitasking. In some ways, this would be a move to an 'abundance mindset'. With work, there are multiple tasks; see how many tools you already have to use on those tasks. Keep in mind, tasks, not problems. We have too much at our fingertips with the Internet and technology for mistakes to not stem from a specific source. And when I make a mistake, it's always been from trying to split my focus. Lack of communication, too many lines of communication, unresolved language barriers, embarrassment, shame, all these things draw our mental energy away from our focus. Our focus, our labour, our time, our money. Even beyond work, I have been stressed planning for a job interview while editing my CV for a different job application, and then despite my lack of mistakes, I have felt terrible anxiety over a mistake I might have made because I didn't give myself that time for another proofread. Me, a journalist with a graduate degree in the craft. So, stay upfront. Stand by your work and say, 'I'm busy, send me an email', or 'Sorry, I just saw this message. I was working on task ABC, but now you and task XYZ have my full and undivided attention'.
News.com.au
21-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Tottenham and Man Utd fans back their managers ahead of the Europa League Final
Man Utd and Tottenham fans prepare for Europa League final. Both sets of fans back their embattled managers ahead of the fixtures. Anticipation is building around Bilbao ahead of Wednesday's all-or-nothing Europa League final between Tottenham and Manchester United. For the sides languishing in 17th and 16th in the Premier League respectively, the San Mames showpiece offers one team the chance to salvage a wretched season with silverware and Champions League qualification.
Forbes
15-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Think You're Overcommunicating? Your Team Disagrees
We think that we are communicating enough as leaders, but in reality, our teams need more ... More information and hate when we don't give it to them. Employees are bombarded with information. Slack channels. Company newsletters. Team emails. Text messages. All-hands meetings. Empathetic managers understand the communication deluge that their employees are under, and may not want to add to the daily noise that bombards their employees. Managers may be hesitant to send yet another email articulating the weekly priorities, or provide their team a second overview of the goals of the product launch, or share a third reminder of the new benefit being rolled out. In doing so, managers may feel that they are overcommunicating to their teams, and adding to their employees' information overload, which can create stress and anxiety. Yet, the opposite is actually true: employees hate when their managers don't communicate enough, and don't mind when their managers overcommunicate. Research by Francis Flynn and Chelsea Lide of Stanford University in 2023 shows that not only are managers far more likely to be seen as undercommunicating than overcommunicating, but also those leaders who undercommunicate are ten times more likely to be criticized than those who overcommunicate. Leaders who undercommunicate are ten times more likely to be criticized than those who overcommunicate. And, there are consequences beyond criticism when managers undercommunicate. 61% of employees who are considering leaving their jobs list poor internal communication as a key factor, according to a survey conducted by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and Staffbase in 2024. Going even further, in a poll conducted by Axios, 42% of employees said they have left a job because of poor communication. In short, your employees think you undercommunicate and hate that you do. And if you overcommunicate? That's okay. Your employees don't mind the extra information as much as you might think. So you should err on the side of overcommunicating. But, you still need to overcommunicate well. In the same Axios survey, about 60% of employees say that their leaders' communications aren't effective. Here are three strategies to overcommunicate effectively: Use More Concrete Language Often we fall into jargon and acronyms when we are communicating at work. Terms like OKRs, KPIs, 'leveraging growth,' and 'scaling organizations' are frequently used. But, according to Construal Level Theory, a concept developed by psychologists Yaacov Trope and Nira Liberman, these abstract words often used in corporate emails and PowerPoints may make employees feel more distant from the message (and tune those messages out). Instead, using language that is concrete, such as talking about a specific customer, or the details of a product feature, make employees feel psychologically closer to the content of the message. Communicate Via Different Modes Communicating via different modes doesn't just mean, send an email and put a message in a Slack channel to share important information with your team. We all absorb information slightly differently. One employee might need to see a visual diagram to understand the new strategy, whereas someone else might need to ask a lot of questions and talk it out in a meeting to fully absorb the content. Share the information in many different ways. Acknowledge A Range Of Emotions Often messages are dismissed when the tone of the communication is incongruous to what the recipient is currently experiencing. For example, an email extolling the benefits of the new reimbursement software rankles the employees who are frustrated by yet another technology change. Acknowledge multiple perspectives in your communications so that those employees who are experiencing different reactions aren't left out. Keep Overcommunicating I once worked with a colleague whose favorite saying was, 'repetition never hurts the prayer.' He repeated this mantra during a period when we were navigating how to share information with employees about a company restructuring. It reminded us of the steady drumbeat of updates we needed to provide to our team. As leaders, it's easy to forget that your employees don't have access to the same information you are spending your day poring over. Effective leaders are those who communicate over and over again. And, your employees will be excited you did.
