“Providing feedback to my team to improve work (ethics) gets harder, as more seem to have checked out. They disengage, only do their job.”
The other day a team-lead opened up to me, telling about this leadership challenge. On top, it seems that especially the younger workforce shows more of this behavior.*
As I met other team-leads the days after, I checked in on that matter: Sadly, all of them agreed!
📌 More and more employees seem to have no interest in sharing what they think or need, even when asked by their boss.
📌 They stick to their basic job, and disconnect from any other team or company matter.
And even though the younger workforce might show more of this behavior, others start to show it too.
What now?
💡 Double down on meaning. — Having clarity on one’s current meaning within a job, team and company is a strong prompt and helps strive for a positive work ethic.
💡 Double down on healthy relationships. — Being the boss many times feels more like “being a coach”. To guide a team-member well, trust has to be created and nourished.
💡 Double down on emotional intelligence and mental health. — Our society creates too much stimulation. With increasing workload and other responsibilities in life, more people feel overwhelmed. But instead of facing the root causes of their issues (negative emotions, eg. fear), many people tend to disengage. They become avoidant (not facing the unpleasant) as that feels easier to do. They become victimized (not stepping into self-care but self-pity) as that feels easier to do. Etc. This mental self-sabotage makes them disengaged.
If these steps stress you as a team-lead, I‘m here to support you — as positive thinking and leadership can change this.
Simply ship me an email to hi@evagruber.org.
*Note: This shall not be a generalization or generic judgment at all, as I know plenty of young workforce being eager to engage, learn and create together.
📸 Brutkasten (panel on “Resilience vs. Burnout”, 2022)