“Keep your purpose, vision, and values front and center, and they shouldn’t be just words on a wall. Build a culture and get buy-in.” – Anne-Claire Broughton

I had the opportunity to speak with Anne-Claire Broughton, the Principal of Broughton Consulting, LLC, a certified B-Corp that helps organizations engage employees at all levels for business success. Her work centers on employee engagement, talent, attraction, and retention.

We discuss: 

• The dimensions and causes of quiet quitting
• Why companies need to intentionally cultivate a culture
• Maintaining a culture of collaboration and engagement in the face of crisis

The dimensions and causes of quiet quitting

Quiet quitting is a well-earned buzzword across corporate America—not only due to the pandemic but also the changing workforce as Baby Boomers retire and newer generations with fewer people step forward. 

This component naturally leads to more job openings and fewer workers tasked with more work for less compensation. 

“It used to be 30-40 years ago that there was a compact or an agreement between workers and employers,” Anne-Claire says. “Employers were committed to workers, and workers were committed to the employers, and they would stay for many years and build businesses and have pensions—it was this agreement that they both would take care of each other. But, somehow, that compact has been broken.”

When that sense of camaraderie is gone, and you throw the compact out of balance, workers are more likely to pull back investment in their position and stop going above and beyond: enter quiet quitting.

How can we maintain trust and collaboration within a company and make quiet quitting nothing more than a passing trend?

Why companies need to intentionally cultivate a culture

Starting a company can be like the Wild West at times—a scramble of determining product-market fit, putting together a team, building systems, and generally trying to get it all done.

If there aren’t clear intentions and values, the culture will manifest from the founder's personality and may not align with company needs.

“I recommend that every business think very intentionally about the type of culture they want to create rather than letting it happen spontaneously,” Anne-Claire says. “At a certain point, you have employees, you have customers, and you're growing. That's when you need to focus on three main things.”

Three main focuses for growing companies: 

1. Purpose
2. Vision
3. Values

What is our purpose? Why are we here? What is our vision, and how do we determine our values? These are critical questions for any growing company meant to create buy-in across teams and leadership.

“Build that culture, define it, get everyone's buy-in, and then remind yourself it shouldn't just be words on the wall. It should be something that we use every day.” Anne-Claire explains. “I have clients that read their purpose, vision, and values every day before they begin a meeting, and they might quiz each other on it, and then they will reward each other for exemplifying those core values.”

An intentional culture feels and performs better, and, as a result, the company and teams thrive in the knowledge that they are all peddling in the same direction.

Maintaining a culture of collaboration and engagement in the face of crisis

When facing hectic times—such as a pandemic—the answer is not pulling information close; it’s opening the door for transparent insight into strategy. 

That means creating a culture of weekly touchpoints discussing the state of revenue, where you’re conserving costs, where the pain points are, and what steps the company is taking to preserve the business and protect jobs. 

“It's important to bring information to your people, or they will make things up,” Anne-Claire says. “You can keep the fear at bay when you are transparent about what you're doing to protect the business.”

Another tried-and-true tactic during crises is a win-wall—every win counts even more in uncertain timeframes, and tracking them in a visible, gratifying way can make all the difference for morale and culture maintenance.

In what ways have you seen a company navigate times of crisis? Have you noticed the difference between spontaneous and intentional cultures?

Be sure to check out Anne-Claire’s full episode for further insight into curing quiet quitting, and learn more at BroughtonConsulting.com!