The Rise of 'Performative Work' — and Why It’s Quietly Killing Productivity
It’s 2 p.m. You’ve been in Zooms since 9, posted three Slack updates, commented on six Jira tickets, and even sent a recap email. But what have you actually accomplished?
Welcome to the age of performative work — where looking busy has replaced being effective.
As hybrid and remote work matured, many organizations tried to regain a sense of control by leaning on visibility: instant messages, dashboards, check-ins, meetings. But in doing so, they unintentionally built a culture where appearing active is rewarded more than delivering real results.
The danger? Performative work feels productive. It looks like alignment, communication, and collaboration. But too often, it’s a cover for fear, lack of direction, or a broken culture.
In highly regulated fields like audit, compliance, and risk — where I’ve spent most of my career — this is particularly dangerous. These are thinking jobs. Quiet jobs. Deep-focus jobs. When you interrupt that with constant signaling, you dilute the very insight you hired us for.
I’ve worked with brilliant team members who said little in meetings, didn’t flood inboxes, and didn’t “sell” their value daily — but when a crisis hit, they knew exactly what to do. They weren’t performers. They were professionals.
Here’s how I believe leaders can fix it:
💡 3 Moves to Kill Performative Work and Unleash Real Value
1. Redefine what matters. Replace “activity” metrics with outcome metrics. Reward fewer but deeper contributions. Ask: What moved the needle this week?
2. Protect deep work. Silence isn’t disengagement — it’s focus. Carve out uninterrupted work time. Cancel half the meetings. Trust people to deliver.
3. Celebrate invisible wins. Spotlight team members who quietly resolved a client risk, overhauled a process, or found a key control gap — even if nobody saw them do it.
Performative work is loud. Real work is quiet. Which one are you building your business on?
Want help identifying the performers vs. the producers? I’ve spent years helping top firms separate the signal from the noise. Let’s talk.
And as always —I’ll remain Off the Leash.
#OffTheLeash #Leadership #RiskManagement #HybridWork #DeepWork #AuditLife
