Overcoming Imposter Syndrome at Work with Caleb Mathis

Quiet quitting got the headlines. Quiet staying is worse. Quiet quitters do the minimum, which you can see. You can have the conversation, understand what's wrong, try to re-engage them. Quiet stayers are invisible. They've learned to look engaged while being completely checked out. They nod in meetings but don't contribute ideas. They complete what's asked but never go beyond it. They maintain relationships but avoid anything requiring real investment. They're protecting themselves while collecting a salary. The cost: you're paying for bodies, not contribution. Most organisations only notice once high performers leave and reveal how little the remaining team was actually doing. By then, the culture that created quiet staying has been running for months — because people don't become quiet stayers overnight. Culture teaches them, gradually, that disengagement is safe. The Contexis Performance Culture Index measures the gap most engagement surveys miss: between surface engagement and genuine ownership, between compliance and commitment, between presence and actual contribution. How would you know if quiet staying was already happening in your team? #QuietStaying #PsychologicalOwnership #PerformanceCulture

Quiet staying isn't an individual failing, it's a culture teaching people that disengagement is the safest option. Engagement surveys measure presence. They don't measure whether anyone's really there in spirit.

☀️ A little summer confession for anyone who has ever reviewed, approved, or replied with one foot out the door - and the other foot already in a pool float. 🩴🏖️�� Take a seat if you’ve ever: 🏊 Reviewed a document from the pool and called it “work-life balance.” 📩 Wrote an out-of-office message so detailed, organized, and emotionally stable that it is now qualified to manage your department. 😎 Typed “circling back after PTO” and briefly felt like the CEO returning from a highly classified tropical mission. 📱 Approved a document from your phone while holding a frozen drink -and accidentally zoomed in 400% with your elbow. 🔥 Opened your laptop at the beach and discovered that sand is apparently an authorized IT administrator. 🦀 Replied “Looks good to me!” after reviewing the first page, the last page, and absolutely nothing in between. Yeah… go ahead and stay seated. 🪑 You’re not lazy - you’re practicing location-independent productivity. NONE of those are me, but someone else will say "now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a critical one-on-one with my iced coffee, followed by a mandatory team-building exercise with a pool noodle. My camera will be off due to “bandwidth issues,” and definitely not because I’m wearing swim goggles." 🧋🤿 #SummerAtWork #WorkLifeBalance #OutOfOffice #CorporateHumor #ProfessionalPoolside

a friendly reminder that it takes on average, 1-3 YEARS to recover from burnout caused by a toxic workplace. Not a 2-week vacation. Not a no-phones weekend. Not a soak with your fave bath bomb or a spa trip. Not even a 5k surprise bonus (I call this a hush bonus when you finally speak up about how underpaid and overworked you are). No, not even an apology from your toxic boss. Or a company wide "Kudos" shout out on slack for a doing "great job!". Not office happy hours, quarterly socials, or holiday gift baskets. One cannot recover from systemic and institutional workplace trauma OVERNIGHT. This is your reminder that rest is not earned it is a necessity. This is your reminder that you shouldn't have to compromise your moral compass for a paycheck to meet your basic needs. This is your reminder that no single person, place, or thing, is worth your peace of mind, or sense of self-worth. This is your reminder that your standards for the workplaces you choose to invest so much of your time and effort into, are valid and important, and not on the table to negotiate. signed, HR for the People.

If workplaces had warning labels… 😂 ⚠️ Warning: “Quick call” may last 45 minutes. ⚠️ Caution: “Just one small change” may become a complete project. ⚠️ Warning: Replying “Sure!” may result in additional responsibilities. ⚠️ Caution: “Let’s circle back” does not guarantee that we will ever circle back. ⚠️ Warning: Friday 5 PM messages may cause weekend anxiety. And my personal favourite: ⚠️ “This will only take 5 minutes.” It probably won’t. 😂 What workplace phrase deserves its own warning label? #WorkplaceHumour #CorporateLife #OfficeLife #LinkedInHumour #WorkCulture

Pain of an employed person: 1990s - No WFH - No Wi-Fi - No LinkedIn - Getting promoted quickly - Limited online job opportunities - Limited access to professional training 2026 : 1.Underpayment 2. No respect to personal boundaries 3. Zero healthy work–life balance. 4. No Clear growth opportunities. 5. No Transparency and recognition. 6. Zero supportive work environment. 7. Your mental health isn't prioritised. 8. Co-workers aren't held accountable. 9. You work during lunch breaks. 10. You can't say no without guilt or punishment. 11. You can't disagree with your boss respectfully. 12. You can't make mistakes without fear of humiliation. 13. Your leave can't get approved without unnecessary questions.

I GET PAID TO STOP PEOPLE WORKING. Then I teach their bosses how to encourage it. 😂 Sounds like a terrible business model, doesn’t it? Earlier this week, Jon Cox challenged us to describe what we do in a way that makes it sound slightly shady or illegal. So here’s mine: I interrupt people while they’re working. I encourage them to leave their desks. I get them marching while the kettle boils. Squatting while they brush their teeth. Doing push-ups against the kitchen worktop. And sometimes I persuade entire organisations that their employees should spend MORE time moving and LESS time sitting at their desks. Basically, I’m paid to disrupt productivity - to improve productivity. Because sitting glued to a screen for hours isn’t a badge of commitment. Our brains and bodies need regular resets. And that doesn’t mean disappearing to the gym for an hour. It can be 60 seconds. Stand up. Move. Reset. Get back to it. That’s the whole idea behind my Movement Snacks. Small enough to fit into the working day. Simple enough that people actually do them. Effective enough to make a difference when they become part of the culture. So yes... I get paid to stop people working. Just long enough to help them work better. 😉 Thanks Jon for the inspiration! Now your turn. Describe what YOU do for a living and make it sound slightly shady or illegal. #MovementSnacks #BetterPerformance #DeskBreaks #WorkplaceWellbeing

I'm on holiday. Or, as self-employed people call it... "Working somewhere warmer." Before anyone tells me to switch off... I know. And honestly, I'm incredibly grateful to be busy. I wouldn't have it any other way. But every morning this week has looked something like this... 8am: "I'll just check a couple of emails." 2pm: "...Well, that escalated." By lunchtime I've managed to: Answer emails. Interview candidates. Wonder if I'm giving my clients enough time. Wonder if I'm giving my candidates enough time. Wonder if I'm giving my family enough time. Tell the kids, "Just give me five minutes..." (Which everyone knows is never five minutes.) Unload the dishwasher. Stick a wash on. Wonder whether the dog back home is behaving herself. And somehow convince myself I'd have been more productive if I'd stayed in London. Then the laptop shuts. We head to the beach. I jump into the sea. The teenagers are’t arguing for two seconds Late lunch or should I say 'Linner' turns into an afternoon that nobody planned. And I remember... This is exactly why we came. Turns out a few hours of properly switching off are worth more than spending the whole day feeling guilty that you haven't. Now, if you'll excuse me... I'm off to aggressively relax. Although, if I'm honest, the idea of relaxing for 14 days straight feels more like a concept than a reality.

A workplace affair is rarely complicated by the first secret. It is complicated by the Tuesday budget meeting afterward. The real field note is about performance: how people keep acting ordinary while their private decisions have changed the temperature of every room. No moral lecture. Just the practical question of what you are actually managing when the person is still in your department, your calendar, and your line of sight. My latest field note looks at the panic behind the question, ‘Should I tell him his partner is cheating?’ Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gq5zFzA5 #AdulteryFaery #TheConwayAgency #RelationshipAdvice

I have an employee that attends talk therapy frequently while in the office on her lunch breaks (I know, because I spy on her sessions). Last week, she told her therapist that I "make her uncomfortable" and that I'm "not as cool as I think I am". She's thinking about getting another job. I can't let her do this, because she's my most submissive employee. I have her working almost every weekend, she makes WAY less than everyone else, AND she thinks it's against company policy to talk about compensation with coworkers. It's a deal that I have to, as a leader, hold up my end of. Now that I know her therapy schedule, I'm going to keep changing her lunch breaks until she stops talking to this profit-hating devil who makes her think she can do things like leave. I would do everything in my power to retain my best employees. This is why shareholders love me.