Is performativity holding you back at work?
Choosing productivity > performativity and learning to recognise the signs
I’m here to ask the tough questions, so today I want to talk about workplace performativity. Performative work is anything that is done more for the appearance of productivity than for its real benefits on the organization.
Over the course of my decade-long career as a marketing and communications professional, I’ve seen it all. I’ve trudged through the hallowed halls of the B2B tech world, I’ve pledged allegiance to an agency and bowed at its altar of billable hours. I’ve even said to hell with it all and left it behind in search of purpose-driven work that genuinely makes a difference AKA the non-profit world and I’m here to say this:
Nowhere is safe. None of these environments is immune.
The problem with performativity
Performativity in the workplace carries an insidious edge that I’ve seen cut across every sector, from the high-octane world of agencies to the more mission-driven non-profit landscape, and everywhere in between.
At its core, my main issue with performativity is that it prioritizes appearances over authenticity, creating an environment where the appearance of hard work is more important than actual productivity. It's a world where employees spend more effort on crafting the perfect update email or presentation to showcase their work, rather than focusing on the work itself. This not only leads to inefficiencies, but it can significantly stifle genuine creativity and innovation. After all, when the primary goal is to look busy or innovative, the incentive to take real risks or propose out-of-the-box ideas diminishes. Why venture into uncharted territory when you can receive accolades for merely portraying success?
Moreover, this culture of performativity contributes to a toxic work environment marked by stress, anxiety, and burnout. The constant need to perform— to always be "on" — means that employees are less likely to disconnect, to recuperate, and to return to their work with renewed energy and perspective. It becomes a vicious cycle where the quality of work suffers as employees burn out, and yet, the performative culture demands they hide this exhaustion behind a facade of unrelenting enthusiasm and dedication.
In agencies, where the pace is relentless, performativity can overshadow genuine talent and hard work, rewarding those who talk a good game rather than those who deliver. It breeds a culture of competition rather than collaboration, where the focus is on outperforming one another in the realm of appearances rather than joining forces to push creative boundaries.
Corporate settings, with their layers of bureaucracy, are fertile ground for performative work cultures to thrive. Here, the emphasis on metrics and quarterly results often leads to short-termism, with employees more focused on hitting the next milestone or target — not necessarily through the most innovative or effective means but through whatever can be most convincingly presented as a success. It's a realm where strategic pivots can be less about adapting to market needs and more about creating a narrative of agility and foresight.
Non-profits, despite their noble goals, are not immune to the allure of performativity. The pressure to demonstrate impact and justify funding can lead to an overemphasis on quantifiable outcomes at the expense of the qualitative, human element that is often the soul of their work. This can diminish the very essence of what drives non-profit work: the desire to make a meaningful difference in the world, not just to produce impressive annual reports.
6 signs your workplace is in the throes of a performativity crisis
1. There’s a general overemphasis on meetings, updates and daily standups
2. Your co-workers compete to see who can send the longest, most detailed emails or Slack/Teams posts, making you feel like your 3-4 sentence updates are woefully inadequate
3. Employees spend more time documenting processes than actually doing work
4. The culture celebrates overtime as a badge of honour - including explicitly or implicitly valourising sending emails on weekends, late in the evening or early in the morning
5. Leadership reward those who are most visible rather than those who provide the most value
6. Failure is seen as a disaster rather than an opportunity for learning and growth, which encourages employees to stick to safe, performative measures of success rather than engaging in genuine innovation and risk-taking
What’s one to do?
Breaking free from the performative culture requires a concerted effort to foster genuine communication, to value transparency over spectacle, and to celebrate tangible achievements over the mere appearance of success. It's about creating a culture where failure is not feared but seen as a stepping stone to innovation, where employees feel valued for their contributions, not just their capacity to appear busy. Such a shift is not easy, but it's essential for building more sustainable, fulfilling, and authentic workplaces.
What are some of the ways performativity shows up where you work? I’m interested in hearing how it manifests across different cultures and industries as well as strategies to overcome it.
I've seen people fall asleep behind their computers at night because they insist on 'leaving later than the boss'. Safe to say they weren't very productive (or even good at being performative haha).
as someone who has been at agencies for over 15 years, these resonates so deep. at many of the places i have worked, it is truly the people who are willing to work day and night/ have no boundaries that are elevated and seen as “ambitious” regardless of what they are objectionably contributing. thanks for speaking so coherently on this subject.