Maybe They Do Get It
And maybe we’ve just stopped listening.
Every few weeks, I hear it again.
In business meetings. In conversations. Over coffee.
“They just don’t get it.”
Sometimes it’s said with a sigh, about employees who “don’t want to work anymore.”
Sometimes it’s frustration, about volunteers who don’t show the same commitment they used to.
Sometimes it’s confusion, about why recruitment ads fall flat, or why good people quietly disappear.
We keep saying they don’t get it.
But maybe that’s not the problem at all.
Maybe they get it more clearly than ever.
Maybe they see what we’ve stopped seeing.
The Story We Keep Telling
For decades, the old story worked.
People showed up for a wage, or a cause, or a sense of belonging, and that was enough.
If you paid them fairly, if you gave them a title, if you told them the mission was good, they stayed.
But something shifted.
Quietly, steadily, under the surface of a thousand little interactions, something changed.
We started talking about “human resources” instead of humans.
We celebrated productivity but stopped making space for people to be proud of their work.
We assumed loyalty would remain automatic, even as workloads increased and gratitude faded.
And now, when people leave — or don’t sign up at all — we call it apathy.
“They just don’t care anymore.”
But maybe it’s not apathy.
Maybe it’s exhaustion.
Maybe it’s disconnection.
Maybe it’s the quiet consequence of being taken for granted.
What if They’re Right?
When volunteers stop volunteering, or staff stop staying, it’s easy to point to them as the variable that changed.
But what if it’s us?
What if people have simply become more honest about what they need?
What if the world has shifted, and meaning now matters as much as money?
What if they haven’t changed, they’ve just stopped pretending that transactional relationships feel fulfilling?
The question isn’t “Why don’t people want to work anymore?”
The question is “Why doesn’t the work feel worth doing anymore?”
Because when people believe in what they’re part of, truly believe, they’ll give more than you can ever pay them for.
But belief has to be earned, not demanded.
The Currency of Meaning
We live in a world where people crave purpose.
Not grand speeches or corporate slogans, but simple meaning: knowing their time isn’t wasted, knowing their effort matters, knowing they’re seen.
Pay is a transaction.
Meaning is a relationship.
And right now, too many organisations are trying to buy loyalty with the wrong currency.
You can’t pay someone enough to make them feel valued.
You can only show them they are.
That’s what creates buy-in.
Not the paycheck. Not the volunteer badge. But the sense that their presence makes a difference.
That without them, the story changes.
The Volunteer Mirror
Nowhere is this shift clearer than in the volunteer world.
Volunteering once carried quiet prestige — a sign of character, of social contribution. But now, people are time-poor, emotionally drained, and bombarded by causes. The question isn’t “Do I care?” but “Can I afford to?”
For non-profits, that means the old model — duty and guilt — no longer works. You can’t shame people into generosity. You have to invite them into meaning.
When volunteers feel like cogs, they disappear. When they feel like co-owners of the mission, they bring energy you can’t buy.
Ask them what would make the experience better. Give them real roles, not busywork. Let them see the faces, hear the stories, feel the change their time creates.
Volunteers don’t owe you their time.
You owe them clarity, purpose, and respect for the gift they’re giving.
The Quiet Reckoning
We’re living through a reckoning — not of laziness, but of expectation. People are no longer willing to trade their time for hollow rewards. They want alignment. They want dignity. They want to believe the hours they give, whether paid or voluntary, mean something.
And that’s good news.
Because it means the organisations that rise now will be the ones that truly care. Not just about outcomes and share price, but about people.
The age of blind loyalty is over.
The age of earned trust has begun.
So maybe they do get it.
Maybe they always did.
Maybe this is our reminder to catch up.
For Leaders: How to Earn Back Buy-In
So what do we do when the energy is gone? When staff feel detached, when volunteers stop showing up, when enthusiasm turns into quiet resignation?
You rebuild trust, one deliberate choice at a time.
Start with listening.
Before another survey, another “feedback initiative,” just ask: How are things for you right now? What’s working? What isn’t? Then stop talking. Listen fully. Listening is the cheapest and most effective act of leadership there is, and yet it’s the one most often skipped.
Re-humanise your systems.
Bureaucracy kills belonging. Simplify the rules that make good work harder. Make it easier for people to say yes to helping, to innovating, to caring. Systems should support people, not exhaust them.
Show appreciation in ways that count.
A thank-you post on social media isn’t enough. Recognition has to be personal, consistent, and specific. Tell them the story of the impact they made. People remember feeling seen.
Connect their effort to a bigger purpose.
People don’t want to “help you hit targets.” They want to know why those targets exist. If you lead a business, explain how your success improves customers’ lives. If you run a non-profit, tell stories of lives changed, not just funds raised.
Give autonomy, not surveillance.
Micromanagement is the fastest way to turn passion into compliance. Trust people with meaningful responsibility. Let them shape their work and see their fingerprints on the outcome.
Build community, not just teams.
People will work for a wage, but they’ll stay for a community. Create spaces where people connect beyond tasks — shared meals, open conversations, opportunities to collaborate across roles. Culture grows in the gaps between the work.
Practice gratitude publicly and privately.
Don’t wait for anniversaries or awards. Thank people in the moment. Gratitude is contagious; it resets tone faster than any strategy document ever could.
A Final Word to Leaders
If you’re leading people — employees, volunteers, students, or citizens — remember this: the privilege of leadership is temporary. People lend you their time, their energy, their belief. They can take it back at any moment.
So earn it daily.
Show up honestly.
Say thank you often.
Listen more than you speak.
Make the work worth believing in.
Because the people you lead aren’t the problem.
They’re the proof of what your leadership inspires, or what it’s been missing.