John Eades* says if your employees are struggling with stress and burnout as economies emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, then it is up to you to tackle the problem head-on.
Nothing makes burnout worse than acting like it’s not happening.
Unfortunately, many organisations are oblivious or don’t seem to care that their employees are struggling.
Conversely, front-line leaders are experiencing team members at their breaking point and are unsure how to help their team and themselves.
Take Paige, an experienced Regional Vice President, as an example.
For two decades, her teams experienced high engagement, consistent growth, and low voluntary turnover.
Then the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, pressure from management for double-digit growth, and a shaky economy had her team working around the clock with no end in sight.
At first, she acted like it was no big deal, expecting it to be a short season of hard work.
However, eight quarters later, the problem was more significant than ever.
For the first time in her career, she had double-digit voluntary turnover, open positions with no candidates to fill them, and stress levels that caused a short stay in hospital.
In a recent coaching session, she asked a simple question: “How do I make things easier?”
My answer was simple: “Instead of wanting things to be easy, prepare for them to be hard.
“There is nothing easy about leadership, which is why most people don’t do it. However, your leadership is needed most in uncertain and difficult times.”
Before we go any further, let’s clarify what burnout is.
The Mayo Clinic describes it as “a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity”.
Achieving anything meaningful requires a relentless work ethic and a willingness to consistently do what the ordinary person does occasionally.
However, burnout goes beyond this kind of effort. Burnout isn’t a badge of honour; it’s the start of your life unwinding.
What starts as a bit of stress can quickly lead to health problems, severed personal relationships, and the pursuit of a meaningless life.
Admitting you or your team is burned out isn’t a weakness; it’s a strength.
Research by McKinsey Health Institute found toxic workplace behaviour is the single largest predictor of negative employee outcomes, including burnout symptoms.
Here are some examples of toxic workplace behaviour.
Managers and executives who communicate at night and on weekends expecting immediate responses; unsustainable activity or performance levels.
Inability for professionals to be empowered to do their best work; sustained periods of loneliness or lack of support and situations where profit is put above all else.
In case you didn’t notice, leadership is the common denominator in all the top causes of burnout.
No one desires stress, anxiety, depression, or the like. However, eliminating work or retiring isn’t the answer to burnout.
The late great psychiatrist, Victor Frankl said: “People can find meaning in one of three places; work, love, and courage.”
Work isn’t the enemy.
Not only does it provide financial means, it can create meaning, purpose, and community.
There is no silver bullet or a one-size-fits-all approach to unleashing the kind of change necessary to solve burnout in your team or organisation.
However, here are a few of my favourites.
Focus on a deeper purpose
People work harder and overcome adversity much easier when they know their effort is for a meaningful cause.
Study after study shows that people who are connected to a meaningful purpose behind their work are more engaged.
The best leaders recognise that even a tiny dose of meaning makes a significant difference in reducing burnout.
There is some more profound purpose behind the work you or your team does, and it’s your job to be connected to it.
Enable personal growth
Evidence suggests that personal growth, development programs, and learning opportunities effectively tackle burnout and engage and retain employees.
Organisations that commit to investing in their employees will make meaningful contributions to people and business metrics.
Hold yourself or managers accountable
Almost all roads of burnout lead to executive management teams and managers in the organisation.
However, many organisations measure their leaders based on one thing, and that’s results.
So I would like to suggest an alternative approach, one that looks at both results and culture. You can see the impact of effective leadership in more ways than one.
Which would you rather have, the manager who delivers double-digit revenue growth yearly but has an 80 per cent turnover rate and a highly dysfunctional team?
Or the manager who consistently delivers single-digit revenue growth, but has low turnover, develops talent, and a highly engaged team.
Your answer to this question should show you a lot about how you are holding managers accountable.
It’s time to bring burnout from the shadows into the light because nothing is worse than acting like burnout isn’t happening.
Focusing on a deeper purpose, enabling personal growth, and holding managers accountable won’t solve the problem, but will reduce it.
When it comes to burnout, helping even one professional reconnect and find meaning at work is worth it.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft a leadership development company. He can be contacted at johneades.com.
This article first appeared at johneades.com.
