Could Employee Burnout Be Lurking Behind the Happy Face?

Over 90% of my clients are long-term clients and I'm honored to have had the opportunity to work within their respective organizations for multiple years—some approaching two decades. In that time I've met, and observed first-hand, hundreds of dedicated, hard-working individuals.

Some of these individuals are supervisors of people; many are not. The common thread is they are conscientious and disciplined; they demonstrate impressive work ethic; they view challenge and struggle as opportunity; when the going gets tough they 'suck it up' and then move forward to take the hill. But while this dedication is noble, what's transpired over this past year as a result of COVID and the subsequent (and necessary) changes that have occurred, has taken a toll. The unhealthy tradeoff to this high degree of dedication is that some people may still be smiling on the outside ... but on the inside that smile may not be burning so bright.

In many of my keynotes I use the phrase, "Even a small hole can sink a BIG ship." This is a perfect metaphor for what I believe is occurring right now. The slow—almost indiscernible—erosion of the capacity we have to be resilient has reached the point where people are worn-out. And as I speak to leaders within these organizations, I can see that many of them are also exhausted—with much of this fatigue coming from trying to lead people who are reaching a point of burnout.

The concept of occupational burnout is a relatively recent phenomenon and, for many years, psychologists, psychiatrists and medical specialists alike struggled to define it. Paradoxically, in 2019—remember, that was the year BEFORE the pandemic—the World Health Organization (WHO) added 'burnout' to its Classification of Diseases. Listen closely to how it's defined: "A syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed."

While "successfully managed" could imply that this is something each individual owns exclusively, we need to appreciate—as leaders of people—that this is really an organizational problem. And this problem requires much more than Band-Aid solutions such as breathing, meditation, and yoga apps loaded on employee devices.

There is no "app" to fix employee burnout!

All the water in the world won't sink the ship ... unless it gets INSIDE ... and this pandemic has been negatively impacting the 'inside' of our people for far too long. With no end in sight to either the pandemic, or the economic disruption it's caused, it's time we embrace upstream interventions and not just downstream tactics. The future requires this of us ...

High Value Activity (HVA) Action Steps

The HVAs listed below are only a start but they acknowledge several of the systemic elements found within the contemporary workplace that need to be modified to help our people cope:

• Introduce "Meetingless Middays": Meeting fatigue is very real! And, despite this acknowledgment, the number of meetings has increased substantially during this pandemic. But this can take a huge toll on your people emotionally, physically, and mentally. There was a time—when we worked together in a physical office space—that we had the luxury of movement between meeting rooms that would give us a necessary break (and a few steps in!), allowed us to clear our heads, maybe have a laugh or two with a colleague in the hallway, and mentally prepare ourselves for the next meeting. Now it's "Leave Meeting" and immediately "Join Meeting" without any ability to do what we know is healthy—and absolutely necessary (both mentally and physically). As stated in last week's CORE Bites, one answer is to shift from 'time management' to 'energy management'. As it relates to meetings, I'd like to propose that we adopt "Meetingless Middays" to allow for energy renewal on both a mental and physical level. Plan your meetings for the start of the day to coordinate team efforts. This leaves the middle of the day for your employees to focus on their work and to incorporate strategies to keep their energy high. Plan any meetings toward the end of the day to acknowledge progress and, when necessary to address problems and challenges.
• Learn to be a Facilitator: It goes without saying that most meetings are too long and many are less productive than they should be. A trained facilitator understands that productive meetings need an agenda that is followed; when possible, pre-work or pre-reading can save a great deal of time during meetings; limit the discussion to the matter at hand (and watch out for those tangents that take you off course). But you also need to ask yourself if the meeting is actually necessary? Can the meeting be done in a different way? Does it have to be a video meeting? Challenge yourself to look for ways the meeting could be done in half the time. (Note: You may not reach the goal of "half the time" but I know you will find the meeting will be much shorter than originally intended. That's a good thing ...)
• Establish Firm Work/Life Boundaries: The unfortunate truism of WFH is work is ALWAYS there when it's done at home. Consequently, it's critical that we help our employees (and ourselves) set healthy boundaries to keep the stress and demands of work from interfering with home life and vice versa. This doesn't just include actual working hours. Given that we've been thrown into this WFM rather suddenly, not everyone is equipped to have a dedicated workspace so some creativity is required. A door ... any door ... be it a spare bedroom or a closet ... can offer a boundary/barrier that can be shut during work hours and, conversely, shut at the end of the day when you "leave to go home." And don't forget to remind your team that a change in scenery can also bring a dramatic change in energy!