What To Do About Exhaustion at Work

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What It’s About: Every organization I work with, regardless of market, geography or size, has one common theme: Exhausted people. It’s very understandable for obvious reasons, driven by massive uncertainty, much of which is related to the pandemic. We have changing mandates, vaccine challenges, supply shortage, waves of variants, political and personal polarization, evolving science, racism, physical and personal dislocation, climate change, schooling, childcare, new ways of working, always on task, travel restrictions, vacation limitations, health care, etc. I’m sure you could add to the list and of course, we all have our own situation with unique additional obstacles. No wonder we’re burnt out!

How does ALL this translate into exhaustion or burnout at work, and what are some signs to be aware of? A recent Bersin article cited the following behavior: “Cynicism and irritability at work, having trouble getting started each day, lack of energy, inability to focus, difficulty concentrating, and feeling less satisfied about one’s accomplishments. Other signs can also include using food, drugs, or alcohol as a coping mechanism; a change in sleep habits; and unexplained headaches, stomach problems, or other physical symptoms. Mental wellness has become a major issue everywhere.”

So What?: We can’t continue to live in the burnout quadrant for long periods. Ultimately, we quit or leave for one reason or another. This reality also has something to do with the so-called “great resignation.” People are desperate to get off the hamster wheel, even if it’s just a short break. There is a collective human cry out for some relief.

Now What?: Leaders must take proactive action to help mitigate this burnout situation. The old adage of “just suck it up, buttercup” is NOT a strategy. Telling people they need to be resilient may be true, but well intended speeches are not very helpful .

What NOT to do?

While we must give hope for a less stressful future, it’s important to be honest. Things will NOT slow down or be less demanding at work. Yes, the pandemic will end. However, in the world we live in, more macro and micro challenges will bombard us, perhaps even more profoundly. Let’s better prepare to thrive in that world.
Do NOT hope that things will return to “normal” when people go back to the workplace. It will never be like it was, and in many ways that can be a positive thing if we all think and act differently. (Especially ego-driven leaders who love us minions staying late in our cubes).

What TO DO?

Embrace the principle of CONNECT before CONTENT. Make sure every single person, (yes every one) gets a daily check in on how they are FEELING. Listen with empathy how they are navigating their world and support accordingly.
Build expectations on contribution and results through each individual. Do not expect contribution to happen the same way with every person. Build a strategy of one. Lead accordingly.
Cut meetings, organization wide, by at least 25 to 30 percent through making certain daily time sacred, challenging the value of and attendance at meetings, recording meetings and inviting people to watch and comment later. Use collaborative tools like Slack rather than email and other tactics. Eight to 10 hours of back-to-back zoom meetings is mind numbing. Lead from where you are.
Insist people have their cameras always on during video meetings. If people have bandwidth problems, pay to upgrade their internet access. We have to SEE each other.
Cut email usage by approximately the same amount (25 to 30 percent) using modem collaboration platforms. Aspire to eliminate 90 percent of email by 2025.
Set clear expectations and protocol regarding remote working so people can turn off without fear of not working. Set an example!
Let people set holiday time to anytime they can arrange it without expecting to be personally available while resting. This should amount to a minimum of three to five weeks per year, regardless of tenure! Do not let people accumulate pay in lieu. People must invest in recharging.
Flatten your top leadership group by two layers at least. So much time is wasted with decisions and information passing through non value added “handlers.” That is tiresome and bureaucratic.
Teach leaders how to lead in a hybrid remote environment. Teach people how to self-accountably contribute remotely.
Commit to mental wellness as much or more than physical safety.

I could give you many more recommendations. The overall goal is to build the value of self-accountability, while providing each employee as much reasonable control and autonomy as possible. The complimentary leadership goal is to create trust regarding the way uncertainty is managed in the organization and well-founded hope in being part of a compelling today and tomorrow. That’s the joy and hard work of leadership.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: When you look at the challenges in the first paragraph, it’s overwhelming. If the average individual attempted to fix that list on a daily basis, they might mentally wreck themselves. So, I’ll begin here: How are you today? How is your home/family? How is your street? How is your neighborhood? How is your team? How are your co-workers? Focus on and improve the immediate work/life community you can control. Perhaps if we all did more of this, it would help solve those goliath issues from the inside out.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

What To Do About Exhaustion at Work

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