How to save leaders, employees and organisations on the brink of burnout
Leaders are human, too.
Many are struggling, too few are thriving. Burnout is rife.
When those with the responsibility for improving wellbeing and mental health for employees are themselves fatigued or overwhelmed, embedding an organisational culture with wellbeing at its core becomes a paradox and takes on a whole new level of complexity.
7 Skills Leaders Need to Fight Burnout
How well companies manage burnout is directly influenced by their leaders. Why? Often, it’s the actions of leaders that cause employees to either move closer to burnout or reach full burnout status.
So where are leaders going wrong? It’s all about their leadership skills.
In our Global Leadership Forecast 2021, we studied the companies where leaders and employees had the best handle on burnout. We then looked at the strength of leadership skills in those companies. With that data, we were able to pinpoint seven key leadership skills that help prevent burnout. Here they are, in order of impact:
1. Empathy
Leaders’ ability to demonstrate empathy ranked as the top skill among companies that were best prepared to mitigate employee burnout. When leaders connect with their teams on a human level, they are more likely to identify risks to wellbeing and burnout symptoms.
It’s clear that working from home has made connecting with empathy more challenging. Leaders typically rate themselves well on demonstrating empathy, but once the pandemic hit, their self rating dropped by 15%.
2. Coaching and Delegation
Coming in second are coaching and delegation. As workloads and uncertainty rise, team members long for clarity about what they need to do and how they can best get it done. That’s why these skills have such a major impact on reducing chronic work stress and anxiety.
3. Influence
Influencing skills can help leaders prevent burnout in a few ways. One is that having strong influence helps leaders get their teams and others on board with a new direction. Secondly, strong influencing skills enable leaders to better advocate for their teams, securing the resources and clarity that their team needs to move forward.
4. Leading Change
Unquestionably, one of the biggest drivers of burnout is constant change. And right now, employees are dealing with massive amounts of change. From layoffs and turnover to fast shifts in company direction to a change to remote work, most employees have had the ground pulled out from under them. And even as many things return to normal, the future will be filled with rapid changes. So it’s no surprise that a leader’s ability to give their teams clarity, vision, purpose, and consistency through these changes is crucial in preventing burnout.
5. Leading Virtual Teams
As many companies rapidly switched to remote work during the pandemic, leaders suddenly lost the opportunity to check in with their employees more informally. And it takes a different set of virtual leadership skills that enables leaders to engage and connect with their teams virtually. When leaders fail to do so, their teams may end up feeling unappreciated, disconnected, and like they need to work around the clock. And those feelings lead to burnout. So as the virtual work world becomes the new normal, leaders need to improve their virtual skills accordingly.
6. Drive for Inclusion
One of the keys to drive resilience and prevent burnout is to build a team that supports one another. Those deep connections, trust, and camaraderie can be powerful tools to fight the exhaustion and overwork that leads to burnout. That’s why inclusion is so critical. Leaders who know how to make people feel included—not in spite of their differences but because of them—will have stronger teams who carry the load together, rather than crushing them individually.
7. Developing Future Talent
When employees can see their career path and growth ahead, it makes a big difference in their energy levels. Leaders who can help their team members see their strengths and focus on their development also relieve stress for their team. Rather than leaving them to wonder what their hard work and exhaustion is for, their teams feel energized for the future. Plus, the more skills they develop, the better (and more efficiently!) they’ll be able to perform, which also reduces stress.
Clearly, burnout is a retention risk for employees and leaders alike. No one in the workplace is immune! But leaders are in the unique position to influence others by helping prioritize work and energize their teams. However, they need to take care of themselves and manage their own stress level to be able to take care of their teams effectively.
References:
https://www.glwswellbeing.com/resilience-equanimity/how-to-save-leaders-employees-and-organisations-on-the-brink-of-burnout/
https://www.ddiworld.com/blog/prevent-burnout