You already know this…burnout is caused by poor workplace culture; poor workplace culture is caused by ineffective leadership who can’t yet create an environment of escalating performance, work/life integration, connection and purpose in the face of escalating change.
- Employees are more burned out than ever.
- The World Health Organization has made burnout an official syndrome.
- Employee burnout costs companies billions in healthcare spending.
- Burned out employees can’t accelerate the coveted digital transformation companies are investing in – it is a complex human being challenge not a technical doing challenge: 62% of executives think that culture is the top #1 hurdle to digital transformation – “culture change is a prerequisite of digital transformation”– CDO of global consumer products company
While some companies are trying to improve the employee experience, most are missing the human part of employee experience and its intrinsic connection to workplace culture – and so our wellbeing is continuing to suffer beyond what’s reasonable.
79% of employees are suffering from burnout:
If your company culture has been reporting high employee burnout, chances are its still getting worse not better. Burnout is still causing many employees to leave. “The likelihood to leave an organization for a similar role, pay, and benefits at another company actually increased to 59%.” Most cultures are not yet strong enough to cause employees to stay.
The 2020 Global Culture Study report (O.C.Tanner Institute and Human Synergistics), one of the largest organizational culture studies in the world, showcases a very holistic view of workplace culture and employee experience. Burnout exists when one or more of these factors are present: exhaustion, futility and/or avoidance.
Outdated approaches to culture development just don’t work and employees view the employee experience differently than organizations.
NO ONE IS COMING, IT’S UP TO US
OPTIMIZE YOURSELF: Transform burnout into meaning, focus and innovation advantage. YOU are the most important innovation project at your company and the most valuable investment in the employee experience.
Let’s not wait for the company to fix your personal burnout let alone your company culture. Let’s fix our own burnout, take responsibility for our team’s micro-culture and/or let’s leave a bad culture for a better one. We have more than enough capacity for change. Everything we need to be UNSTOPPABLE and to get to our next level of performance (whatever we decide that is) is already inside of us.
Don’t focus on changing – just focus on learning – experiment and learn (test & learn) what new sustainable practices work best for you to help you optimize your life. Think about yourself as the most important lean-start-up initiative ever: “I AM AN INNOVATION PROJECT”. Don’t just train alone – ask for help and train/practice/get the reps in together. Training together is how adults accelerate and deepen learning. Don’t just try harder – experiment & train with NEW, emerging best practices and expert tools. Practice with deliberate focused training, clear goals, immediate feedback, expert coaching and progress measurement. Practice like your health/wellbeing, relationships and success depends on it. Train and experiment on the things that matter most to you – not your company.
Some companies are investing in culture and employee experience in new and more holistic ways – visit IamAnInnovationProject.com or NoMoreDyingAsCaterpillars.com to see new programs like “LEADING DISRUPTION & INNOVATION” – “OPTIMAL ME” (created by and in collaboration with J.Oseas Ramirez Assad) and others that have been piloted and are now being deployed across very special, Fortune 500 companies. These companies are investing in helping individuals override the entrenched socially-defined norms of the system by taking the focus off of the system and focusing deliberately on the individual. Most companies will not invest in you quickly enough – or deeply enough – so you need to optimize yourself. Your success & wellbeing depends on it. You already know this – I’m just reminding you that you know this.