EXPERTS AGREE…Change Leadership Must Avoid Burn-out Risk!
Posted by Todd VanNest on Tue, Feb 07, 2012
Last week, I posted a 3-part blog about how indecisiveness (resulting in everything being important and/or everything being hit with the “hammer” of change) is creating major fatigue in the companies I see. I expanded on how this indecisiveness occurs, for example, by picking either (a) too many priorities; (b) no priorities; or (c) lacking the courage to put aside old priorities is a sign of failed leadership. I also discussed 4 ways Change Leaders can overcome this.
As that blog series was unfolding, I found a related post by another blogger on Twitter.
I love it when people who care deeply about the field of change management and who have 
insight to distinguish “forest from trees” begin posting like-minded stuff. Let’s hope the cacophony of these raised voices serve as a Tipping Point before that point is defined by dramatic consequences from striking an intolerable level of burn-out…
In addition to citing the burn-out risk, the article’s author does an excellent job of illustrating the necessary pre-cursors for driving focus in the way I described in my own posts—Vision and Values.
http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2012/02/05/vision-and-values-the-antidote-to-burnout/#comment-17004
Give it a read and reflect on whether your company has fostered the necessary conditions to overcome the significant risk that is bubbling underneath the surface in so many organizations today. Even those who are performing well by traditional measures, getting change projects completed, and scoring favourably on measures of “employee engagement” are at risk. Does your company share this unchecked risk?
We know from market research on failed brands and psychological research on human decision making that when in the midst of the milieu, we often ignore or discount evidence that we may not be as healthy as we believe we are at any given moment (exercising a strong “confirmation bias” that shapes what we see and tending to emotionally favor the security found in embracing positive “trends” rather than investigating (apparently) single points of disconfirming or unsettling news).
Ask your team the following…“Do we have any ‘canaries’ in our coal mine?”
- Is the Project Manager who just left our company really just “poached” by another company or more motivated by self-interest? Is s/he really an exception?...Or, maybe a sign that we are discouraging our key talent?
- Is the star performer or hi-po exec who just turned down a plum assignment to lead our new project insane?...Or, maybe telling us that there must be some limit to what we can expect—even of our best and brightest people?
- Are there signs of fatigue that we are ignoring, dismissed as “change resistance,” or have mistakenly worn as a badge of honor (“look, we can do more when we’re tired than anyone else!”)?
- Is our company's #1 reward for excellence merely "more?"
It’s not too late to ask…
Learn more about how to KNOW that you’re having the change impact you believe you are through your key initiatives at http://www.lastwordonchange.com/simple-solution/change-management-tools
photo attribution: mightylinetape.com
