What are the most effective strategies for mentoring leaders dealing with change fatigue or burnout?

The best advice I've learned and applied to feeling overwhelmed is based on the book “Deliberate Calm, how to learn and lead in a volatile world,” by Jaqueline Brassey, Aaron De Smet and Michiel Kruyt. It provides a framework to first pause and reflect on how we are responding from a conditioned or auto-response rather than an adaptive response. This conditioned response is designed to protect a specific fear or a particular need such as fear of losing control or a need for autonomy. Once you can name the root need, you can reflect on how that is serving you, and also how to choose a new response. Like building any new muscle, this takes practice.

As someone who has gone through significant change initiatives on both sides (client and consultant), I have seen how expectations on leadership are often misprioritized. While the change may be important, we (as consultants) need to understand that running the business is the priority. Our job is to create strategies for a successful change initiative that involves, but does not depend, on leadership for success. While this may be seem counterintuitive by giving "permission" to leadership to prioritize other things, great change consultants know how to convince leaders to create more time and energy for the change initiative through emphasizing impact and reward.

Change for the sake of change will lead to nowhere. Change fatigue is a symptom of a weak case for change. We have all experienced change that was based on a bright idea without sound data and reasoning. There are a few questions to ask that will help the organization understand if change is necessary – Is this a customer driven change? – How does the change align with our vision, mission, values? – Will this change partially or completely solve a significant problem? – Do we have the capability and/or capacity to fully enact this change? I have found that objectively answering these questions helps to clarify the need for change. If needed, the answers strengthen the case for change and bring urgency to the situation.

One impactful perspective shift is modeling positive change leadership without always talking ‘change.’ A leader of influence, presence, and charisma will most likely succeed in this regard. People become interested in the leader’s actions, particularly impactful actions, which naturally opens their mindsets to learning the leader’s vision and direction for the organization. This is proverbial buy-in. It’s marketing 101. It’s desire to belong and go where the leader is going even if they don’t understand why they’re interested. How does the change leader affect change? A few ways: - build/select a strong team - have a solid change strategy - challenge status quo - elicit ideas - measure outcomes - listen to team - iterate / replicate

You need to consider the counterfactual. What does doing nothing look like and how does it play out over time? Then, how do you prioritise actions to get more supporters on board - how do you move the undecided with some evidence of success (quick wins). Control what you can control - don’t overly concern yourself with things out of your control. Other than communicating to give people confidence.

A key mechanism I have used for many years is planning my physical activity and putting it in my diary, like any other important activity. Maintaining physical fitness has helped me to manage a heavy workload, to keep perspective and manage stress.

Most business leaders love their work because they are extremely passionate about what they do. The challenge is that they often get "too busy working in the business to work on the business," and that includes getting caught up in a change initiative. From personal experience, I often find that when I get busy or feel behind, I can reignite my passion and enthusiasm by just talking about the "why" ... why I do what I do. I find that deploying this strategy as a coach, asking questions and getting leaders to talk about their "why," is a great way to spark the energy they need to get past times of doubt and fatigue.

One of the most important variables in ensuring success for a change initiative is having buy-in and support from key leaders in the organization. Just as important is understanding and balancing the time and energy of leaders throughout the change. A great change consultant, or anyone leading change in an organization, needs to not only convince leadership to support it, but must also create a strategy that permits leadership to focus on other priorities. It's a delicate balance!