Great Insight & Leadership From My Compass Colleague: Ingrid Smith

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR TEAM FROM BURNOUT

NOVEMBER 5, 2018 | INGRID SMITH

As a senior VP overseeing a talented — and hardworking — sales team, it’s important for me to focus on ensuring my team members aren’t at risk for burnout. These are six great ways I’ve found to protect my own team from burnout — and they’re also helpful reminders of ways to motivate myself for success.

Choose Wisely

Protecting someone from burnout really starts before day one. It’s critical that someone is the very best fit for the specific role. Placing anyone in the wrong role can lead to dissatisfaction and almost certain burnout. Make sure that a candidate’s skill set and values align with both the role and your team before you make the hire.

Consider the Carrot

Connect with your team on a personal level and get to know what their goals and aspirations are so that you understand what motivates them. When you show people that you want to support them and help them reach their goals, their work becomes more than just a job. Know what makes each person tick.

Make It Easy

No one wants to waste time on unnecessary calls or to complete any pointless paperwork. It’s important to be constantly listening, evaluating the processes that are in place, and then eliminating any unnecessary steps and protocol. Make it your ongoing priority to streamline processes, and to save you and your team members’ time.

Talk About Talent

On any team, it’s important to recognize each person for their individual strengths. To better do this, assign mentors to your newest hires, pairing them with someone who has skills and talent that can benefit them. Keep your team close with weekly calls and other opportunities to gather together. This allows everyone to be aware of the strengths, talents, and successes of their fellow team members.

Train for Success

From providing small training sessions designed to fine-tune existing abilities to larger meetings for adding new skillsets, there’s no better way to make it clear that you value your team’s success. Plus, by helping them develop and enhance their skills—and giving them new challenges—you will inevitably increase your team’s achievements.

Celebrate the Wins

Teams should rally together to celebrate each other’s successes—even the small ones along the way. Sometimes this can be as simple as sending an email telling someone that they did a great job. It can be a celebratory team event like dinner or a fun outing. Showing people that you’re proud of them always goes a long way