Who is accountable for burnout culture?

I’ve been resisting writing about burnout yet again. My work is to activate Regenerative Resonance among leaders and teams so that they can work on things and in places that align with themselves, humanity and nature.

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So, why couldn’t I resist writing about burnout again? In the last few weeks my inbox and my LinkedIn feed have been rife with posts, emails, etc. from some of the best intended, deeply caring people, who are writing advice, offering support, etc. to leaders who are burned out or on the brink of burnout. Because I’m in the impact space, much of this advice is to impact leaders.

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A lot of the advice is very good and very aligned with what I tend to share: take a break, shut off devices, go into nature, build a support system, prioritize yourself, don’t take your work to bed, boundaries, etc.

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What I hope is that with all this well intended work, that we are not putting the burden of solving burnout on those who are burned out.

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We live in a burnout culture.

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I know what that feels like. Indeed, I was a role model of it: 11 pm meetings to perfect something, 7 am crisis calls, business trips that overlapped critical family milestones, and so on. As I became a manager of increasingly large teams, I continued to role model burnout culture. Looking back, it seems like sheer madness at first glance. At second glance, it sheds light on extractive, unhealthy practices that are deeply ingrained in our work culture, and that need to stop.

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As important as it is for burned out leaders to not lean into the types of activities I did, it is equally important to recognize that burnout culture rewards these actions through promotions, performance reviews, compensation, and more. We simply cannot make leaders choose between eschewing over-work and achieving career progression.

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We also live in another reality. Not everyone can afford to step back, quit, take a pay cut, change tracks. As an immigrant, and a child of immigrants who worked maddening hours to make ends meet, I know that there are people out there who don’t have the privilege of making a fast, hard pivot. For them, the choice is generally ‘continue the slog’ or risk not making mortgage payments, school fees, healthcare, etc. This is not a real choice.

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Impact leaders face these same challenges, and in addition, really care about the work they build and the commitments they make. Most impact leaders I know stay and overwork, even when they have the opportunity to go elsewhere within the company or outside, because they love what they do.

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So, what do we do?

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First, we need to keep advocating for leaders to take better care of themselves. No doubt. This is part of coping with the culture.

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Second, if we’re advocating, advising, solutioning on burnout, we need to keep onus of solving burnout culture on the keepers of burnout culture – the places, spaces, employer cultures where burnout happens.

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Third, we need to equip burned out leaders to advocate against burnout culture where they are. If there are any HR leaders/experts/culture builders reading this piece, I also hope you put an intentional ‘burnout culture’ lens in all the productivity, transformation, culture, employee value propositions you build.

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Here’s my favorite equipment: data.

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• 2020: Gallup poll determined at least 76% of workers report burnout at least some time, at least 28% reported it very often
• 2022: Harvard Business Review reported that more than 50% of managers globally feel burned out.
• 2023: Burnout makes people disengaged. Lack of employee engagement costs the world US $8.8 Trillion, ~9% of the global GDP ( Gallup 's 2023 'State of the Global Workplace' report).

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Burnout culture is good for no one.

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Not for people – clearly. Not for the economy – wow, $8.8 trillion. Also, not for the planet. Imagine what we could do for the planet with leaders who are fully recharged, embodying regenerative ways of living and leading. Imagine how much nature we could save, how much innovation we could spur, what else we could do for the planet (and for our short term productivity and profit as well) if we got Regenerative leaders focused on using that $8.8 Trillion for Impact. As a comparison, by 2030 the world has committed to mobilize $200 Billion annually for nature restoration.

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What next? A call to action.

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If you are an Enterprise leader, CEO, Board or HRBP reading this article, here’s what you can do:

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• Solve the dissonance: Immediately investigate the costs of burnout for your organization in people and monetary costs. Compare those costs with the budgets that your Sustainability and Social Impact leaders put forward, which could be doing a whole lot of good.
• Review and redefine your legacy: At the end of your career, what do you want to be able to say about your role in connecting the dots on human burnout and planetary burnout?
• Be the role model: Take actions from your insights and reflections. Talk about them publicly. True leaders inspire others to lead similarly. Here is your opportunity to demonstrate how a successful business leader can lead with a regeneration mindset, where people and planet thrive by having infinite capacity to replenish and produce, fueling a thriving economy.

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If you want to get clearer, faster, let’s talk about my Regenerative Resonance model and how it can help you get there.

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If you are a leader who has already transformed their organization’s burnout culture into a regenerative one, I would love to know you so we can share your story as a role model to others.

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However we do it, it’s time we end burnout culture and embrace regenerative ways of living, leading, and operating.

?#regenerativeleadership #resonance #regenerative #ecosystems #peopleandnature #withinourgeneration #burnout #leadership #future

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