Avoiding Burnout While Growing as a Leader

It’s safe to say that one of the only traits common to all leaders is a lifelong love of learning and growth. No matter what myriad of differences separates them, everyone in leadership wants to learn more and be a better leader. One of the reasons why groups such as Vistage exist is that our members are so committed to this growth, both as individuals and as leaders. Unfortunately, another trait that some leaders have is enthusiasm that can lead to being spread too thin (and that’s why it’s so important to have a great coach!). Kellogg’s own Senior Fellow and coach Sanjay Khosla has published a fantastic and coach-approved article on how to strive for this growth without coming to the end of one’s proverbial rope.

According to Khosla, it’s as simple as strategic thinking and a quick, five-step process. First and foremost; know yourself. Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses, ask for feedback from colleagues (and be willing to accept constructive criticism), and be ready to work on areas where growth is needed. Second, manage your energy. Sit down and examine the calendar from the past few months. If more time is being spent in meetings or managing tasks than is warranted, think strategically about how that time could be better spent. Could things be delegated? Could scheduled meetings actually be resolved over a few simple emails? Khosla calls this an “energy audit”, and it is vital in reclaiming time.

Third on this list; pick focus areas. Khosla recommends listing priorities, and interestingly he insists that the first priority of his coaching clients be non-work related. Family or a hobby should come first in order to maintain a work-life balance. Fourth, build a circle of influence. Think about areas that need strengthening and who might best help along the way. Stay in touch with these individuals and be willing to be that person as well. And lastly, choose how you show up. Khosla advises his coaching clients to examine how they present themselves and their information to others. Whether during a meeting or at a big event, he says to think about the information from the audience’s point of view, and how they may want to digest the topic. Keeping the audience engaged is vital to remaining passionate about the subject one wants to learn. If an audience is bored to tears, the presenter may not be inspired to return to that subject, even though it may be an important one. Read the full article here for Khosla’s tips on continued growth while not burning out.

Not to Worry About Quiet Quitting

By now most everyone has heard the new trendy term “quiet quitting”. This in fact, has nothing at all to do with quitting, it simply indicates when employees choose to do the bare minimum that their job requires. Never going above and beyond, never putting in unpaid extra hours, never responding to emails past COB. Some may see this as employees setting healthy boundaries in the quest for work/life balance, while some see it as laziness and a detriment to the company. Over the last month the term gained a lot of traction thanks to one TikToker, whose video on the subject quickly went viral, garnering over 8 million views in just a few weeks. But does this new concern have staying power? Is it actually something that businesses and leadership need to be concerned with? The brains over at Wharton give a resounding ‘no’.

Matthew Bidwell, a management professor at Wharton, has a new quick read (and quick listen on Wharton Business Daily) about what the real issues are that management needs to be worried about. While leadership is of course always interested in getting the highest performance out of their employees, the much bigger issue these days is keeping employees, period. Let’s go beyond the “no one wants to work anymore” mentality here. There has always been those who do not want to be defined by their labor and seek more freedom in their chosen lifestyles. In August, however, 4.3 million workers voluntarily left their jobs, setting a new record. So who has time to worry about quiet quitting when actual quitting is so much more detrimental to a company? Take a few minutes to give Professor Bidwell’s article a quick read, and listen to his discussion on the wider labor market, and where this trend may be going.

The Four Day Work Week

“A culture of busyness” is the phrase used to describe the American work ethic. Despite the “no one wants to work anymore” rhetoric floating around among those struggling to hire, Americans still overall embrace the daily grind as part of what defines the individual. As a new generation of employees come up in the workforce, they are prioritizing and demanding more of a work/life balance. There are mounds of research that support this shift in priorities, and show that a shorter work week leads to a boost in company morale and overall happiness among employees. There’s even a non-profit called 4 Day Week Global, which is dedicated to promoting the idea of a shortened work week, research surrounding it, and helping implement the transition from a 5 day to 4 day office environment.

This past June, over 70 companies in the UK signed up to be part of a 6-month test run for making the shift to a 4 day work week. Around 40 other countries from North America have joined the program as well. This experiment could be the inspiration that many others need to start their own transitions.

But, are Americans really ready for this? It’s hard to shake off the American cultural ideal that our lives largely revolve around work. Thanks in part, however, to the pandemic shifting to so many remote situations, the concept may be easier to get used to than previously thought.

Now a few of the incredibly talented faculty members at Wharton (Adam Grant, Lindsey Cameron, Matthew Bidwell, and Michael Parke) have contributed to a new article outlining some of the hurdles the US might have to overcome should this trend catch on. Take 10 minutes to read up on how we can embrace the shift if we are ready, and how we can start to warm up to the idea if not. As one CEO put it after shifting abruptly to the 4 day week; “Work will fill the space you give to it. My bet is that we’re going to become vastly more efficient from Monday to Thursday.” If the current research holds, this could be momentous.