Managers are Burned Out, too 6 | 2

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Radical Candor Podcast: Managers are Burned Out, too

Being a boss is a challenging job in the best of times, and the best of times these are not. According to Gallup, only 31% of managers are actively engaged and more than 50% are actively seeking new jobs amid declines in employee engagement and wellbeing, record turnover and hiring rates, and an unprecedented increase in hybrid work.

According to the National Institutes of Health, “Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. The three key dimensions of this response are an overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.”

The Future Forum Pulse report — a survey of almost 11,000 workers across the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K. published in October — found that executives’ sentiment and experience scores had sunk to record lows. Compared to a year ago, execs reported a 15% decline in the working environment, a 20% drop in work-life balance, and a 40% increase in work-related stress and anxiety.

“We’re in the middle of the biggest workplace paradigm shift we’re likely to see in our lifetimes, and leaders are feeling that pressure,” said Sheela Subramanian, vp and co-founder of Future Forum. 

She added that the shifting macroeconomic conditions, the Great Resignation, and the changing demands of employees around flexibility make it “harder to lead with confidence — you can no longer rely on the old leadership playbooks.”

Radical Candor Podcast Checklist: Managers are Burned Out, too

@emilybruth Burnout forces us to ask, "what's the point?" Rewards for effort are not the same as they used to be and you can feel it in the spirit of employees ❤️‍ #burnout #worklifebalance #capitalism ♬ original sound - Emily Ballesteros

1. Practice radical self-care. Caring for others starts with caring for yourself. Don't beat yourself up or feel guilty for feeling burned out. Give yourself the break you need. You can't possibly care personally about others if you don't care about yourself. And if you are feeling burned out, you need to care about yourself more. So when a mentor of mine said if I am feeling burnt out or if I'm in an especially stressful time, I work out twice a day, not once a day. So do more self care not less when you're feeling burned out.

2. You don't have to do it alone. Seek community if you're a manager. Find a mentor,  coach, peer group or other people who are going through similar things as you for guidance community, and most

3. If you're not a manager, and you think your manager is dealing with burnout, or you're dealing with burnout yourself, tips one and two apply equally well to you. And I think sometimes it can be easy to imagine that if you just focus on the work that's the thing that's going to help your boss the most. But we'd argue that focusing on yourself and making sure that you're coming to work with energy and excitement has an equal if not bigger impact on the burnout that others around you are feeling.

Radical Candor Podcast Resources: Managers are Burned Out, too

@corporate.sween They don’t know what day it is #corporate #corporatelife #corporatetiktok #saleshumor #manager #managersbelike #burnout #burntout ♬ original sound - corporate sween

• Global Indicator: Leadership & Management - Gallup
• The Manager Squeeze: How the New Workplace Is Testing Team Leaders
• How to Handle the Pressure of Being a Manager Right Now
• Emotional Labor And The Great Resignation: 2 Things To Know
• Under pressure: Why bosses are struggling more than ever - WorkLife
• Global Culture Report
• Future Forum Pulse Report Fall 2022
• More Than 50% of Managers Feel Burned Out
• Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry - PMC
• Managers Are Burned Out. Here’s How to Help Them Recharge (HBR).
• Managers Are Burned Out. Here’s How to Help Them Recharge (SHRM ‚ if you can’t access HBR).
• Stress relievers: Tips to tame stress - Mayo Clinic

 
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Episodes are written and produced by Brandi Neal with script editing by Amy Sandler. The show features Radical Candor co-founders Kim Scott and Jason Rosoff and is hosted by Amy Sandler. Nick Carissimi is our audio engineer.

The Radical Candor Podcast theme music was composed by Cliff Goldmacher. Order his book: The Reason For The Rhymes: Mastering the Seven Essential Skills of Innovation by Learning to Write Songs.