Not Another Away Day: How to Avoid Burning Out Your Team (Without Wasting Their Time)
People love to talk about avoiding burnout and wellbeing, and people love to sell it to employers too, meditation, yoga at lunch, a special plant for your desk - if it works great, but it does feel a little like a plaster on a broken leg.
And then there’s the bigger stuff, away days, workshops, they’re well intentioned, but is their impact actually part of the problem?
Picture the scene, you’re already maxed out on work, home life, balancing priorities, wondering how to keep all the balls in the air - and then, a day off-site, it all just more pressure?
The truth is, burnout and the issues that cause it aren’t going to be solved in a workshop or bonding session; they’re worked on and sorted in the day-to-day culture, habits of leaders and the workload expectations set in your business.
Ready to get practical? Let’s take a look at just three ways to tackle burnout before it happens and without having to do downward dog with Ken from IT.
Here are three practical ways to stop burnout before it starts
Don’t be a busy fool
Support your teams in working smarter by encouraging deep, focused work and reducing unnecessary interruptions and day fillers. Less meetings, less context switching, more focused time are all crucial to mental fatigue. Take the lead in auditing calendars and giving permission to protect time.
Lead By Example
Set, and stick to, healthy boundaries. You set the tone; if you’re emailing at midnight or marking everything urgent, your team won’t be clear on what is important. Demonstrate that rest is essential and create a culture where time off is respected.
Be Aware
Know who is already stretched before assigning more work. Maxed-out teams are poor-performing teams, so be aware about capacity before handing out the work and be realistic about what’s possible.
Don’t waste people’s time
An away day can be valuable, but only if the work is being done back at the office too. If it’s supporting a culture which is already working, then we’re all for it, but if that’s not the reality, then much like that afore-mentioned plaster on the broken leg, it’s not really doing anything useful.