employees are not just tired…

Employees are not just tired.

They are depleted. According to Gallup 74% of employees have experienced burnout at least sometimes on the job. Covid, poor leadership, and understaffed departments have turned burnout into an inferno.

If employees were just tired, they could take a power nap and feel refueled again, but a nap won’t fix this burning issue.

70% of employee engagement is driven by the leader’s engagement...70% (Source: Gallup)

If I knew that were the case, I better make sure my leaders are at their best and most engaged.

I love this quote by Craig Groeschel: “You will never lead well when you are on empty.”

As an executive coach, the organizations I see doing best during these challenging times are the ones that are proactive and not reactive.

Organizations that are putting the value of love into their workforce are seeing the needle move in employee engagement, but a big part of that is providing the resources leaders need to help them stay engaged and fueled from within.

This is one of the reasons I LOVE helping organizations build strengths-based cultures to help fuel leadership engagement.

When a leader truly understands where they are their best and how to get the best from within by using their strengths, it feeds their wellbeing. When a leader understands their employee’s strengths and how to maximize on their greatest potential, it tells the employee “I see you, and I value the contribution you make in our organization”

Put that combination together and you have sparked a flame that may have been dying out.

Here are 3 tips I have found to be proactive with leaders and teams I am coaching to refill their tanks.

1) Make sure you are not adding meaningless work to their plate: Are there any meetings that are really not necessary that will give your leaders more time to focus on what is most important or are you just filling their calendar with “stuff” that robs their time to reconnect.

2) Stay connected with your leaders: Yes, we all have a lot going on. Are you consistently cancelling your 1:1 time with your leaders because you are allowing other things to control your time? What does that tell your leader? They are not important and that can lead to feeling undervalued and not important.

3) Know their strengths and what they yearn to do more of: I was good at a lot in my corporate job, so my leader always gave me more of it thinking I loved it, but I actually felt drained when I did those tasks. I will let you in on a little secret: This is what I help many leaders understand so they can get the best work and most engagement from their employees.

Bonus tip: Tell your employees more often than not the value they bring. Trust me on this one, it’s a game changer.

When we lead with strengths, we lead with love.
Kelly