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The Leadership Challenge: Burnout

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The Point: As a leader, you’ve experienced burnout. I’m not talking about physical burnout where you can’t take another step from exhaustion. What I’m referring to is the emotional exhaustion that results in depersonalization and decreased personal accomplishment at work. Perhaps it’s the latest project approaching completion, or maybe the promotion that passed you by… We started thinking here at the Javelin Institute and Tip of the Spear Ventures what exactly is behind leadership burnout and what (if anything) can be done to successfully turn a leader from burnout to a blaze again. So, in this post we’ll explore the leadership challenge of burnout… Enjoy!

Burnout: The Good, The Bad and Mostly Ugly!

Leadership burnout is best characterized by emotional exhaustion that results in both depersonalization and decreased accomplishment/results in the workplace. The emotionally exhausted leader is overwhelmed by leading to the point of feeling fatigued, unable to face the demands of leadership, and unable to engage their stakeholders. The burned-out leader often develops a sense of cynicism, detaching themselves from work and viewing stakeholders – especially subordinates – as objects along the way.

Fatigue, exhaustion, and detachment culminate in the leader experiencing burnout to the point where they no longer feel effective because they have lost their sense to contribute meaningfully. The growing trend of leadership burnout should be identified as a threat to strategic plan adoption for most organizations.

Burnout and Safety

Unless you’re in a clinical setting as a leader, your performance is rarely one where decisions made (or a lack thereof) are life or death for individuals or organization… Or is it? Characteristics of the new economy’s leadership environment, including time pressure, lack of control over work processes, role conflict, and poor relationships between groups combined with personal predisposing factors (i.e., bias) and the emotional intensity of work put leaders at high risk. From my executive coaching conversations, I estimate the prevalence of leadership burnout range from 10%–70% among leaders (SVPs, VPs, Directors, Team Leaders, etc.) and 30%–50% among senior leadership (CEOs and CXOs – COO, CFO, CHRO, CRO, CMO, etc.) If you/your organization are not looking at the signs of leadership burnout (Further broken down in the next section), an intervention should be staged to address the topic.  Afterall, my experience shares that most leaders view their burnout as a threat to stakeholder safety because depersonalization is presumed to result in poorer interactions with them (Often causing lower communication effectiveness and poorer initiative results). However, typically the signs of leadership burnout go undetected or unaddressed.

Burnout Perspective

At one of the organizations I work with, 40% of the leaders surveys reported at least one symptom of leadership burnout. Burnout rates (unsurprisingly) were higher for those who rated their leaders unfavorably. My survey also found that even with exceptionally high customer experience (CX), customer satisfaction, and net promoter scores, leadership quality accounted for roughly half the variable in such scores. So, what exactly are the signs of leadership burnout? The following list of burnout signs is from Psychology Today, broken down into (1) Physical and Emotional Exhaustion, (2) Cynicism and Detachment, and (3) Ineffectiveness and Lack of Accomplishment:

Physical and Emotional Exhaustion

  • Chronic fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Forgetfulness/Impaired Concentration and Attention
  • Physical Symptoms
  • Increased Illness
  • Loss of Appetite
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Anger

Cynicism and Detachment

  • Loss of Enjoyment
  • Pessimism
  • Isolation
  • Detachment

Ineffectiveness and Lack of Accomplishment

  • Feeling of Apathy and Hopelessness
  • Increased Irritability
  • Lack of Productivity and Poor Performance

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge of burnout. Best characterized by emotional exhaustion that results in both depersonalization and decreased accomplishment/results in the workplace, burnout poses a risk to be managed in the workplace. By knowing and recognizing the signs of burnout, leaders can address or seek assistance so as to maintain organizational and career course/trajectory.

Sam Palazzolo

PS – 2020 will be here before we know it, and I see some disturbing Leadership-trends taking place. If you’d like to receive a white paper I wrote on “5 Ways Your Leadership Will Succeed in 2020” CLICK HERE.

PPSS – As we crossed-over the halfway point of 2019, I’ve launched my most aggressive initiative to date. It’s a 501(c)(3) structured nonprofit that provides Executive Education to allow you to become the BEST leader possible (NOT Good, NOT Better… BEST!). If you’d like more information, please watch the following 2-minute overview by CLICKING HERE or plug this URL into your browser: https://javelininstitute.org/welcome-to-the-javelin-institute/

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I recently participated in a roundtable discussion on the topic of change leadership, and subsequently was interviewed about the Javelin Institute’s new program, “The BEST Leader in 30 Days!” (This program brings you 30 daily activities that’s recognized through research validation to equip you to be the BEST Leader possible… Not a Good Leader, or even a Better Leader… the BEST Leader!) If you’re interested in the program, you can email me at info@javelininstitute.org for more information. Here’s Part I of the interview, slightly edited for clarity and brevity:

INTERVIEWER: Sam, you’ve not only led change as a leader yourself, but also helped other leaders with change. Tell us a little bit about how in general you think about change leadership, and how you apply that in the businesses you work in/with?

SAM PALAZZOLO: Change leadership can be a complicated component of business success. Do it right, and the change leadership landscape will have plenty claiming stake in the successful outcome. Do change leadership wrong, and you’ll be looked at as sole proprietor responsible for the failure. I see many leaders who enter into situations of change without really having the skills or coaching to know exactly how to successfully change. The biggest component of change leadership to me is rooted in the leader. Specifically, does the leader have the perspective required to gather themselves from an emotional intelligence perspective. It’s very much an EQ moment versus an IQ one!

In my 2018 book, titled “Leading at the Tip of the Spear: The Leader” I examined how you can better lead others by leading yourself. As a matter of fact, my research concludes that if you can’t lead yourself, the likelihood of you successfully leading others ranges from slim to none. One of the insights that allows for successful change leadership is to have insight into where you want to go (Vision) and what change will be required in order to arrive at that destination. It’s easy for leaders to become impatient when leading change because while they can not only see where they want to go, but how they want to get there, they forget to share and lead others at a pace at which they can understand and withstand. In other words, those you’re leading need to not only understand/comprehend where they are going, but perhaps more importantly, what their role will be in getting there across a possible specific time interval.

INTERVIEWER: So, with change leadership in mind, how do you coach people?

SAM PALAZZOLO: At its simplest levels, to have success in change leadership, it’s important for leaders to know where they are, where they are going, and how it is that they are going to get there. Knowing these three aspects allows leaders to architect a plan for change. This architectural blue print will allow leaders to create a plan for change. This blue print is important because it provides stakeholders with a clear understanding of what is being built (Where they are going and how they will get there).

Having specialized in change leadership for the past two-decades, I know that change involves a series of phases that both leader and stakeholders go through. There will be successes, equanimity, and failures along the way. As a student of the J-Curve methodology, I learned that initial failure is typical and with proper corrections success can/will be achieved. Allowing leaders to see this realistic change leadership landscape prior to experiencing change provides the proper perspective. The proper corrections typically, but not always, come from communication gathered from direct-frontline associates affected by the change. Listening to their feedback provides leaders with context from which they can assess situations clearly for proper corrections. With this in mind, and it’s part of the “BEST Leader in 30 Days!” methodology, is conducting a daily reflection of your change leadership efforts/energies. Specifically, there are three questions that you’d want to ask yourself:

  1. What did I do today to further the (change leadership) initiative?
  2. What did I not do today to further the (change leadership) initiative?
  3. What will I do tomorrow to further the (change leadership) initiative?

INTERVIEWER: What are some of the mistakes you see leadership making in their attempts to lead? Specifically, what are the most common mistakes when leading change?

SAM PALAZZOLO: I’ve seen just about every type of mistake be made when it comes to change leadership. Typically, the mistakes cluster around the basic business building blocks of people, processes, technology, and/or financials. All too often leaders will fail to get involved those they expect to go through the change (so that they have input into what will happen on the way towards where the leader desires to go).

I’ve also seen leaders fail in change leadership when they put a “spin” on change. One leader, who’ll remain nameless, used to replace the word change with innovation. His reasoning for doing so was because he had read a study that showed people dislike change. While the study might be correct, changing the namesake doesn’t increase the odds of success. Remember, a duck is still a duck!

At a gym I worked-out in they had a huge sign on the wall that read:

“Until the pain associated with staying the same is greater than the pain associated with change, you will not do anything different.”

Think about that for a moment… If we associate pain with change and pleasure with staying the same, then you’ve got to be in a bad spot to want to change! Afterall, staying the same should be painless. But once staying the same is more painful, you’ll desire relief/change.

INTERVIEWER: You’ve had an impressive career to date (I don’t think you’re done yet by a longshot either!) You’ve worked with a Fortune 1 organization and now you’re working as a venture capitalist, consultant and philanthropist. Are there any differences between leading change at large vs. small organizations and for profit vs. nonprofit ones?

SAM PALAZZOLO: Thank you for the complement… I hope my career continues to grow/change in directions I can’t visualize at the current time. With that said, and to answer your question – Yes, there are differences. While the problem types are very similar (Think people, processes, technology, and/or financials), the scale is simply larger in big companies. This is the same regardless of entity formation (profit vs. nonprofit).

However, there is one key difference that I see play itself out time and again. That difference is that in smaller organizations the leader can make the difference. Whereas in larger organizations, there is less of a leadership impact, but the need to have good leadership in place across the organization exists. Think about it, if the organization is small and the leader is great, successful change leadership is relatively straightforward. In larger organizations, there are many more leaders to coordinate similar future change leadership vision with, and as such each needs to be able to share that vision precisely/similarly with their teams. Same vision and different share lead to unsuccessful change leadership typically (a disaster!)

https://tipofthespearventures.com/2306-2/

The Leadership Challenge: Active Listening – 3 Tips!

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The Point: You might be listening, but do you really hear what your stakeholders are saying? At Tip of the Spear we frequently pose this question to the leaders we work with in our Business Advisory Services. The answers we receive are unfortunately shocking (and not in a good way!) Besides, what’s at stake if you don’t listen effectively as a leader? Only everything! So in this post, we set out to explore the leadership challenge of Active Listening and provide 3 tips… Enjoy!

Leadership Challenge Active Listening 3 Tips

Active Listening by Carl Rogers

Active listening or reflective listening was originally defined by noted psychologist Carl R. Rogers. The basics of active listening are to put ones concerns, attitudes and ideas to one-side while listening to others. The theory goes that without these distractions one will be able to observe not only the conscious signals displayed by others, but the unconscious ones as well. Therein you’ll be able to identify the true meaning behind the words that are being spoken.

Typically, active listening is reflected in the following interaction/behavior elements:

  • Providing your undivided attention
  • Encouraging the other party to continue
  • Restarting a potentially stalled conversation
  • Self-disclosing with the desire for reassurance
  • Knowledge improvement, confirmation, and/or correction
  • Connecting the dots in a loosely structured conversation
  • Insight improvement
  • Rapport building

I Listen, Therefore I Hear?

So active listening typically comes down to hearing, and therein a comprehension of what is happening/when. But more importantly than listening is equipping yourself to do something with what you just heard. With that in mind, a robust conversation can take place where ones actions are directly correlated with what was said, including clear comprehension not only of what was discussed, but what next steps will be.

So if so many leaders are listening, why do so many stakeholders feel that they are unheard?

3 Tips for Active Listening

I once participated in a seminar that had quite the magical leader presenting his view on everything active listening. He had three tips that I’ll share with you if you want to become a much more dynamic leader in the active listening space:

Active Listening Tip #3

You must focus intently on the speaker, so much so that you can see the color of their eyes clearly. Why is this important? The leader shared that if they maintained this level of focus, few distractions could interrupt their discussion.

Active Listening Tip #2

Repeat the keywords spoken internally to yourself three times. Why is this important? The leader shared that if he categorized the main topics by repeating them to themselves three times, a virtual card catalog of keywords was created for the conversation. A catalog that could be easily reviewed at a later date when called upon.

Active Listening Tip #1

You have to care. Why is this important? If you don’t care about the other person, the topic their speaking of, or about anything you will never retain anything with the conversation. It sounds simple, but Carl Rogers would have you put your own thoughts/concerns out of the way so as to be fully present in the given conversation.

 

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge of active listening and provided 3 tips to help you as a leader. Most leaders contend that their role as a leader is to provide direction to their stakeholders. In maintaining this “telling” strategy, they rarely focus on the importance of not only what is being said but who is saying it.

 

Sam Palazzolo

PS – If you like this post, I hope you’ll share it with a colleague. I know you’d also like a copy of my latest book, titled “Leading at the Tip of the Spear: The Leader.” In this work I explore the challenges of leading yourself as a leader (and review a roadmap for success). Here’s a link to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Tip-Spear-Sam-Palazzolo/dp/1981860436/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527785570&sr=8-1&keywords=sam+palazzolo+leading

Mergers & Acquisitions: The Problem with Acquisitions – 3 Tips!

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The Point: The usage of acquisitions to divert and reshape corporate strategy has never been more prevalent than in today’s new economy. Today, many leaders prefer purchasing a company as a way of creating easy access to products, technology, markets, management talent, or assets as less risky and faster than picking up similar goals via internal endeavors. So at Tip of the Spear Ventures, we put our M&A hats on and wondered “What is the problem with acquisitions?” After all, it would appear to be not only in vogue, but a relatively easy approach to accomplish organizational growth goals. So in this post, we’ll explore Mergers & Acquisitions: The Problem with Acquisitions along with providing 3 tips… Enjoy!

Mergers Acquisitions Problem Acquisitions 3 Tips

M&A Headquarters… We have a Problem!

It is now very clear that there is a difference between (1) acquiring a company and (2) making it work! There are countless M&A corpses strewn along the business super-highway as reminders. As leaders, we need to understand how to manage acquisitions better and not looking beyond conventional advice.

To make acquisitions work, most analysts often stress one of two methods. First of all, the strategic fit between the target and its acquirer, and secondly how important the proposed subsidiary can provide/adapt to the parent organization’s technique (or modus operandi).

M&A Round Peg in Square Hole

The need to meet an organizational fit between the two companies was what the other approach stressed on – that is, by matching corporate cultures, demographic features, or administrative systems. The success of an acquisition is guaranteed if the degrees of strategic and organizational fit are enough.

Most often, friendly acquisitions that follow this advice fail to work, why? Managers can gain insight into this question on the real acquisition process and not the strategic fit or organizational fit.

3 Tips That Affect the Result of the Process

Recent research reveals three tips, or factors, inherent in the process can affect the outcome:

Tip #1: Fragmented Perspectives

As a result of analysts and specialists involvement in a specific ability and independent goals, fragmented and multiple views of the agreement may occur. General managers may find it difficult to integrate these perspectives. Most of the time, analysts with specialized skills and managers dominate the process of acquiring a company. It will be difficult for managers to support a generalist grasp of the transaction just because of the need for complex technical analysis and number of tasks to complete.

Tip #2: Integrating Perspectives

When the momentum to close the deal is increasing, it can force closure prematurely and thereby limit any consideration of integration issues. The challenges of fragmented perspectives are conquered by top executives if active roles are performed during the acquisition process. Strategies to structure balance among different groups and interests to ensure the proper analysis of integrated sets.

Tip #3: Some Ambiguity Issues

Most of the time, buyers and sellers were unable to resolve some important areas of ambiguity before agreements are complete. Financial analysts and researchers often describe acquisitions as acts of strategic calculation. In sharp contrast, those involved directly with the acquisition process always point to powerful forces beyond managerial control that increase the speed of the transaction.

So What Exactly is the Problem with Acquisitions?

The factors above may manifest acquisition plans, which might be over an extended period, or amid transactions, which will probably be in haste. For every procurement, supervisors ought to consider what factors are making the procedure accelerate and recognize transparency between corporate strategy and other factors like the interests of personal profession or special groups and personality issues – all these intertwine in most cases.

SUMMARY

This is the perfect moment senior leaders need to reevaluate their assumptions about acquisition actions in a principal way – neglecting this will cause a problem with acquisitions. Preservation reassessment by the boards and executives in both purchasing and target organizations with regards to the procurement’s purpose and their capacity to gain benefits in the long haul from the proposed combination may uncover different issues that each party ought to know about. Building up superior understanding of the inconspicuous but useful role that the acquisition procedure plays in the outcome of procurement is an imperative piece of the first reassessment.

Sam Palazzolo

Leading at the Tip of the Spear Lunch Offer

Business For Sale?

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With the continued expansion of the economy, there’s no time like the present for would-be entrepreneurs to consider launching a business (Especially when you consider the recent tax and regulatory reform). Tip of the Spear Ventures’ Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Business Advisory Service was established to (1) assist those desiring to purchase a business, as well as (2) those business owners looking to exit or sell their existing business.

Business for Sale_Mergers and Acquisitions

A recent UBS study titled Q1 Investor Watch Report, reports that nearly 60% (58%) of sampled wealthy investors would consider starting a business. The report also reflects 52% of existing business owners are looking to capitalize on the robust economy and sell within the next 5-years (20% would like to create a succession plan whereby heirs would take over the business responsibilities, while 18% say that they will opt to simply shut the business down). Why the large percentage of business owners looking to exit? The study found 2 succession reasons in particular:

  1. Succession plans whereby the business would be turned over to heirs reflect that these successors would rather have cash in the bank versus ownership in the business (82%).
  2. Millennials also reflect a propensity to hold back and not run a business, citing business ownership and entrepreneurship are simply too stressful (80%)

Tip of the Spear Ventures’ M&A Business Advisory Services seek to assist both those looking to purchase a business (Buy-side) as well as those looking to exit their business (Sell-side). Our services combine the best of counsel ranging from M&A expertise, Accountancy, and facts of Legal matters.

To find out more about Tip of the Spear Ventures’ M&A Business Advisory Services,please contact us by phone @ 855.97SPEAR (855 977 7327) or email: info@tipofthespearventures.com.