Do your employees think of their work as a responsibility or a burden?  How does your answer affect your culture, employee retention or financial performance?  And how does it impact the emotional well-being of your employees?

I recently caught up with a former client and friend who’s about to retire.  She confessed that her excitement about entering the next phase of life was eclipsed by relief to be leaving her workplace.  

“I’ll finally be free of the burden I’ve shouldered for so long.  I know I should think of it as a responsibility, but it’s been a burden.  And, I’m exhausted.”

I was struck not only by the comparison between burden and responsibility – but also by the accompanying guilt.   As we talked, we realized it wasn’t the actual work that felt burdensome.  In fact, she loved the customer-facing side of her job and had a strong personal connection to its success.   But, her company’s culture and internal politics, including years of passive-aggressive treatment by her superiors and colleagues, made the role feel like a burden.  

There are two surprising things about her situation:

1. Her superiors and colleagues had no idea how their actions impacted her – and they didn’t seek to create such a demotivating, emotionally challenging work environment
2. She felt an immense amount of guilt about the weight of the burden – she  blamed herself for the realities of her day-to-day work experience

My client’s experience creates a teachable moment for all of us.  Here’s the rundown of the attributes of the situation that compounded her emotional burden:

Her Project Was Untethered  

Although tasked with a special project that she took very seriously, my client’s superiors and colleagues viewed the work as a “box-checking” exercise.  Without acknowledging the importance of the project to the company’s strategic objectives, they passive-aggressively refused to approve her detailed plan and budget and didn’t embrace their role in ensuring the project’s long-term success.      

She Was Consistently “Iced Out”  

Because the work wasn’t regarded as critical to the success of the organization, neither was she.  Her boss excluded her from meetings and never mentioned her work when communicating about his team and their accomplishments.  

Bad behaviors were rewarded  

Even though her immediate supervisor refused to engage and develop team members equitably, he was considered a superstar in the organization.  Some managers were consistently rewarded and praised despite their demoralizing leadership style.  It felt like the organization sought results at any cost, including employee morale and mental health.

She Felt Invisible  

My client’s superiors and colleagues didn’t value her expertise and had no vision as to how it could contribute to the company’s success.  Furthermore, they were unwilling to invest in her – they never provided improvement feedback or coaching for how to be more effective.  Desperate to be valued, she spent years without their support.  Instead, my client felt constantly shut down.  And worn down.  And demoralized.  And hopeless.

Sadly, her experience is pervasive in all types of businesses.  And, for certain employees, the weight of the burden is even heavier.  People of color, immigrants, women and other minority groups already carry extra emotional burdens related to the cumulative challenges of work, home and life.  When their day-to-day work experience increases the burden they carry it can have real impacts on their performance, productivity, satisfaction and health.

What about your company?  How many of your employees feel burdened?  Is it damaging your company’s culture?  How does it impact employee retention?  What’s the financial impact?  How does it affect your employees’ health and well-being?

What do your answers say about you as a leader?

Especially in times of crisis, we should aspire to bring out the best in all employees.  Don’t let your behaviors or those of your leadership team burden your employees.  They’re already dealing with enough.  

Contact enlight for help assessing your company’s culture and pinpointing clear actions for improvement.  

“Your silence will not protect you.” – Audre Lorde

In my most recent blog post, I asked if you were a hero or a coward. I am here to confess that I am a coward.

Last week I started writing about leadership, but in light of recent events, I’ve decided to scrap that draft, instead opting to say what needs to be said, and what I should have said years ago…if I’d only had the courage.

True leaders value every human and strive to bring out the best in them.

True leaders see every human for who they are, for all their humanity. Not just for their work performance or the HR box they check.

True leaders stand up for what is right – in the office and in life.

It is next to impossible to be a true leader while riding the coattails of race and privilege. We can’t be. Our complicity in the racial hierarchy has ranged from turning a blind eye to outright enslavement to murder in broad daylight. Those of us who have unjustly benefited must help those who have unjustly suffered.

Black lives matter.

Black lives matter. Period. If we can’t say it and mean it, we aren’t true leaders. We have four hundred years of wrongs to right. We either work to be anti-racist, or we are racist. Period.

Our friends and colleagues of color have been trying to get us to listen for years. Four hundred years, actually. And we refused.

“He must have done something for cops to detain him or arrest him or shoot him…or kill him.” Black people are murdered before our eyes. By police. By white people. And that’s just the visible injustice.

Black people also suffer from the prolonged health effects of racism. Black families have been robbed of generational wealth, largely thanks to policies and practices like redlining that were/are completely legal. Black children lack opportunities due to inadequate access to education and unconstitutional funding of public schools. Black men rot in jails because of bias in the justice system. The list goes on.

The keepers of privilege must dismantle the system. We don’t expect the battered wife to stop her husband’s abuse, and we can’t expect people of color to end racism. If they could, they’d have done it ages ago. It’s up to us. And we better get started because we’ve got lots of work to do.

I’ve been trying to understand white privilege and my role in institutional racism for over a decade. But I’ve kept that work “on the side,” separate from my day-to-day business. I didn’t trust my clients and colleagues to have the courage to consider the world from this perspective. I worried it would hurt my business. I was a coward.

That ends today. I commit to living my life as an anti-racist. Every day and in every aspect. I’ll make mistakes, and I’ll learn and try to do better.

George Floyd did not die. He was murdered. Words matter. Black lives matter. We can do better. I hope you will join me.

In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz tells a story about how he handled a delicate situation when he was five years old.  He says it shaped his life.  “It taught me that being scared didn’t mean I was gutless.  What I did mattered and would determine whether I would be a hero or a coward.”  

The COVID-19 outbreak is one of those defining moments.  Ask yourself – are you a coward or a hero?  The good news is if you don’t like the answer, you can take action to change.

“Every time you make the hard, correct decision you become a bit more courageous and every time you make the easy, wrong decision you become a bit more cowardly.  If you are a CEO, these choices will lead you to a courageous or cowardly company.” 

Ask yourself these questions:

How do you respond to threats?

A hero is fearless, composed and proactive.  

• Fearless – Looks for, recognizes and acknowledges threats from the inside and the outside
• Composed – Defines the threat and distills the response into smaller parts that are easier to understand and actionable
• Proactive – Takes “no regrets” actions to mitigate threats and strengthen the company for the long haul

A coward says, “Our product is better than these new lower-priced competitors.  We don’t need to worry.”

A hero says, “Our products may be better, but we’re seeing sales slippage since these cheaper alternatives entered the market.  We need to understand what our customers think about the tradeoffs and how it changes our response.”

“There comes a time in every company’s life where it must fight for its life.  If you find yourself running when you should be fighting, you need to ask yourself, “If our company isn’t good enough to win, then do we need to exist at all?”

How do you communicate with your teams?

A hero is authoritative, honest and hopeful.  

• Authoritative – Provides clear direction, even in times of uncertainty  
• Honest – Admits what they don’t know, anchoring on what they do know and control and providing honest performance feedback 
• Hopeful – Always builds a bridge from the current state to a brighter future  

A coward says, “I have no idea what will happen after our PPP funding period ends.”

A hero says, “I’m not sure what will happen after our PPP funding period ends, but I’m doing everything in my power to make sure we can continue to operate.  And I know the rest of you are doing your best, as well.”

“Can the leader articulate a vision that’s interesting, dynamic and compelling?  More important, can the leader do this when things fall apart?  More specifically, when the company gets to a point when it does not make financial sense for any employee to continue working there, will the leader be able to articulate a vision that’s compelling enough to make people stay?” 

How do you engage with your customers?

A hero is open, accountable and adaptable.  

• Open – Listens to customers and understands how the current situation impacts their life or business
• Accountable – Lives up to promises, doesn’t make promises they can’t keep and immediately notifies customers of issues
• Adaptable – Looks for ways to feasibly address customer needs, increasing opportunities and loyalty

A coward says, “I’m too busy trying to solve our quality and delivery issues to listen to more complaints from customers.”

A hero says, “I will personally meet with our top customers to hear their concerns and let them know what we’re doing to solve the problem.”

Everybody faces challenges sometimes.  The way you choose to navigate your challenges will define your customer relationships for years to come.  Don’t mess it up. 

How do you invest your time?

A hero is focused, disciplined and flexible.  

• Focused – Understands the fundamentals of the business and focuses on what is most important to get right in the moment
• Disciplined – Understands the big picture and sees most of the challenges that are looming, but doesn’t get distracted or overwhelmed
• Flexible – Learns from experience and knows when to refine the company’s fundamentals

A coward says, “I don’t have time to think about the future because I’m too busy putting out fires.”

A hero says, “In a crisis, the most important thing I can do is ensure we are focused on the things that will determine our fate and eliminate as many distractions as possible for my team.”

Time is money.  And in organizations, poor time management has exponential negative impacts on the business.  If the leader is focused on the wrong stuff or overwhelmed, so will the team.  Now more than ever, companies need heroes to keep everyone focused and aligned.  If you’re not sure what to do, narrow your team’s focus to core functions while you consider alternatives and gather more information.

So…are you a coward or a hero?  Being a leader is hard work.  And especially in times of crisis, it can be lonely work.  It’s not always easy to muster the courage to be a hero, but we all have it in us.  enlight can help you stay focused or correct course…contact us.