Both employers and employees get mixed up with high performance and working harder for longer. That is not the case. Yes, if you work harder for longer and longer, you will see better results; however, it can lead to burnout, which just leads to you feeling fatigued and your performance dipping. This sort of pressure from employers and managers can lead to employees feeling disengaged at work, and can lead to a high turnover. Good results don’t just come from overtime and working harder. In fact, it comes down to trust, clarity and a healthy balance.
Redefine High Performance
A good manager won’t try to push their employees to their limits. Instead, a great manager will create an environment where they can be consistent and perform their best work over longer periods. The typical manager will often associate productivity with output, but that isn’t the case.
A manager should start asking questions about whether the work is meaningful. Is the work being completed moving in the right direction? Is the team full of energy and resilient enough to keep moving forward? This redefines performance, and the stage can then be set for ensuring a more consistent approach to work is achieved, rather than employees working at a faster pace for a shorter period.
Create Clear Goals and Expectations
A team can easily get burnt out when they are chasing targets that are constantly being changed. It almost feels like there is no end goal. If there are new daily goals or the main goal is getting larger, it can be very difficult to stay motivated. This is why high-performance needs clarity.
SMART goals are a great way to ensure that all employees are aligned and are set to achieve their goals. Furthermore, it can help an employee understand how their work contributes to the main goals of the company. This alone helps to boost productivity but also reduces stress within the company. An employee will always perform better when they know what is expected of them and they know what the end goal of success looks like.
A Psychological Safe Environment
Something else that is very important is creating a psychological environment, and this is more important than people think. An employee needs to feel safe in terms of offering their input, sharing ideas and admitting to their own mistakes, without fearing blame from others. This leads to better collaboration and becoming more innovative.
The best leaders need to set the tone by admitting to their own mistakes and getting something wrong. Additionally, they would seek the input of others to ensure employees feel included. Not to mention celebrating the successes of others. This creates more trust in the team and, therefore, people are willing to take more risks, which can potentially be more beneficial.
Support Well-Being and Balance
Something else that is very important is the well-being of your employees. Everybody has their limits, no matter how mentally strong you are. Recognising this is ensuring you are avoiding burnout as much as possible. High workloads can easily cause burnout, so it is important that workloads are manageable. This is where a good leader will need to step in to offer their support to their employees when they need it.
There will be many times when an employee won’t announce or mention that they are feeling the pressure. This is why it is important for the leader/ manager to recognise. Looking for the red flags, such as an increased amount of errors, reduced engagement, or even employees working longer hours, can all affect an employee’s well-being. Make sure they incorporate healthier practices such as regular breaks, using their holidays or even not working after hours.
Recognising and Rewarding Effort
A good, well-performing team doesn’t just put in the effort and get the results. They also get rewarded for their additional efforts. This is what keeps the team motivated, disciplined and stays on track with their goals without burning out.
There are many ways people can be rewarded for their efforts. A simple thank you message goes a long way, but also recognising someone’s efforts in team meetings. Even celebrating a milestone that someone or the team has achieved. Salary increases can also be considered a good method to recognise someone’s efforts and contributions. Or, if you know that an employee is having a weekend away, for example, going to London, you can offer to pay for a meal or even their parking in London for the weekend as a thank-you gesture. It’s these subtle ways of recognising someone for their hard work that go a long way and keep them motivated.
Summary
Dealing with employee burnout can be difficult; however, it is very easy to avoid. By being a good leader/manager, you can monitor an employee’s performance. Usually, burnout can be spotted before it occurs, so ensure you spot the red flags beforehand.