Are We Creating Resilience — or Causing Burnout?

Welcome to the Leader’s Lens: The Perspective Shift issue!

This issue offers a fresh perspective and actionable tips to enhance your leadership this week.

Send me an email and let me know how you plan on implementing this perspective shift in your leadership!

Was this email forwarded to you?

Above the Lens: Quick Leadership Check-in

We're almost five months into the year 😱

I am sure you are out there checking in on your teams, but who is checking in on YOU?

I want to know how you are doing. How’s it really going?

• What’s working well for you right now?

• Where could you use a leadership or workplace culture reset?

• What’s one thing you want to strengthen heading into summer?

No judgment, just want to create space for you to reflect.

Feel free to hit "reply" if you want to share with me!

Alright, let’s dive into this timely issue:

Through the Lens: Leadership, Well-Being, and the Responsibility We Carry

Global employee engagement and well-being just took another hit.

According to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report, engagement fell for only the second time in the last 12 years, dropping from 23% to 21%. The cost of this disengagement? An estimated $438 billion in lost productivity across the world economy.

Even more concerning: well-being among employees — especially managers — is declining too.

The world’s workplace is trending in the wrong direction.

And a major part of the solution lies with leadership.

Long ago, I reminded of the heavy, and often invisible, weight we carry as leaders when I came across this tweet by Vidhika Bansal (the whole thread is actually fire!):

It reads,

​“I once read that your manager has a greater impact on your health than your doctor and I think about that a lot.”​

Well, now I am thinking about that a lot, too.

The more I reflected, the more I realized: it’s true.

Gallup’s research confirms it. Employees who are engaged at work are twice as likely to be thriving in life overall. Meanwhile, when leaders are stressed, overworked, and disconnected, it ripples through their teams through:

• Burnout;

• Poor health outcomes, and;

• Higher turnover.

The real question isn’t just whether we can help our teams be resilient. It’s whether we are unintentionally creating environments that require them to be resilient all the time.

I had to think about this for my own leadership. It’s easy to celebrate someone’s ability to juggle endless projects, hit impossible deadlines, and “push through.”

But if I wasn’t filtering workloads, protecting their well-being, or even checking in to see how they’re holding up…

Was I really leading well? Or am I just applauding survival?

I believe that leadership means owning our impact.

Not just on the bottom line, but on the people who spend 40+ hours of their week with us.

Here are a few ways I’ve learned to better support the well-being of those I lead:

• Connect regularly through 1:1s and informal check-ins

• Provide structure to give clarity and expectations early

• Filter the work to shield the team from unnecessary overload

• Remove barriers and problem-solve with them, not for them

• Encourage breaks and normalize mental health days

• Build connection through team-building activities that aren’t tied to deliverables

• Audit the systems to make sure our processes aren’t causing hidden harm

Because when our people are well, our organizations thrive.

I’d love to hear from you:

What’s one thing you’ve done, or seen done, that truly supports employee well-being?

And if you want help building a culture where engagement and well-being go hand-in-hand, schedule a call with me!​

Let’s grow together!

Ray

Whenever you are ready, here are ways you can work with me:

• 🎤Speaking - As a Speaker and Facilitator, I will engage your team on how belonging and inclusivity can increase your team dynamics! ​Book Ray Now

• 🤝Coaching - As a Coach, I will help you enhance the power of inclusivity and empathy to be an effective leader through an equity lens! Book a Call Now

• 📘Consulting - As a Consultant, I will help strengthen your organizational culture to increase the employee experience and retention! Book a Consultation Now

P.S. - Thank you to those who have filled out the survey letting me know more about your leadership journey! I am excited to dive into the results over the next couple of weeks to provide you with resources and content that will support your leadership! If you haven’t filled it out yet, do so by clicking the link here!