Humans are way more alike than we are different. And the organizations that manage said humans? The same rules follow, they are way more alike than they are different. Microsoft, Apple, the Health Services department of your hospital, a family-run farm – they all need the same infrastructure to operate well.
Human DNA is 99.9% the same – we really are so similar. But we forget that, because of constructs like race, gender, and religion. The skin we’re in is what separates us, just like the companies we lead and work for. What we produce can be remarkably different. But how we do it is remarkably similar in successful organizations. When you can articulate WHY you do what you do, everything starts to shift.
It’s how you manage the people that is far more important and far more work than any product or service that you provide.
In this post-pandemic, disconnected world where we are often leading and being led by rules that no longer apply, so many of us are ripe for an experience of burnout. Maybe what I love the most about this concept is, by virtue of the theory itself, burnout implies that there was flame there to start with.
It’s less about creating a team that is resilient to burnout, and more about building a culture that allows people to find the original spark; the purpose in what they do. Passion always rides shotgun to purpose. The focus should be finding ways to get people back to the point of feeling ignited about the work they do.
“Your antidote to burnout is not necessarily less work. It could be more meaning.”
– Adam Grant
I will leave you with this fabulous Adam Grant quote to ponder on, because it is the sagest advice for anyone leading a team in this season. Because when we are acknowledged, we will rise.
