Burnout and a Moment of Great Leadership

At this point in the pandemic, all of us are burned out or on our way to falling off the burnout cliff. I witnessed a conversation at work recently where leaders were discussing whether to assign certain nice-to-have (i.e., non-essential) tasks to employees in the last months of this calendar year. The ultimate decision was "absolutely not" because it has been a tough year. This choice showed incredible empathy and consideration for challenges we probably don't even know our staff is facing.

A quote from this HBR article really put importance of the "absolutely not" into perspective for me: "Resilient leaders make quick pivots and remain nimble. Empathetic leaders dial in to the needs of their employees and adjust to the moment. And human-centered leaders give their companies a fighting chance to flourish in the middle of a global pandemic."

Let's all choose to be the most resilient, empathetic, and human-centered leaders we can be by making the choice to meet our employees right where they are. They need this now more than ever.