Just this last spring, Harvard Business Review published an article titled “Leading an Exhausted Workforce”. I absolutely loved this article. I loved that the author so blatantly calls out that we are still – yes still – exhausted. It’s what I see. It’s what I hear. On a regular basis. The acknowledgement and validation of this, was a breath of fresh air.
We know that the past few years have been hard. On all of us. For various reasons. Yet our next step – this next moment for businesses, is critical.
How we choose to step out of this exhaustion as leaders, and how we choose to lead our teams out of this exhaustion is vital for the success of individuals, of companies, and our communities.
About 15 years ago, I took a course years ago on business risk.
The instructor was brilliant. He was an avid mountain climber (think ropes, crossing cavernous glaciers and all that high intensity stuff). Here’s what he taught: the risk to one’s life is not the ascent. It’s not the long and arduous climb uphill to the summit. Rather, the risk lies in the descent. It’s the decent, and all the lackadaisical jubilation, combined with those overly fatigued muscles – that’s when the greatest risk to life and limb arises.
It’s during the decent that climbers need to be most vigilant. To be strong. That time they are at their weakest, is the exact time to apply extreme care.
It’s the same for leaders.
We are at a time of “Descent” and how we maneuver our next steps is critical to success. I want to stress that what is needed now is not necessarily more ‘Effort’. That is not where our vigilance or our strength will arise from. Rather, quite the opposite.
Our Vigilance and Strength will arise through Rest. Respite. And Recharging.
In the climbing world – this translates into slow, deliberate, steps.
There’s a pause point, just before the descent. That’s the critical point where we ask – what next? What now? It’s not a mad dash down the other side, no – a calculated step is needed.
A pause. This is the need I see right now.
Our capacity to pause and recenter – individually and collectively – will generate strategic insights, renew our reserves and strengthen us for our next steps in our corporate spaces. Our ability to lead our teams in this process – will lead us towards much greater connection and outcomes – and with it, all the joy and celebration that this brings: creativity, teamwork, stronger decisions, those improved retention numbers and much more.
As you continue your journey as a Leader, and as your organization ventures forth – below are some questions to guide those calculated next steps:
- How are you supporting your teams with the tools they need to pause and recenter?
- What actions are you taking to create the space needed to take your next “calculated step”?
- How do you strengthen the next set of upcoming leaders so they can build their inner reserves and capacity to lead in an inspiring and sustainable way?
May you and yours be well.
All the best,
Woodrie & The Team
