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What is burnout?
McKinsey & CompanyBurnout is the feeling of depletion, cynicism, and emotional distance that results from a lack of impact or autonomy at work.
workplace
managing yourself
Mastering the art of the request
Rae Ringel, Harvard Business ReviewEven the most effective leaders recognise how much is outside of their control, but one thing we all have agency over is how we communicate with others. Clearly articulated requests, the kinds that elicit real responses, don’t come naturally to most of us. As it turns out, there’s an art to the request — whether...
workplace
Why we love to hate the middle manager
Isabel Berwick, Financial Times, 02 August 2023The Harvard Business Review once published a damning report about middle managers, saying that the very title “evokes mediocrity”. Was that fair? And what does it take to be a good middle manager? Host Isabel Berwick, the FT’s work and careers editor, discusses with Andrew Hill, the FT’s senior business writer and...
workplace
How to be direct without being rude
Yasmina Khelifi and Irina Cozma, Harvard Business ReviewTelling it like it is can be a big asset, especially for people leading teams. It’s best not to camouflage critical feedback, provide people with vague guidance, or set unclear expectations. Clearly communicating what you want and need from your people, and why, makes everything more efficient. The issue arises...
workplace
Overcoming your fear of giving tough feedback
Melody Wilding, Harvard Business ReviewA lack of constructive feedback is detrimental to your team, depriving them of mentorship and growth opportunities. And workplaces marked by poor communication and unclear expectations are breeding grounds for low trust and disengagement. Giving feedback is essential to being an effective leader. In this article,...
workplace
managing yourself
When you have to carry out a decision you disagree with
Art Markman, Harvard Business ReviewIf senior leaders in your organisation have made a decision you disagree with, how can you carry it out? To start, resist the temptation to communicate to your peers and supervisees that you’re not convinced this is the right way to go. Your job is to help your organisation succeed. You won’t be fulfilling that...
workplace
How to be a purpose-driven leader without burning out
Lisa Earle McLeod and Elizabeth Lotardo, Harvard Business ReviewThe idea of servant leadership — putting your team’s needs ahead of your own — brought us to a more compassionate, human-centred work environment. But in today’s environment, it’s a recipe for burnout. Instead, the authors suggest a more impact-driven philosophy called “noble-purpose leadership,” that ties leaders...
workplace
adaptive leadership
When your employee isn’t reaching their full potential
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Dorie Clark, Harvard Business ReviewIt can be frustrating to feel that your employees aren’t taking the initiative to do more with their talents. As their manager, you may even wonder if it’s a question of knowledge or willpower: Do they not understand what’s necessary to perform at their best? Or are they just unmotivated? In this article, the...
leadership communications
workplace
How to manage your team’s workload after layoffs
Dina Denham Smith and Frans van Loef, Harvard Business ReviewAll too often in the case of layoffs, the people who survive it are expected to pick up the work that their terminated colleagues left behind. Meanwhile, these layoff survivors are often struggling with survivor guilt, anxiety, and low morale. In short, after a layoff, more is being asked of people who have less to...
adaptive leadership
workplace
The four-day workweek: How to make it work in your organisation
Andrew Barnes, MIT SloanAs co-founder of 4 Day Week Global, Andrew Barnes has a front-row seat to the world’s largest experiment on the effects of scaling back the workweek.
It started with Barnes’s own New Zealand company, Perpetual Guardian when he wondered whether his staff members could do their jobs better if they worked the...
socio political environment
workplace