Élodie is a senior leader in a technology company. She has a young child and a husband who also works. She is particularly strong at two skill sets: leadership and collaborative problem solving. Because of this, she’s considered critical for major company initiatives.
What's her reward for being such a high performer?
- Stressful goals: Because she’s done so well in the past, she often receives the most complex and risky goals after others have failed.
- Meeting mania: Because she is seen as an essential part of the team and can often solve even the thorniest of issues, her days are filled with back-to-back meetings, which requires her to get work done at night and on weekends.
- Under-mentored: Because her organization focuses on fixing and improving "squeaky wheels," Élodie feels under-mentored by her leaders. Since she doesn’t cause problems, her needs are not met.
- Return-to-office pressure: Éodie's company is encouraging all of its workers to return to in-person work. Because she's "high profile," Élodie has a higher expectation to work from the office, resulting in less flexibility.
On top of that, leadership is becoming harder. Skill gaps, decreasing loyalty, worsening volatility, and higher worker expectations have increased the burden on leaders to the point where leaders are burning out at significantly higher levels. After battling burnout for months, Élodie quit, despite her company taking all the standard measures to retain talent. So why aren’t current attempts working?
Read the full article in the Harvard Business Review.
