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September 13, 2024 14 mins

The episode delves into the pivotal role of leadership in shaping workforce well-being and driving organizational performance, following a prior discussion on workplace loneliness and sadness. It highlights that managers, despite experiencing higher engagement and a sense of thriving, also face increased stress and emotional strain due to their responsibilities. While leaders enjoy greater financial rewards and social status, they must balance their own needs with those of their employees, serving as emotional anchors and providing necessary support. Empathy is essential for effective leadership, but excessive emotional involvement can lead to burnout, underscoring the necessity for leaders to prioritize their own well-being. Organizations should provide mental health resources, encourage breaks, and foster a culture of vulnerability to emotionally support their leaders.

The episode emphasizes the significance of leaders recognizing their impact on organizational culture and employee engagement. Organizations with engaged leaders, who set clear goals, provide constructive feedback, and ensure accountability, typically see higher levels of employee engagement. However, contemporary challenges such as remote work, technological advancements, and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to declines in engagement and well-being. Today’s leaders are experiencing lower satisfaction levels, which negatively impact organizational culture and employee retention. Effective leadership demands genuine commitment and visibility, going beyond superficial check-ins. Engaged leaders play a crucial role in enhancing overall employee engagement, which in turn contributes to improved customer service, productivity, and financial outcomes. The episode encourages leaders to take responsibility for fostering growth within their teams, engage in meaningful feedback, and share successful engagement stories to inspire others.

In this episode, the critical influence of leadership on workforce well-being and organizational performance is explored, building on a previous discussion about workplace loneliness and sadness. It reveals that while managers often experience higher engagement and a sense of thriving, they also face increased stress and emotional strain due to their responsibilities. Despite enjoying greater financial rewards and social status, leaders must balance their own needs with those of their employees, acting as emotional anchors and providing necessary support. Empathy is vital for effective leadership, but too much emotional involvement can lead to burnout, highlighting the need for leaders to prioritize their own well-being. Organizations should offer mental health resources, promote breaks, and foster a culture of vulnerability to emotionally support their leaders.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, and welcome back. In the last episode, we talked about the state of the workforce results,
and it wasn't very bright.
Stating that people were feeling more lonely and sad than ever before in the workplace.
In this episode, we're gonna be focusing on the leadership of organizations and see what this
report has to say about them.

(00:22):
Also, we're gonna take a close look at the role of leaders and managers in the workforce and
the impact it has on the workers' well-being and overall organizational performance.
This is Tim Staton with Tim Staton the obvious.
What is this podcast about? It's simple.
You are entitled to great leadership everywhere you go, whether it's a church, whether it's

(00:46):
to work, whether it's at your house, you are entitled to great leadership.
And so, in this podcast, we take leadership principles and theories and turn them into everyday relatable and usable advice.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
And a quick disclaimer. This show process or service by trademark, trademark manufacturer, otherwise
does not necessarily constitute or implied endorsement of anyone that I employed by or favors in the representation.
The views are expressed here in my

Speaker 1 (01:08):
show are my own expressed and do not necessarily state or reflect those of anywhere. Guess what?
Managers are about 18% more engaged and 40% reported that they are thriving in life.
They also report that they are more stressed, angry, sad, lonely, and worry more than non managers.
But this makes sense to me.
I mean, leadership and managers of organizations typically make more financially compared to

(01:32):
non managers, so their social status and quality of life is a a little bit higher.
When they contribute at work, they feel like their opinions matter and become more connected
to the organization because they have that meaningful interaction and exchange of words, the
back and forth of everything.
And, you know, when they say something, they feel like it is heard because it is.

(01:54):
Because they are the leaders and the managers of the organization.
Leaders often rely on each other in the organization for support and help, and this aids in
being a sense of belonging and a more sense of human connectedness.
And this can contribute to the thriving engagement reporting.
However, the flip side of these roles is that leaders often find themselves under great emotional strain.

(02:17):
Even though higher pay and leadership titles come with the prestige, but they also come with
a significantly heightened responsibilities, demands, and performance, and expectations of them.
Leaders, particularly empathetic ones, face the constant pressure to meet not only their own
goals, but the goals of the organization that they serve and their team.

(02:39):
This can lead to increased feeling of stress, anger, sadness, loneliness, and worry.
The nature of leadership often involves separating one's personal needs from the needs of the
employees in the in the organization.
There's a delicate balancing act that can be emotionally taxing on people.
Great leaders are not only just decision makers.

(03:00):
They're also emotional anchors for their teams.
They can provide critical support.
They offer guidance and help employees access the appropriate resources when they need assistance.
But this role, as the emotional backbone of an organization, can take a significant toll on
a leader's own mental and emotional health.
Leaders frequently take on emotional burdens of their team members practicing empathy in an

(03:24):
effort to understand and support them.
However, when leaders slip into sympathy, absorbing the emotional pain of others rather than
maintaining a healthy level of detachment, they risk becoming emotionally overwhelmed themselves.
While empathy is a crucial trait for effective leadership, an excessive emotional load can lead
to burnout, exhaustion, and diminished capacity to lead effectively.

(03:47):
What often gets overlooked in discussion of leadership is that leaders too are human beings with emotional needs.
The constant focus on well-being of others can sometimes lead to neglect of their own well-being.
Leaders must not only provide the emotional and professional needs of their Tim, but also find
the time to tend to their own mental and emotional health.

(04:08):
Ignoring this self care can have long term consequences for both the leader and the organization as a whole.
It is essential that organizations recognize the emotional demands placed on leaders and provide
the necessary support systems to ensure their well-being.
This can this can include offering mental health resources, encouraging leaders to take breaks,

(04:29):
fostering peer support among leadership, and promoting an organizational culture where leaders
are not afraid to express vulnerability.
Now this can be very, very tricky to do.
If people you feel like they they can't be vulnerable at work and I would say most people feel
like they cannot be vulnerable at work.
This is something that we all need to work on.

(04:50):
People need to be okay and to feel like they're supported enough if they have the gumption that,
you know, intestinal fortitude to come forward, say, hey, boss.
I'm struggling with x, y, and z. I need help. Or hey, boss.
I'm I need help with x, y, and z. Or hey, boss.
I need these these assistive devices to help me do my job better.

(05:13):
I know I don't wanna admit or let you know that I have something cognitively that, I struggle
with, but these assistive devices help me do better.
So that right there is an ability to allow that person to be vulnerable enough to admit that
so then you can provide the resources that they need. And that's hard.
And even amongst leaders, we don't want to admit weakness to each other.

(05:35):
But sometimes, we need to.
Sometimes, we need to be like, hey. Look.
I need help with this one area. I'm struggling with it.
I don't know what I don't know how to figure this out. Or, hey.
I'm struggling with x, y, and z.
Can you help me out with it?
So it's very important to lean on each other.
Leaders should not be expected to shoulder the emotional burdens of their teams alone.
And creating a culture that values emotional well-being at every level can lead to healthier and more resilient organizations.

(06:00):
And it's great that we're talking about all this, you know, touchy feely stuff, and I know some
people are like, oh, this is very emotional. This is very sentimental.
This is very pie in the sky type stuff.
There's nothing really concrete that we're talking about in the last two episodes other than people's feelings.
However, it's important to recognize that we are all people.
We're all connected, and we're all people.

(06:22):
But what does that really mean, and how does it correlate to the workplace?
Well, let me just say that there's a direct correlation, people who experience a lot of, daily
enjoyment, and it's associated with people who have higher engagement in the workforce.
This suggests that a job, when it is good, meaningful, and interesting, adds something positive

(06:43):
to a person's life, and that's significant.
And we're gonna talk about here in just a second how you as leaders have a direct impact on that.
Now with employee engagement being around 33% North America, which is higher than the other
engagement groups around the world, this study found that leaders and managers have a profound
effect on increasing this number even higher.

(07:03):
When a leader is engaged in the workplace, studies found that employee engagement can be raised to around 70%.
This means that for every 14 engaged employees, there is only one actively engaged employee,
which is 11 times higher than the average.
The hope is that leaders and managers are more engaged in the workplace.

(07:25):
Then this means that they can profoundly increase employees engagement of their organization.
Meaning, if you as a leader, you're more engaged in the workforce.
Your workers are gonna be more engaged in the workforce, and your engagement levels are going
to go through the roof, which means you're gonna have better customer service, better productivity,
better goals, better objectives, and overall, more money for your organization. That's how this works.

(07:49):
But if you're like, I don't know how to do that.
Well, leaders, we can help drive engagement up through a myriad of ways. We can goal set.
We can set key objectives and milestones coupled with regular and meaningful feedback sessions.
And let's not forget that we have to hold people accountable, which is key.
We have to hold our teams accountable, and we have to hold ourselves accountable.
Today's workforce has been marred by widespread disruptions, which include, you know, declines

(08:14):
in employee engagement, decline in well-being, record number of turnover and hiring rates, and
an unprecedented increase in hybrid workforce.
We've never been more in the workplace and out of the workplace or more remote than we've ever
been before because of increase in technology and the ability to do so.
Also, COVID kind of brought a little light on, like, do I really need to be in the workplace

(08:37):
or can I work remotely?
And businesses capitalize on that.
Like, oh, I don't have to pay as much overhead because people can just work from home.
And ultimately, it's the leader's job to bring stability to disruption and lead their teams into the future.
These responsibilities have never been more demanding than before.
You know, as a result, leaders' own employee engagement and overall satisfaction has substantially

(09:01):
declined, and their intent to leave has also increased.
So what we're finding is that people in employee engagement is it's still on decline.
Leaders are not as engaged as they used to be, and they're not satisfied as they used to be.
And their intent to leave from one company to go to another thinking it's gonna be better somewhere else, well, guess what? You're the leader.

(09:22):
You're responsible for the culture of your organization.
You are generating what's around you.
You are completely responsible for that. That.
And I'm gonna argue that it's because leaders and managers at various levels are not as engaged as they could be.
The organizations that are getting it right, those have higher engagement levels and retention
rates higher than those that aren't.
I mean, let's face it.

(09:42):
As a leader, if you're a 100% telework and your team is 80 20, so 80% home, 20% in the office, or 75, 25.
Right? 75% home, 25% in the office, or even 60, 40, or 40 6.
You as a leader are not as engaged as you could be, and the appearance is that you're not as
engaged as you should be because you're not there when they are.

(10:03):
And your team is feeling it, and that's why your culture is eroding, and that's why people are leaving.
You know, calling people to check-in on them or doing a Slack or Tim chat to get a status update,
you know, isn't really cutting it.
People need real human action and know that you have more skin in the game than they do.
They need to feel like their leaders care more about things than they do, and that drives them to care more.

(10:27):
Because why should they get paid less to do more and perform higher when you aren't even holding
up your end of the bargain as a leader either?
You're not willing to do it.
You're not willing to work more for higher pay.
So that's just food for thought.
So as we kind of wrap up this episode, I want to leave you with this in mind.
The studies and the numbers show that leaders are better off and thriving more than non leaders. That's just a fact.

(10:50):
And, yes, we all want higher engagement at work, but we're not willing to put the work and the
effort into it to get people to be more engaged.
And that's what the numbers show.
The numbers show that we complain about employee engagement and we wanna know how to do it,
and we spend a whole bunch of money about going about doing it.
But when the simple fact is is if you just have better leaders that are more engaged in the

(11:11):
workplace, you have people who care more about other people in the workplace than they do about
anything else, then your people are gonna be more engaged.
So I'm gonna offer this up to you.
What are you willing to do as a leader to have a profound impact on your organization?
What goals are you gonna set?
What milestones and objectives are you gonna set to hold yourself accountable and your teams accountable?

(11:32):
And are you even having meaningful feedback sessions with your team, with your people, with your organization?
That way, you can hold yourself and them accountable for what they say they're going to do.
And these are simple things. Right? Everything sounds simple.
But application of this is incredibly hard because it apply implies effort.
You know, I'm reminded of of something that happened just recently the last 2 weeks, and I've

(11:56):
been meaning to do something, and it's been on my mind about it.
And then I know I needed to do it.
I've been putting it off, and I was putting it off because I'm putting everything else more important.
And then we had a difficult conversation that needed to be had.
However, had I not provided that meaningful impact fee that meaningful feedback to somebody
on the positive and the negatives, then there would be no improvement.

(12:16):
There would be no growth.
And then either things are gonna continue to go the way they're going or things are gonna continue
to get worse, and it's only going to escalate until it explodes, which is good for nobody.
So if you're a leader, you gotta think about it.
Are you really doing the things that you need to do and putting in the work and putting in the
effort and showing people that you have more skin in the game than they do?
Or are you gonna continue to complain that you're not getting as much engagement as you want

(12:41):
and it's everybody else's fault and not look at the mirror?
Simple things, just as showing up is important.
Simple things, just as talking to people, is important.
Simple things as looking at something that somebody's working on and providing real time feedback
is important, and not just criticism, but real feedback.
So I want you to think about that.
And then the other thing is, is that if you're a leader out there and you hear this and you know what?

(13:02):
I'm actually doing it right.
I'm knocking out of the park.
Why don't you share your story?
You can do that a couple of ways.
You can either go on our Facebook group and, type in Tim Staton the Obvious and share your story
there, or you can go to Tim and send me an email.
Send me your story, and I'll highlight that on on a future episode.
Every story that you send me, I will highlight who it is, where they're from, and the story

(13:24):
of how they're knocking it out of the park.
So that way, you can then glean some, you know, nuggets of gold from that and make you know what? I could replicate that. I could do that.
Let me see if that's gonna work in my organization.
So I just kinda wanna leave that there with you as we as we wrap up this episode.
As always, thank you for stopping by and listening to this episode, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Before we go, I'd like to ask a favor for you if I could.

(13:46):
If you could please share this episode with 1 or 2 people who you think might like this topic.
If you haven't followed or subscribed this episode or whatever platform you're listening to
it on and hit all the bells and the whistles and the icons, please do that so that way you know
when we get, we release another episode.
I don't want to waste your time with you coming back and looking for it.
Every other week, we release an episode.
If you got some value out of this episode, please leave a review or a comment so we can help

(14:09):
spread the show with other people who might be interested in the topic, but just haven't found our show yet.
Again, thanks for stopping by.
I'm Tim Staton, Dayton the Obvious.
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