Stopping leadership burnout before it starts with skills-focused training

Helping your leaders thrive in challenging times

Across many industries, times are tough. Budget cuts, restructurings and mounting responsibilities are making the roles of many managers increasingly difficult. All too often, the final result is leader burnout that leaves teams – and entire organizations – adrift.

Burnout is more than a byword for having too much to do. It’s actually a complex form of stress with many symptoms. Motivation vanishes, people stop caring about their work, and feelings of resentment and hopelessness set in. The effects can even compromise the immune system and leave people more prone to illness. By the time the process has run its course, sufferers can find themselves in the middle of a mental and emotional collapse that requires urgent care.

The impact doesn’t stop with one person, either. It creates a ripple effect that harms morale and productivity. When a leader is absent, their people will likely feel lost and overwhelmed from trying to take on their work and navigate a confusing situation. Ultimately, it can hurt the bottom line of the entire team and organization.

There’s no need to panic, though. Stress and leadership is a serious matter, but HR and people leaders can help prevent the problem before it starts. Improving well-being, engagement and retention through skills training can help. When done right, it provides managers what they need to safeguard their mental and physical health, as well as that of their teams and organizations as a whole.

“Managing teams in flourishing times is challenging enough. When you add difficult situations and organizational challenges, it’s a very tall ask for management, especially for those middle managers that are gluing different layers of the organization together…HR and L&D have to make sure they upskill managers with the skills that we ask them to demonstrate.”

– Michelle Norwood, CPTD , Learning and Development Manager, Frontier Economics

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Keep management burnout under control by avoiding quick fixes

According to Personnel Today, 75% of middle managers have experienced burnout. But for too long, quick fixes – like promoting resilience and a bounce-back mindset – have been seen as an acceptable response. A serious problem like stress management and leadership requires more than a few words of encouragement and a motivational poster, though. 

HR and people professionals should recognize the seriousness of the issue and avoid simply telling people to tough it out. Real solutions require equipping leaders with the skills needed to excel and keep management stress under control. Though this requires long-term thinking and planning, the payoff is big: Less turnover, greater stability and stronger teams. 

“If leaders and their teams are consistently expected to demonstrate resilience, it's not enough to simply encourage employees to "get through." Instead, when challenges arise, first ask yourself if resilience is really the answer or if it is putting undue pressure on employees to cope with challenges that could be removed or reduced in the first place.” René Janssen, Founder & CEO of Lepaya

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The classic signs of leadership fatigue

Chances are, you know someone who was promoted to a leadership role without any training or support. In fact, a recent study in France found that this phenomenon accounts for a third of managers. Typically, they start to struggle and experience the classic signs of leadership burnout:

• They feel overwhelmed, as if they’re drowning in work and responsibilities.
• They become filled with doubt and question their abilities.
• They start believing they just weren’t born with the talent needed to thrive in their role.

However, that’s not how leadership works. It’s a skill that requires effort to learn, not a magical gift bestowed upon a lucky few. To keep this cycle from repeating itself in your organization, establish a training program that turns great team members into qualified leaders. After all, when people are prepared for new roles and challenges, they’ll feel confident and capable. They’ll also be less at risk of experiencing middle manager burnout and even executive burnout.

Make skills a priority to prevent manager burnout

So, the right skills can help managers – and their leaders – cope with pressure and protect their overall well-being. But where do you start? Look at the numbers to get an idea. A recent Manager Sentiment Survey revealed some interesting statistics:

• 50% of managers would like to be trained in conflict resolution
• 37% want to focus on project management
• 32% hope to learn about delegation

To prevent manager and team member burnout, other skills can help as well: 

• Empowering mindset: Skills aren't enough on their own; self-awareness and an empowering mindset are crucial. It starts with cultivating an authentic presence that helps others feel comfortable and free to be themselves.
• Coaching: Transformational leaders create a sense of purpose and use it to inspire others. By acting as a coach for your people, you can support their well-being and help them adapt to change.
• Feedback: Knowing how to give and receive feedback is crucial for driving change. Transformative leaders acknowledge effort, offer specific critiques, and help team members see how feedback aligns with organizational goals.
• Facilitating open dialogue: Open dialogue is the foundation of a healthy and successful workplace. Transformative leaders encourage honest conversations about everything from stress to company goals. It all begins with active listening and providing ways to communicate, like meetings and open forums.
• Empathy and psychological safety: Transformational leaders make empathy and psychological safety a top priority. By building trust and actively listening, they ensure people feel heard and valued.

The benefits of these skills are clear. They’ll help your people handle disagreements and better manage their workloads as they guide themselves and their teams. When they know how to face bumps in the road and handle everyday obligations and demands, it’s easier to keep tension under control and avoid leadership fatigue.

These kinds of skills are also valuable at every level of a career, so see them as long-term investments in organizational and team success. Flesh out the training experience by focusing on other critical abilities, like giving feedback, having difficult conversations and effectively managing time. Though it takes commitment and effort, you’ll be creating leaders who don’t cave under pressure while building the solid foundation your organization needs.

“Managers are the glue that holds different layers of the organization together. They need to focus on active listening, building trust, and channeling feedback across all levels of the organization. Since managers have a multifaceted role, acting as connectors, enablers, messengers, and multipliers, they require additional support from HR."

 – Claire Sophia Rosenthal, Head of People Enablement & Community and Senior People Partner, Leapsome