The buzz of our current climate is the Great Resignation. According to today’s special guest, Mike Sipple, burnout that led to the Great Resignation is only a symptom of the real issue at hand – the Great Realization. In today’s episode, James and Mike discuss the Great Realization, how we got here, and most importantly, how do we get out of it?
The Great Resignation
According to Mike, Student enrollment in the U.S. is down 11% since 2011, and freshman enrollment dropped 13% in the last 18-24 months. In the last two years, we’ve lost 2.4 million women in the workplace. We’re also losing boomers in the workplace as they’ve transitioned into retirement in the last few years. The upper side of the millennial generation has hit that point in their career where they’re looking for a change, looking to pivot.
Trends of these things were already there; the pandemic just accelerated the speed at which it happened. People don’t want to go back to normal – there was a lot about normal that wasn’t okay in the workplace. When the pandemic first happened, there was a shift that sparked the way we work and the way we think. The great resignation is a symptom of people asking themselves, “what’s really important to me?”
When the Workplace Never Changes
Here we are amidst a shakeup, and companies are still approaching things the way they always did. Everyone is answering the problem the same way they always have, and that’s not going to work.
People are your greatest asset. No organization – small business, new business, nonprofit – gets anything done without humans. The problem lies in that our world, our workplace, has not been designed with that sentiment. There’s a dramatic uptick in mental health issues. It was bad before – now it’s significantly worse.
Take a step back and look at what’s missing. What are the things that you have responsibility for? What are the measures that leaders can take to start leading differently?
It’s not about sympathy or empathy; it’s a lack of compassion.
Avoiding Burnout
Compassion says: I hear you, I understand, I care enough, and I am here to help. We’re missing that understanding, as well as a willingness to help the humans around you. Making leadership 1:1 versus assuming everything you do will be a good fit for everyone.
Develop the humans around you, take a proactive approach, bring out their greatest good while they’re with you. Optimize those that work with you while they’re with you. That is how you bypass burnout. Don’t do exit interviews, do stay interviews. You need the humans around you to believe in what they do, to experience growth and satisfaction, to desire, and yet strategic planning is still done in a vacuum.
