I have been thinking a lot about lemons in the last few weeks, partly because this aromatic, shiny skinned fruit makes a perfect complement to a good cocktail.
One of my newly discovered hobbies is cocktail making. It has been a fun way to spend a Friday evening as a family in our kitchen, experimenting with ingredients and non-alcoholic versions for my sons.
It turns out cocktails require a lot of lemons. Some recipes called for lemon oleo-saccharum – Latin for “oil sugar” and made by mixing just the zest of lemons with sugar, allowing the sugar to extract the fragrant natural oils of the lemon over several hours to create a delicious syrup which has been used in punch-making since the 1800’s. Others have required the juice, zest or a simple slice.
As I take my new hobby very seriously, we have been using a lot of lemons! Poor unsuspecting lemons. Little do they know they will have their oils extracted, be zested, juiced and sliced in every possible way. And once I’ve squeezed everything I want from them, the majority of this versatile little citrus fruit will be discarded in the bin.
The other reason lemons have been on my mind is conversations with multiple groups of mid-level managers I have been coaching. The focus of our discussions has often turned to what is causing stress for them as leaders, and the pressures on both them and their teams.
“How much more can I squeeze these lemons?” one of them asked.
A consistent theme has been energy levels and how there is a continued and very real sense of fatigue. That this pandemic is a marathon disguised as a sprint, and it is taking its toll. There is a tiredness from work boundaries spilling into home life. There is a loss of motivation from having less to look forward to because of the ongoing uncertainty over summer vacation plans and possibilities. There is a real need to take a break and switch off from work.
Simultaneously, the expectation from organisations is to deliver more, to squeeze even more juice from the lemons.
Enthusiastic senior leaders seem to be continually calling for more: in 2020 we proved what we can achieve, let's do it again this year! A flurry of new ideas and strategies are being launched by those at the top, which are then inevitably passed down the organisation for mid-level managers to execute. Why is this happening? The consensus from those I am working with seems to be threefold: 1) because senior leaders are unable to travel they have more time on their hands to generate new initiatives, 2) they are likely to be at a life stage where they haven’t been as impacted by additional pressures such as home schooling or working from their bedroom floor and therefore don't fully understand their teams exhaustion, and 3) because senior leaders are feeling insecure about what to do in these complex, uncertain times they remain reactive, resorting to any sort of action and a constant state of busyness.
The Growing Divide: Energy vs Expectations
The divide between energy and expectations seems to be widening, leaving a gap that an exhausted group of mid-level managers and their teams are desperately trying to fill.
In “normal” pre-pandemic circumstances expectations are often already above energy levels in an organisation. This sits in what I call “the realm of possibility”, where that stretch can be positive on performance, helping to avoid bore out (if you are interested in the pressure performance or stress curve you can read more here).
When the pandemic first hit, for many people their energy increased despite the challenges, as a sense of community cohesion and adrenaline created a heroic sprint. At the same time, leader’s expectations stalled whilst there was uncertainty and a time lag as they recalibrated plans. What soon became apparent was that working from home is viable, and in many instances productivity actually increased.
Then the second waves engulfed us, with no time for recovery. Energy levels dropped with the realisation that the pandemic, and the associated implications on the way we live and work, was here to stay. Simultaneously, senior leaders seized the increased productivity and reacted to ongoing uncertainty by launching new projects and increasing expectations and demands on their teams.
Expectations are now well beyond the depleting energy levels. The poor lemon is being squeezed harder than ever when it is already running low on juice and the very real risk is people begin to suffer from burn out.
As I look ahead to the summer, a time when we all need to be taking a break, the reality I am seeing is another wave of change and further demands on the horizon, as more organisations plan some form of return to the office and a shift to hybrid working.
For leaders this is more than just another project or initiative. This will be an ongoing adjustment to understand and create ways of working that include and meet the needs of each individual in the team, as well as the expectations of the business. That is going to take a lot of juice, and we shouldn’t underestimate the levels of energy that will be required to make it happen.
If you are a senior leader, here are some things you should be paying attention to right now:
How are we managing our business while people take much needed breaks over the holidays, so they can fully switch off, recover and restore their energy?
How do I gauge and understand the energy levels of myself and of people in my team? What are my early warning systems to understand when people are tired and at risk of tipping into burn out? How can I listen to them and prioritise actions to change the way we work?
How can I create time and space to pause and reflect, to slow down and take a breath, both for myself and those in my team/ organisation?
What is needed in order for people to recover after a “sprint”(a period of higher expectations and stress)? How can I build that into the way we work and pace sprint with recovery?
How can I lower expectations, focusing and prioritising on what is most important and critical? How can I clearly communicate that throughout the organisation?
And finally, what kind of example am I setting and how I can I be a better role model?
When life gives you lemons, don’t automatically assume it is possible or right to go ahead and optimistically make lemonade. Leaders need to seriously consider their expectations and the energy levels in their teams before they detrimentally squeeze their people too hard.