Dr. Vince Molinaro, CEO of Leadership Contract Inc., is a NY Times best-selling author, board adviser & leadership accountability expert.
Take a moment to consider your leadership role and ask yourself, “Am I feeling overwhelmed, overloaded or overworked?”
If you are like most of the leaders my team and I work with daily, the answer is yes. Leaders everywhere tell us they feel they are leading on empty, and the research paints a clear picture of this reality.
For example, 68% of workers report moderate, high or unsustainable stress levels, and about six in ten managers feel more overwhelmed by their responsibilities than they did a year ago.
Organizations face multiple strategic challenges at once.
While researching for my last book, I found that organizations are facing several strategic challenges at once. Many organizations are undergoing significant transformations. Some are completely changing their business models. And others are driving hypergrowth or improving mediocre performance.
If this wasn’t enough, the current geopolitical climate is just adding to the heightened sense of stress and anxiety that we are all facing.
What’s different about today’s leadership challenges isn’t just the work volume—it’s the degree of complexity we all face. Nearly two-thirds of professionals globally feel overwhelmed by how quickly work is changing, and a survey published last year found 54% of CEOs expected leadership to become even more challenging in the coming year.
In times like these, we must remember that our job as leaders is still to lead, regardless of the context in which we lead. Research reveals that when leaders are overwhelmed, 73% report not getting the support they need. In turn, this just serves to amplify the challenges that leaders face.
How can leaders manage overwhelm?
So, how can we do better? We can apply some of the concepts from my book, The Leadership Contract, to help with managing overwhelm while maintaining your effectiveness as a leader.
1. Recommit to your leadership role.
The first step in managing overwhelm is recommitting to your leadership role with clear eyes and full awareness. It means asking yourself: Am I all in? Are you fully committed to leading at this critical time?
Here are practical strategies to help you recommit to your role:
• Conduct a quarterly “Leadership Audit” where you assess your energy, impact and commitment level. Don’t wait until you feel burnt out. Regularly evaluate yourself and your capacity to lead.
• Develop a clear sense of the kind of leader you want to be, and revisit this often so it inspires you day-to-day and guides your decisions.
• Schedule regular “strategic pauses” to ensure you’re leading, not just reacting to the daily chaos you are experiencing.
2. Focus on your primary obligations.
Returning to your core leadership obligation can provide clarity when everything feels out of control. This is important because studies indicate that 53% of leaders become more closed-minded under pressure. When we become close-minded, we are essentially less effective as leaders. Combat this by focusing on your primary leadership obligations.
Here are some ideas to consider:
• Remember that leadership obligation isn’t to do everything—it’s to ensure the right things get done through effective leadership.
• Make talent development and growth non-negotiable. In times of uncertainty, people need new ways of thinking and new skills. Focus on helping your team develop so they can work through the challenges they face.
• Model sustainable high performance and personal well-being. Your team will take their cues from you. If you manage challenges with confidence and a sense of calmness, they will likely also do it.
3. Take small steps toward building resilience.
Leadership always involves hard work, but this gets amplified during times of uncertainty and ambiguity. The challenge isn’t about working harder; it’s about building resilience and resolve. Recent research shows that leadership burnout can be mitigated through structured recovery experiences. Focus on consistent actions that drive progress over perfection and lead to meaningful impact through small incremental actions.
Here are some strategies to consider:
• Monitor the tasks and activities that fuel your energy and those that drain it so you can better understand when you are performing at your best.
• Implement regular rituals at a personal and team level that serve to inspire and reignite energy.
• Develop the ability to reframe how you see your challenges. I’ve learned that no matter how difficult a circumstance may be, there is always an opportunity to explore and exploit. Learn to see opportunities amid ambiguity.
4. Fight isolation with connection.
Leading can be an isolating experience. Unfortunately, this only makes dealing with leadership overwhelm that much harder. The antidote to isolation is community. Building strong leadership communities isn’t about support—it’s about building credibility and trust that focus on strong working relationships.
Consider the following ideas:
• Create a personal advisory board of four to five trusted people who can offer you perspective.
• Form a leadership cohort at work that meets regularly to discuss challenges and provide mutual support.
• Schedule regular “connection points” with other leaders that you work with in other departments and functions across your organization.
Combat overwhelm with clarity, commitment and confidence
I think the future belongs to the leaders who can navigate complexity and ambiguity without burning out. By recommitting to these four terms of the leadership contract, you’re not just managing to overwhelm—you’re creating a sustainable model of leadership that works for you, your team and your organization.
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