Burnout is Impacting 80% of Employees, and More are on the Way.

Why is this?

Vicious Cycles in Business.

For the past couple of days, I've been discussing Cycles in Leadership.

The First Article broke Cycles in Leadership into Two Main Categories.

Vicious Cycles.

Like a Whirlpool, Pulling you into the Abyss.

Virtuous Cycles.

Like a Staircase, Ascending to the Pearly Gates.

Now, it would seem Obvious that We should Seek to Avoid or Break Vicious Cycles while Seeking to Create or Find Virtuous Cycles.

This is the Goal Anyhow.

Yesterday, I went into the Tips (and Secrets) to Building Virtuous Cycles as a Leader.

For today, we are going to dive into Vicious Cycles.

As I mentioned at the start, Burnout is Impacting 80% of Employees.

Burnout is the Result of being at the "Worst" End of a Vicious Cycle.

In fact, in some Organizations Burnout has been the "Literal" Cause of Death of Employees.

Stated by Doctors.

For Employees in their 20's.

When I talk about the "Abyss" of an Organization's Vicious Cycles, this is what I am referring to.

Most People Do Not Hope to Die or Become Horribly Sick...

"Especially" Not in their 20's...

"Especially" Not because of Work.

Which led to someone asking me a Wonderful Question.

Is there a way Out of Such A Scenario?

How can One Escape An Organization's Vicious Cycles into the Abyss?

Vicious Cycles are Extremely Prevalent in Business Today.

You "Will" Find Yourself Around Them.

If not "In" Them, then Interacting with Them.

So if the Goal is to be in a Virtuous Cycle, what can you do when you Inevitably Encounter Vicious Cycles?

Well, there are 3 Main Strategies you can use to Liberate and Protect Yourself.

The First is Quite Simple.

When you see a Vicious Cycle, especially a Deeply Entrenched One...

Run.

Get Out.

Do Not Look Back.

Leave.

We are seeing this Play Out in the Tech Industry Right Now.

So many Organizations' Leaders have created such Deeply Entrenched Vicious Cycles that Employees are Done.

Tech Workers are Fleeing the Industry.

Silicon Valley is Losing its Monopoly on Talent.

Part of this has been caused by Extreme Layoffs.

All Layoffs are a Sign of Leadership Failure.

Another Part has to do with the Extremely Ill-Advised Return-To-Office "Mandates" that have Failed, Been Ignored, and Created More Problems.

Employees, En Masse, are Leaving the Tech Industry.

Especially Top Talent.

This is also a part of what is Sparking the Latest Entrepreneurial Boom.

Why be in an Organization's or Industry's Vicious Cycle, when You Can Do Better?

I have Been this Person.

It's Why I Say I No Longer "Do" Leadership Development.

It's a Vicious Cycle.

Where Leaders are not Born, and Organizations Waste Billions of Dollars Yearly.

I said No More.

I also Work with Entrepreneurs like this.

Indeed, they "Have" Done Better, while also living Significantly Better Lives.

Now, this leads us to the Next Two Strategies.

We must face a Truth.

Not Everyone "Can" Escape.

I Understand.

Debts are Higher than Ever.

Bills "Must" be Paid.

Families "Depend" on Income.

Many Organizations are "Not" Hiring.

Entrepreneurship "Can" be a Major Risk Some Are Not Ready, or Able, to Make.

These are all Factors of being Human.

If this is Where you Currently Are, it is Alright.

It is Okay to be Human.

Accept your Current Circumstances, and work toward a Different Future.

These Two Strategies are Still at Your Disposal.

The Second Strategy is the Easier Option.

Quiet Quit.

Do the Minimum.

Maintain Your Job.

Keep Your Head Low.

The Goal of this Strategy is to Develop "Your" Own Virtuous Cycles, while Avoiding the Vicious Cycles of the Organization You're Currently At.

The Vicious Cycles you are Stuck in, due to whatever Circumstances, are like Negative Points.

The Virtuous Cycles you Create are like Positive Points.

The Goal is to Create "More" Positive Points than Negative Points.

So, Establish Boundaries around your Work.

Avoid Situations that will Drag you toward the Abyss.

Focus on Improving your Health, and overcoming Your Own Burnout.

The Goal is "Not" to "Attack" The Organization - that's a Recipe to Lose, and Potentially Catastrophically.

There is a Secondary Goal here to make Yourself "More" Valuable so that, Eventually, you "Can" Escape the Vicious Cycles at the current Organization.

So, let's say as an Example, you "Must" Work at an Organization due to Bills.

But, can you Upskill Yourself in Your Free Time?

Whether it is going back to School, getting a Certification, learning from YouTube, or anything else.

How can you Create Your Own Virtuous Cycles?

There "Is" a Downside to this Strategy.

You will be Overlooked for Promotions.

You will likely Never be Your Boss's Favorite.

Your Earning Potential at "This" Organization may be Capped.

But at Least it Will Not be Killing You.

If, however, this does Not sound Appealing, there is the Third Strategy.

Change the Vicious Cycle into a Virtuous Cycle.

Now, this is "The" Hardest Strategy.

In some Circumstances, it is "Not" Possible.

However, when it "Is" Accomplished, it is Amazing.

In yesterday's Article I discussed the Basic Two Tips to Create Virtuous Cycles.

Identify the Vicious Cycles, find the Root of the Stress Chain, and Demolish It.

Then, Focus on Psychophysiology First.

These Tips Apply Here...

But for Best Effect, You Must Take It Further.

It is Not Enough to do this Alone within an Organization, especially if the Vicious Cycles are Deeply Entrenched.

A Single Person Working Against the Whirlpool is Not Enough.

You Need Partners.

The More Partners you have, the Faster you Overcome the Vicious Cycles.

Start where you are.

Usually, "You" are Not the Only Person that Sees the Problems.

Identify Who Else Sees The Problems.

See If They Want to Work "With" You to Break the Vicious Cycles.

Get to Work.

This will be "Extremely" Difficult.

Especially at the Beginning.

But if you Do It Successfully, something will Change.

You and Your Partner(s) will Start to Create a Virtuous Cycle "Out" of the Whirlpool.

Others will "See" that.

They will "Want" that.

People are "Desperate" to Escape the Abyss.

When they Find a "Viable" Solution for Escape, they Take It.

If you Accomplish it on Your Team, then You can Spread it to Other Teams.

Find New Partners.

Show More Teams the Way Out.

Keep Doing It and it Impacts the Organization.

In my First Coporate Job, I was actually witness and a part of All 3 of these Strategies.

Our Team started as 3 People, without a Supervisor, and I had "Just" Started.

In the First Week of my new job, there was an All Hands Meeting.

The CFO got on Stage, in front of "Everyone" and talked about how Our Team "Literally" gave him Nightmares.

It set the Entire Company against our Team, like "We" were the Singular Problem.

Can you Imagine?

Toxicity at its Finest.

However, it was my First Corporate Job.

I had Struggled for 3 Months to get "Any" Job.

Thousands of Applications.

Daily Interviews.

No other Opportunities.

I had to pay Bills - Apartment, Car, Student Loans.

I couldn't Leave.

Luckily, the Company decided to Hire Someone "Very" soon after me.

They became my Boss.

They were the Type of Person who went Straight to Strategy 3.

Was the Company Stuck in Vicious Cycles?

Absolutely.

But there was Hope, especially since the Company was a "Relatively" Small Tech Company.

I Quickly became my New Boss's Right Hand Man in using Strategy 3.

It got to the point where people said he was the "Chocolate Father" and I was the "Vanilla Son" (Not sure if that is "HR Friendly" these days, but we enjoyed it at the time).

We Fixed our own Vicious Cycles.

We Improved the Skills of Everyone on our Team.

We Identified where our Problems were coming from - and they were "Not" our Fault.

We began to Identify that Upstream Problems in the Processes had caused Downstream Problems for the Company.

But did we "Attack" the Teams that Caused the Upstream Problems?

No.

Instead, we Worked "With" those Other Teams.

We Identified Others who wanted to Create Virtuous Cycles.

Our Team was brought into Other Team's Meetings to Help Them.

It Ignited Change across the Entire Organization.

Everyone Knew Us, and Everyone Knew We Could Help.

Things Improved.

Significantly.

So much so that the Private Equity Firm that Owned our Company was able to Purchase our Largest Rival.

The Private Equity Firm then did what they do.

They Merged Us with our Largest Competitor.

Great Move on Paper.

Horrible Move on Personnel and Culture.

"Our" Vicious Cycles looked like a Joke compared to our Competitor's Vicious Cycles.

We Tried our Strategy to Dismantle Vicious Cycles.

All of our Teams Attempted to.

But to No Use.

The Private Equity Firm decided to put the Competitor's Leadership in Charge Fairly Quickly.

Their First Move?

Layoff Most of our Company.

Our Entire Team, and a few Individuals from other Teams, were kept on to "Teach" the people who would Replace Us.

Not a Great Situation "Knowing" You're going to Lose Your Job in a few Months.

What made it worse was that we "Tried" to Teach, and we were Never Listened to.

Our "Replacements" made Extremely Easy Mistakes that we warned them Not to Make.

They caused a Lot of Problems for Clients.

I had people from other Teams, and some Clients, calling me, asking me What We Were Doing?

I told them the Situation - We were Trying, but No One was Listening.

My Boss got fed up with it and tried to speak to Upper Management about the Problems.

They Fired Him.

I knew at that Moment, there was "Nothing" I could do to Change the Organization.

It was Too Deep in the Vicious Cycles.

So I went to Strategy 2.

I kept to myself.

Answered Questions when asked.

Did what was given to me (which wasn't much).

Worked on Certifications to Improve Myself.

Maintained my own Virtuous Cycles, while the Company Spiraled Downward around me.

I kept my Job so I could get my Severance.

Then, after my Time was Up, I took my Severance and Left the Industry.

Went into Strategy 1.

I began to Build my own Company.

I saw the Horrible Leadership Problems that Played Out.

I saw the Mistakes.

I saw the Pain they Caused.

I wanted to Do Something About It.

It took awhile to Discover "What" Needed to be Done.

Many Years of Challenges Working to Grow my Client Base, Help them Become Successful, and Uncovering the Problems with the Industry that I Entered.

But I'm glad that I did.

I've had a Much Better Career and Life since I began my own Business and Focused on Creating Virtuous Cycles with Clients.

It has been so Rewarding Seeing People Escape from the Vicious Cycles that were "Literally" Killing Them.

I wouldn't have it Any Other Way.

The Joy of Escaping an Organization's Vicious Cycles Into the Abyss are only Surpassed by Creating Virtuous Cycles.

If you Find Yourself gettting Pulled into an Organization's Vicious Cyles toward the Abyss, this is your call.

Liberate and Protect Yourself.

Enact One of the Three Strategies.

Begin to Create Your Own Virtuous Cycles.

Escaping An Organization's Vicious Cycles Into The Abyss

The 3 Strategies To Liberate And Protect Yourself

What will you write today?