For several years, employees and managers have reported increasing levels of overwhelm at work. These levels spiked to unprecedented highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many articles and studies suggest a correlation between these levels of stress and the Great Resignation.
People in leadership roles report even higher levels of overwhelm than rank-and-file employees. In one Gartner survey, 70% of HR leaders said that managers in their organizations feel overwhelmed, and a 2022 Microsoft survey of 20,000 people in 11 countries found that 53% of managers report feeling burned out at work compared to 48% of employees.
When leaders are overwhelmed, organizations will struggle. No company can thrive and meet its long-term goals if leaders get overwhelmed, burn out, and leave. Here are five ways that leaders can manage feeling overwhelmed.
1. Pause
It may feel counterintuitive to suggest pausing in the midst of overwhelm, but the company will not come to a crashing halt if managers take some time to breathe. Pausing gives us time to reset our brains. Taking time to engage in deep breathing can help you turn off your “flight or fight” reflex. When you turn off the instinct to run or fight, you can look at your situation more objectively and take a proactive approach to managing your workload.
2. evaluate
When you’ve taken time to pause and reset your reactionary impulse, evaluate your situation. Is there anything you can do to alleviate some of the overwhelming feelings? Are there other factors at play in your feeling of overwhelm, such as hunger or exhaustion? If you take a longer break or focus on some new task for a while, will that help reset your sense of overwhelm? Sometimes all we need to do is manage our energy and physical needs to reset the feelings of overwhelm.
3. Pinpoint your overwhelm
If pausing and resting don’t help make feeling overwhelmed more manageable, try to pinpoint what kind of overwhelm you’re experiencing.
There are typically two types of overwhelm. The first is a temporary overwhelm defined by a high-stress period of intense work, such as a critical initiative or a busy season. If you can see the metaphorical “light at the end of the tunnel,” the overwhelm is likely temporary. In high-stress situations, prioritizing, looking for ways to delegate smaller tasks, and asking for help from colleagues can help alleviate some of the overwhelm.
The second type is chronic overwhelm, where leaders feel stuck in an endless cycle of “to-do” tasks that seem to have no end in sight. They may describe this state as one where work is pressing on them—where the weight of endless tasks bogs them down. Often, these leaders are on the edge of true burnout. While prioritizing, delegating, and asking for help may offer some relief, leaders suffering from chronic overwhelm may need more long-term support or a redefinition of their roles.
4. delegate
When managers and leaders have too much work left at the end of the day, it often indicates that the leader needs to delegate more work. Rather than viewing delegation as a failure of leadership, managers should consider that delegation is a critical way to develop team members. Look for those team members who would like to have more tasks or those who seem to have free time while others are working late. Learning to delegate is an important way to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
5. consider the long term
There are times when it’s clear that the overwhelm isn’t going to go away without major change. If pausing, managing workload and energy, and delegating more tasks do not help the overwhelm, it may be time to consider a new role, a career change, or even an extended break to reset and recharge. No position or role is worth pursuing if the price is long-term physical or mental damage. If overwhelm isn’t going away, consider that it may be time to shift to something new or something that allows you to integrate work into your life in a way that supports your overall wellbeing.
As organizations face new challenges around hybrid and remote work, potential economic downturns, and continuing labor shortages, leaders at all levels may feel more overwhelmed than ever. By learning to manage those circumstances more effectively now, leaders and their teams will be better positioned to face whatever comes next.
Self-check:
- When was the last time I felt overwhelmed? Was I able to manage through those feelings effectively?
- What is one way I can better manage overwhelm the next time it comes?
- What is one task I can delegate to someone on my team?
