As we wrote about in our Mental Health Month post last week, this time of year as so many of us find ourselves pushing at pace to meet year-end deadlines, the concept of pacing and prioritisation becomes increasingly critical to consider. Deadlines stack up and AI as an accelerant can mean more feels possible in a week/a month. We argue this is the time to pay as much attention to pace as to direction, level setting for year-end sustainability in addition to planning for the following year.
This MIT Sloan Management Review article written by Jim Detert and Rahul Bhandari, posted by the incredible Professor Amy Edmondson this week offers a potent reminder of the shadow side of velocity in organisational settings and the prices being paid. They make the case for a pacer: someone who helps a leader slow down or speed up to fit the moment, the way pacers do for elite runners. In the authors’ survey of 125 employees, more than 93% described a leader whose pace was often at odds with what the situation needed. Most said their leader ran too fast. Only 40% of those leaders had anyone helping them adjust.
They argue those with pacers:
They share how the diverse benefits of a pacer can be reaped and provide practical tips related to:
They outline what happens without pacers, noting their respondents felt the cost most in the energy and commitment of the people around them and in the key risk of losing critical talent. This buttresses all we are witnessing with clients and reviewing in the literature. It reminded us of some recent posts by our Executive Wellbeing Partner Audrey McGibbon. Her longitudinal GLWS® data of almost 10,000 leaders across a decade shows how closely those two things are linked. Leaders who say their workload usually or always puts them at risk of burnout are 7 times more likely to have often considered quitting in the past month (27% vs 4%).
GLWS suggests burnout can look like physical exhaustion, mental fog or quiet cynicism. Noticing which one is showing up is the first step.
As you review, we encourage you to consider the following questions:
