Things that Kill YOUR Engagement and Investment
We talked about the doom and gloom of what can kill your employee engagement, the “what not to do’s”, which were REAL, a little too real, but hey, we lead with honesty.
And being a business owner is hard! Being in charge of everything?! It’s tiring! It’s demanding, and you’re constantly feeling like you’re always falling behind or falling flat on your face.
There’s a lot that comes with managing a team, but what about managing yourself?
How do you expect your team to be engaged when you are feeling the burnout yourself?
Which is why I’ve put together a few critical things that only increase burnout as a business owner:
Stressing About the Stress
You’re managing clients, a team, a brand, and that’s just to name a few. Things are bound to get a little shaky from time to time.
However, when we don’t build stress management or “Pull In Case of Emergency” structures into our strategies, we leave ourselves vulnerable to being overwhelmed and controlled by that very stress.
This is where a Stress Management Guidebook (it doesn’t actually need to be a “book”, but a few pages are recommended) comes into play. Set aside an hour at first (hint: this is the first step), and allow yourself to explore the emotions you’re feeling as they relate to the stressful situations that have come up.
For example, if you are feeling frustrated with your team, use a flow chart approach to diving deeper into what your “root” is. This helps you move from initial reaction and surface-level feelings to pushing this exploration further. Here’s how you do this:
Step 1: Identify the “What”
Write down your current frustrations, whether they are related to workload, client management, team management, etc.
Step 2: Identify the “How”
Write down how these frustrations are making you feel. This could be tired, angry, sad, alone, etc. It is important to be honest with yourself; there are no “bad emotions”.
Step 3: Push Deeper for the “Why”
Now, as your final step, you know what actions/situations are causing you stress, you’ve identified how you are feeling, but now it’s time to ask yourself, “Why is X making me feel Y?”
This then gives you a deeper look into what need is feeling unmet, and now identifying the root of your frustration or stress, can help you better express to your supports and work together in finding a way to address the true emotion, rather than how the stress has manifested.
When you know where you’re coming from, it’s easier to know where you want to go.
Running on Fumes
Let’s make this simple: taking breaks doesn’t matter if you’re not actually taking a break.
You’re bound to feel defeated by your business if you aren’t stepping outside of it. Yes, you are a business owner, but despite the propaganda, it is not all you are.
I see so many posts throughout the day about “I didn’t want to work a 9-5, so I started a business and now I work 24/7”. That’s not cute, it’s harmful.
When we don’t establish healthy boundaries with our business or hold ourselves accountable to our boundaries, we get lost, we get agitated, and that fiery passion we had gets snuffed out.
Finishing big projects deserves big breaks. Hitting big milestones means giving yourself a pat on the back and some much-needed R&R.
If you’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel of your energy, how do you expect to refill it?
Using Outdated and Outgrown Systems
Nothing keeps us stuck and frustrated like staying in systems, cycles, and processes that no longer make sense for us.
If something no longer serves us, we must let it go and change it.
That applies to negative thought cycles, outdated software/systems, and processes that reflect the business as it was, not as it is.
When we feel stunted or stuck, it’s essential to take stock of our business, examining the areas that may be holding us back rather than propelling us forward.
For example, you may be feeling stressed out if every single thing has to be approved by you, e.g. website copy, social posts, an email to a client, etc. That may have made sense when it was just you doing all of those things, but as your business grows, so does the list of things you specifically need to do, whether client work or team management, to name a couple. Now, with a team and the right key documents, you can adjust that process and trust your team to make those lower-impact decisions for the business (with some pointers from you if needed).
As a leader, a business owner, entrepreneur - whatever title you prefer, we spend so much energy worrying about our team, that sometimes we forget about ourselves and to check in with our own energy.
Because the same things that kill engagement for our team also kill our engagement and investment.
And you can’t manage and empower your team if you aren’t feeling empowered and motivated yourself.
Which is why you need to turn your chaos into clarity, and your clarity into ease.
The Business Flow Formula can do exactly that for you and your business.