Dear Leaders, Please Stop Abusing Your Top Performers

I get it, organizations have or will be downsizing in preparation of a potential recession. 

And as a result, organizations are working with less available resources to accomplish the same work that was once done by 2, 3 or even 4 people. The expectations they had of those 2, 3 or 4 people are being put on the one person that is left in the same timeframe that initially existed. And it’s an impossible expectation to have of that one individual left.

And the outcome is that one employee is left feeling:

• Tired

• Isolated

• Less productive (imagine having consecutive meetings w/ no time to actually do the work)

• Frustrated

• Unseen

• Unheard

And quite frankly…emotionally drained.

They are searching for an end in sight only to find nothing on the horizon. It’s our responsibility as leaders to assess every single part of the implications of reductions in force.

Assess projects and deliverables.

Timelines.

And come to terms that everything isn’t going to be completed in the timeframe that was initially planned.

It’s our responsibility to prioritize. To ensure we’re not just caring about the work that needs to be done, but the person that’s doing the work.

Please ensure you’re focusing on the human.

The person.

They matter.