Louis Carter on why 69% of workers are burned out, especially working from home. He recommends three steps: remove home distractions, set clear goals using OKRs, and build accountability into your team's plans.
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Hi, I'm Louis Carter, one of the top 10 organizational culture gurus by Global Gurus. And as part of the Global Gurus COVID-19 relief initiative, I'd like to share with you something about employee burnout. According to a new poll by Monster, over 69% of employees are experiencing burnout, especially as related to the working from home environment. Look, look first at what the obstacles are within teams. Number 1, the obstacles. What are our behavioral obstacles that are getting in the way? Dad, I'm sorry. I have one of them. My kid just came in the door. This could be a behavioral obstacle for you. Kids coming in, coming out. If you don't have an actual office, which I actually do and I chose to stay at home, your children will come in and out of the office. And life is different than it ever has been before. Your dog may be barking, and your dog may be thinking, "I really want to bite him because he's not playing with me." Or your daughter may want to do the same, like she's doing now. The question is, how can you get your friends, the people whom you work with, your spouses, your loved ones, to help you through this effort? Number 2, once you've gotten those obstacles out of the way, we've got to move to goals. Now goals are essential, especially with Objectives and Key Results at play, or even when they're poking at you right now. When you know what these goals are and you connect them to vision inside your company and the very things that you know you must achieve actionably and when and get to that result, Now we're talking. And it doesn't matter what's in your way because you just knock out the noise as long as they don't poke you in the eye. The third thing is becoming accountable for those very things. How do I become accountable? How do I make my team accountable? How do I make myself accountable? And all this noise is happening in your way. And the way to do that is to start with a specific actionable plan, objectives, and key results. OKRs are terrific for ways to know who on your team will volunteer toward a specific goal, to achieve an objective, to achieve a vision. When you start on that and you first look at 1, the behaviors and obstacles in your way, 2, getting those goals in place and aligning them, and 3, continuously adapting to them and making them happen. Being held accountable for them through OKRs. That's when the change will happen and when burnout will reduce, because all of this comes back to burnout. How that 69% of people are burning out working from home because it's hard to get things done. When you become accountable, figure out what obstacles are in your way, get the goals done and aligned, and become accountable, you'll get it done too. Life will be good. I'm Louis Carter, your organizational culture guru top 10, and I have one last thing to say today. If you have any ideas to help the world overcome the crisis, please share them with me below. And just remember, whatever obstacle is in your way, whether it be your kid— Oh, there she is, there she is, there she is, okay— or what have you, You can get through it too.
