Here’s why your energy keeps crashing right now and what you can do about it.
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash
I’ve had several conversations over the past two weeks, every one of them started with stories of getting by, trying to find some energy to get through what seem to be tougher days, myself included. Many seem to be wrestling with feeling fried or drained as Groundhog Day continues on.
This article was actually supposed to be a video, which I have been trying to learn and use as another way to share information in my business. You’re reading it now instead of watching it because I crashed out three different times over the past week trying to film something usable!
I couldn’t sustain the energy I needed to get through the process. The third crash I finally realized that the reason my battery kept draining so quickly was because I was trying to solve it with rest and what I needed were activities that would help me energize mentally, emotionally and physically – all three areas were drained by the steep learning curve.
The culprit - change fatigue and here’s what you need to know – it’s different than being tired.
When you’re tired you can sleep or rest to resolve it. When you’re fatigued, you need rejuvenation to resolve it.
We’ve been trying to solve our fatigue with sleep (which we still need) when instead what we might need is a long walk in nature. With prolonged saturation, we are more likely be fatigued in multiple areas as I was (mental, emotional, physical) so a simple walk isn’t enough, what’s needed is a repeated combination of rejuvenation activities to get a sustained energy recharge.
The cause of the energy drain - change saturation.
We have labelled it “covid fatigue” and while that was the culprit that pushed us over the edge, in the business world we were already standing way too close to it.
Prosci defines it as follows: “Change saturation occurs when the number of changes you’re implementing exceeds the capacity of individuals in your organization to effectively adopt and use those changes. “
In Prosci’s 2018 Best Practices in Change Management, 73% of respondents (8500 total, 85 countries) reported their organization to be fast approaching, at, or past the point of change saturation. That’s a high number. And this is pre-Covid.
With organizations already experiencing change saturation, when covid hit in 2020, any companies that were near saturation would have gone straight over the edge, with the other two categories falling just ahead of them. Leaving us with a 73% change saturation rate to navigate in.
When people are in a situation where they can no longer keep up with their ability and capacity to adopt and manage those changes, change fatigue kicks in and becomes widespread.
Sound familiar? Compound that over the course of a year and you have the levels of exhaustion we are witnessing and experiencing as a collective.
What the symptoms look like in an organization (list from Prosci):
Noise – More frequent and louder complaints about changes
Apathy – Growing indifference about project changes, with some completely disengaging; employees stop asking questions
Burnout – employees are visibly tired
Stress – people seem anxious about changes
Resistance – some push back on change with more energy while others don't resist at all
Negativity – cynicism prevails
Skepticism – individuals express doubt about change success
Recognize any of these? Add the stress from Covid and all the change and restriction that has come with it, and burnout starts to appear more frequently. As outlined by Edward Segal in his recent Forbes article, we are seeing record levels of burnout particularly at the leadership levels.
So, what, if anything can we do about it for ourselves and our team?
First, start with yourself - here are some things you can try to start restoring your energy levels:
Recognize your fatigue signals – emotional, mental and physical. Stay curious here, there are many things that may wear you down right now that wouldn’t have phased you a year ago. Learn to recognize them.
Take action as soon as you notice a signal, so you don’t continue to drain your battery.
Know what gives you energy and what takes your energy. Deliberately engage in energy giving tasks so you can balance the ones that take your energy.
Be deliberate about choices you make, be conscious about where you place your focus and energy.
Make sure you have realistic expectations on yourself (and others). Reset them if needed so they are sustainable.
Prioritize your health and wellbeing. Commit to unplugging when you need to.
Talk to others and get help and support if/when you need it.
Don’t just skim through this list, take action!
Recharging can take longer right now. Many of the things we normally do to rejuvenate our energy and refresh our mindsets are still cut off or limited with pandemic restrictions. We need to be creative and stay aware of what is actually working to charge your battery and what isn’t.
Maybe cardio is going to move your anxiety more effectively than a yoga class right now. Be willing to try new things and monitor how effective they are at filling your tank.
Hopefully with spring on the horizon and vaccine programs underway we will start to see our options open up again.
How can you help your organization with change saturation?
If you are in a position of leadership, while there is not much you can do about covid, Andrew Horlick’s Prosci article outlines six actions you can take to mitigate saturation:
Develop and maintain an inventory of all the significant change projects currently underway or planned.
Be deliberate about managing the amount of change your organization implements.
Use a structured approach for every high-priority or high-risk change initiative.
Be a great sponsor of change in your organization.
Achieve, measure and sustain project benefits over time.
Be constantly alert to signs of change saturation.
It’s important right now for organizations to be clear on priority projects and make sure second tier projects, or nice to have projects, go on hold to preserve focus levels across the organization.
If you see symptoms of saturation in your team, do a proper analysis so you can provide the direction and support needed to help individuals manage morale and production levels.
If you have already reprioritized and have a good balance, commit to holding it in place to alleviate burnout and turnover risk. To learn more read about change leadership behaviours in my recent article What is change leadership and how do you measure it in your business.
Remember, be proactive with your assessment of fatigue with both yourself and your team and commit to taking action to mitigate it. We’re getting closer to another shift, and while from here it looks like a positive one, we still need the energy to traverse it.
If you’d like to learn more about how to mitigate change saturation and fatigue or would like to assess your team’s situation in more detail, I can help. Schedule a conversation.
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