Some people call it burn out. Others call it a melt down, chronic workplace stress, an emotional collapse or presenteeism. Whatever the name, the symptoms are the same. Employees’ exhaustion and emotional fatigue can be affecting their quality of work and their level of productivity – endangering their career goals and the company’s bottom line.
Originally coined by Jack Hemp in 2004 in his article published in the Harvard Business Review (Hemp, 2004), presenteeism is where employees at work produce less due to health-related issues. Mental health issues versus medical issues are the rising culprits, including depression, anxiety, and stress (Chisholm, et al., 2016; Nagata, et al., 2018).
However, one leadership style has been found to help employees suffering from presenteeism (Drakeley, 2018) – authentic leadership. For more information, see the related blog Using Leadership Behavior to Stem Presenteeism. One of the reasons is because authentic leaders help their employees find purpose in their work. How do they do that? The answer may involve the philosophical theory of existentialism (Frankl, 1946), which focuses on human existence, freedom, and choice.
Authenticity is at the root of existentialism, which helps individuals find meaning and purpose in their lives (Fusco, O’Riordan, & Palmer, 2015; Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2015). In fact, some scholars believe authentic leadership is a psychological construct because authentic leaders perform based on their moralities, beliefs, and values (Kernis, 2003). While others see its roots originating from existential psychotherapy, introduced by Viktor Frankl in 1961, which can cure depression, anxiety, and stress (Fusco et al., 2015).
Whether authenticity is grounded in philosophy or psychology is a moot point now that researchers have moved authenticity into the leadership discipline, where they have conducted empirical research with statistically significant results. Researchers have found that when employees trust their leaders, their level of anxiety diminishes (Shapira-Lishchinsky & Levy-Gazenfrantz, 2016), while their organizational commitment (Abid, Altaf, Yousaf, & Bagram, 2012; Drakeley, 2018; Hashim et al., 2017; Ozkan & Ceylan, 2012; Peus, Wesche, Streicher, Braun, & Frey, 2012), performance (Clapp-Smith et al., 2009; Datta, 2015; Peus et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2014), wellbeing (Clapp-Smith et al., 2009; Datta, 2015; Feng-I, 2016; Laschinger, Borgogni, Consiglio, & Read, 2015; Ozkan & Ceylan, 2012; Nelson et al., 2014; Read & Laschinger, 2015; Yadav & Dixit, 2017), and job satisfaction (Datta, 2015; Giallonardo, Wong, & Iwasiw, 2010; Read & Laschinger, 2015; Yadav & Dixit, 2017) increase.
Helping Employees Find Meaning and Purpose in Their Work and Lives
As a leader, if you can help your employees find meaning and purpose in their work, you help them in several ways. One is that you improve their career trajectory because they perform better. Two, you improve the bottom line for your company by saving costs from the resultant higher productivity. And, three, you beneficially impact the moral line by helping employees find the job that fits their values and aspirations, improving their wellbeing in the workplace.
One way to help employees find purpose in their work is to ensure their values coincide with the values and morals of the company where they work (George, 2003; George & Sims, 2007). For example, if one of your employees believes in sustainable energy and your company does not recycle or has an unenvironmentally-sustainable client, the employee’s sense of “being” could be out of sync, suffering from ontological insecurity, that is, inequities in existential choices (Ashman & Gibson, 2010).
By listening to your employees, you could decide to change the values of the company versus losing valued employees. For example, Google dropped out of competing for a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing project with the Department of Defense due to a possible “clash with its corporate values” and employees threatening to quit (Bloomberg, 2018). Values can range from environmental to sexual harassment and privacy. According to a recent survey published in The Manifest, more than 79% of employees will not accept a job with a higher salary if the company fails to act against sexual harassment, and 72% of employees may leave rather than take a raise, if the company is selling or using customer data without consent, involved with environmental issues, or practicing inequitable pay practices for females and minorities (Heinig, 2019).
As mentioned previously, authentic leaders’ self-awareness helps employees develop their values, identity, motives, and goals (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, & Walumbwa, 2005). For more information on authentic leadership, read the related blog: How Authentic Leadership Can Boost Your Company’s Competitive Advantage. When individuals lack meaning or purpose, they may actually agonize over their detachment from their leader (Lawler, 2005). Creating “genuine dialogue” through existential communication and leadership heals this rift (Ashman & Lawler, 2008). This communication involves a “healer/patient relationship” that is present in counseling (Ashman & Lawler, 2008, pg. 262), where the “leader/follower relationship” involves the leader helping the employee by listening, and reframing circumstances in a more positive light (Bolman & Deal, 2014). In addition, openly talking with employees about changes to their performance without them feeling like they are being reprimanded or punished (Diepering, 2017) can help considerably, especially if leaders focus on the positives – the employees’ strengths, while minimizing the negatives.
As a leader by changing your perspective or attitude, you can change your company’s culture, which ultimately can help retain employees. And, by helping employees find meaning and purpose in their work, you can improve their outlook, mental health, and ultimately, their careers, while improving your company’s bottom line and moral line.
References:
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