“It’s a marathon not a sprint.”
This is one of the most overused and misused metaphors in organizational life. The intent of the metaphor is benevolent - slow down…don’t run out of energy in the early days of the project, because it will require sustained effort for a long period of time.
That said, many leaders, in practice, are asking their teams to sprint the marathon. And we wonder why burnout is so prevalent…1
For this Friday reflection, I wanted to begin an exploration of how to combat burnout as individuals and as leaders. Specifically, burnout that is driven by the relentless pace of organizations that are competing to win. Given how prevalent an issue this is, I plan to reflect on it multiple times this year. Many takes on the topic either come across as simplistic (i.e., prioritize and delegate) or naïve (i.e., slow down without considering the second and third order consequences of doing so).
When the “marathon” metaphor is more accurately applied, it can unlock some useful tactics to reduce burnout.2
One runner’s marathon pace is another one’s sprint
Average runners complete marathons in just under 4 hours or ~9:10/mile average pace. While that is very respectable, the fastest runners in the world complete 26.2 miles in just over 2 hours or ~4:40/mile average pace. There are two takeaways from this:
First, settling for average performers puts us at an extreme disadvantage over the long haul. Investing the time on hiring and developing high-performing talent is an antidote to organizational burnout, because it means you were intentional about matching the capability level of the organization to the ambition and complexity of the goals.
And second, it is critical to understand each of our team member’s capacity. While as a leader, we do at times have to push our teams beyond what they think is feasible, if we push too hard for too long, it is the equivalent of asking them to sprint the marathon. Over time, this erodes performance or worse causes them to “hit a wall,” because they could not sustain the pace of a multi-year sprint.
Recovery time between marathons
One year I tried to run two marathons in less than five months and…surprise, surprise…I got injured. Having learned this lesson the hard way, I ensure that I have sufficient recovery time between races.
As Leslie Perlow showed in her novel research, even the busiest professionals are more productive and engaged when they have “predictable and required” time off, in other words, recovery time. The key to ensuring team members have recovery time is to openly discuss what each team member needs (within reason) and then as a collective team enforce that it happens.
Equal effort not equal pace for every mile
When a runner is going up a steep hill, it is rare that they maintain their “race pace.” In fact, their pace may slow by 10-20% as they tackle the hill. Similarly, when going down hill, their pace picks up. The key is to consistently apply the same degree of effort. This is why many training programs focus on heart rate rather than pace, because heart rate is a better measure of your “effort output.”
In our maniacal obsession with results, particularly in the corporate setting, leaders underappreciate (at best) and dismiss (at worst) the varying degrees of effort for the tasks that we ask our teams to complete. Leaders would benefit from greater awareness of whether their requests are “uphill, flat or downhill” tasks. The reality is sometimes we don’t actually know. In those cases, it’s important to set expectations and have your team member come back to you if they find that what you thought was a “downhill” task has turned into an “uphill” task.
One foot in front of the other
When runners hit the dreaded “wall,” the worst thing they can do is start to focus on how many more miles they have left to complete. Instead the key is to concentrate on repeatedly putting one foot in front of the other.
At an individual level, the same lesson applies. When we do get overwhelmed by the number of tasks on the to-do list, it helps to carve out dedicated time to focus on one specific task (Example: Block 90 minutes to prepare for a Board presentation). This will enable you to be more efficient, because there is less time wasted switching between tasks and less energy wasted worrying about all the other things on your plate.
While these “marathon” principles serve as a useful starting point, I’m dissatisfied with this initial set of answers and yet, I look forward to exploring the topic further. More on this soon…
Some questions I reflected on this week:
Is the pace I am working at closer to “sprint” or “marathon” pace? How do I know?
If it is more of a “sprint” mode, what actions can I take or what do I need to ask of others in order to more steadily run at “marathon” pace for the duration of the year?
When will I build in time for recovery? How can I ensure that my mind, body and heart get rejuvenated as a result of taking recovery time?
I heard a quote the other day that rings true: “There are two kinds of people in this world: people that are burned out and people that know they are burned out.”
None of these is a silver bullet. For this reason, I plan to dedicate several reflections later this year to the topic.