Episode Details

In this episode of Frustrated and Exhausted, Speaker I dive into the powerful topic of how unreliable leadership impacts women, their well-being, and their performance at work. Instead of focusing on personal shortcomings, I challenge the common narrative around burnout and exhaustion, encouraging listeners to look at the environments and conditions that drive these feelings.

1. A Different View on Burnout:
2. Eexplain that chronic exhaustion isn’t always about individual resilience or personal flaws. Instead, it’s often a normal response to unpredictable, unreliable, and unsupportive work environments.
3. The Impact of Leadership:
4. The conversation highlights how inconsistent communication, shifting priorities, and a lack of transparency from leaders can leave teams feeling exhausted and on edge—even when leaders don’t intend harm.
5. Research on Psychological Safety:
6. Referencing Amy Edmondson’s work, the episode discusses how low psychological safety in a workplace can suppress openness, making employees hide mistakes rather than seek support, ultimately harming performance and engagement.
7. Internalizing Systemic Problems:
8. The episode acknowledges that high-performing women often internalize systemic issues, believing they’re at fault and that self-improvement alone is the solution—even when the real issue is the broader environment.
9. Questions Leaders Should Ask:
10. Calls on leaders to look beyond individual performance and to ask more insightful questions:
11. What are people in my team actually adapting to?
12. What conditions do they face each day?
13. Building Trust & Performance:
14. By fostering trust, belonging, and a culture of honesty, organizations can move away from blame and toward higher energy, engagement, and real performance.

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