legal sanity

In my last post on the new law firm environmentalists, I mentioned research findings that burnout within a business or organization really reflects more on the employer than the employee. Picking up on this idea is a recent Knowledge at Wharton article discussing how Lack of Organizational Respect Fuels Employee Burnout [thanks to Susan Abbott for the tip].

According to the piece, respect is critical to inducing or avoiding burnout because it fuels employee engagement in the workplace. Respect gives people the conviction that what they’re doing is important and meaningful. Conversely, when employees experience disrespect directly or vicariously through coworkers, they conclude that the company doesn’t care about its workers and demoralization follows.

Law firms experiencing the fallout from employee burnout need to examine their culture of respect. If it’s lacking – with disrespect being the prevailing cultural norm --- they’d be well-advised to embrace the leadership advice contained in an article offering Five Steps to Engaging Your Employees [flagged by George Ambler and the folks at Be Excellent].

In it, respected business advisor Ram Charan points out these self-evident truths: A “leader who creates the right ambiance and kindles the fire in people gets that extra something that drives organizations to new heights. [ ] Great leaders understand the numbers, but they also touch people's hearts.”