Burnout is one of the prime issues in modern workplaces, and it is noticeable among both employees and leaders. However, a lot of leaders are unaware of the fact that burnout occurs from performative leadership rather than working too hard. The exhaustion of work only happens with increasing workload or responsibilities, but it often happens when a leader is willing to say or do something else but is unable to do it. Experts are calling this phenomenon ‘conviction deficit’, which has become one of the major problems in modern-day leadership.
Leaders are Performing, and Teams Can Notice It
The leaders these days are performing their assessments with quite internal calculations. This happens as the modern work environment sends signals about which assessments are welcome and which are unwanted. It dictates the environment and tells leaders which truths can be revealed in the meeting room and which ones can be discussed afterwards. Modern-day leaders are more likely to offer an optimistic interpretation when the data is quite opposite, complex, and chaotic. They are more likely to consider a problem as an opportunity to align with the strategic direction, even if they personally consider a different assessment than the public stance.
More than dishonesty, this can be considered an adaptation by the leaders who come from professional maturity. However, it can also lead to systematic exhaustion. According to the psychiatrists, this kind of performative leadership can lose trust over time, and the exhaustion can be felt among others in the team. When the team senses the performance, it simply creates a communication gap, and the entire workforce can slowly fall apart.
Performative Leadership Costs More for the Organizations
Leaders are making their private assessments but not sharing them with the teams, and that is how corporate strategies are built based on the managed truth rather than the actual truth. Therefore, the real diagnosis is unable to make its way to the official strategic plan. This is the situation where transformative initiatives are dying before even beginning. Talented people with real options and self-awareness are more likely to consider this environment unsustainable. As a result, company culture focuses on the performance of values rather than making a safe space for authentic living. Leaders must have the conviction to bring the data and truth to the table.
When Leaders Stay Silent, It Gets Harder to Speak
Conviction deficit can grow with time, and the longer the truth remains unspoken, the more difficult it is to speak about it. As time passes by, the company makes more strategic decisions based on that unspoken reality. The longer a leader delays speaking up, the heavier the burden becomes to address the truth. As a result, organizational silence gets deeper with time, and this leads to multiple problems of decision-making, and ‘Freeze’ responses take place. Leaders become prone to agreeing with whatever helps to avoid conflict. The unspoken truth leads to a bigger problem and greater organizational costs.
Conviction Does Not Come from Certainty
There is a misunderstanding that the conviction only comes from certainty, but it actually does not. Meaning leadership almost never comes with certainty because a leader who waits to speak with zero doubt is more likely to never speak. Conviction does not even need confrontation, as it is more like an intentional willingness to put out your actual assessment. Leaders must choose truth over organizational comfort.
Every leader in this modern world would feel a fair share of exhaustion, and it is very real. However, it is not permanent, and with conviction, performative needs can disappear.
