I frequent a café that is part of a large chain. I like to enjoy a cup of coffee with a bit of cream most mornings, but this café can’t seem to keep half-n-half in stock. At least once every two weeks, it’s missing from the coffee kiosk. When I ask, I’m told. “Oh, we don’t have any today.” This is a source of fascination for me.
Granted, half-n-half is a perishable product. It’s not like you can store up barrels of it in advance. But I have never had any trouble purchasing some at the local supermarket. So why can’t someone run out to the store and buy a quart or two? After all, they are inconveniencing a bunch of customers and creating an endless number of, “Is there any half-n-half? No, I’m sorry. We’re out,” exchanges. This also ends up being another minor source of frustration for both the manager and those on the frontline who have to apologize.
So, what’s the point of this little tirade? Authority, reason and burnout. Let me to explain. Life is full of little frustrations and irritations these days. When the number of them becomes overwhelming, people begin to feel burned out. This is especially true when they know how to fix the problem but are discouraged or prevented from doing so. A reasonable manager might think, “I’ll just send someone to the store to buy some half-n-half.”
But that’s not happening in this case. Now, in my mind, there can be three reasons for this. 1) The manager does not have the authority. A policy has been put in place that prevents this kind of practice. 2) The manager is not invested. “So what if the customers don’t have half-n-half? They’ll get over it. I’ve got other stuff to worry about.” 3) The manager lacks the problem-solving skills or situational awareness to remedy this situation. This is easily corrected by the regional manager or other leader who happens into the store when there’s no half-n-half. You take the manager aside and coach them. This is also a great situation to pose for manager applicants during selection. “What would you do is the store ran out of half-n-half?” How they answer will provide a bit of insight into their creativity, critical thinking, and confidence to make independent decisions.
Now maybe I’m hyper-focusing, but I’ve seen examples of this kind of thing in other organizations as well. It all comes down to the authority to act and the reasoning and confidence to do so. How about your organization? What can you do, as a leader or manager, to prevent these kinds of little frustrations from turning into burnout for you and those around you? Remember, burnout doesn’t happen because of the crises. It is the result of all the little things we wish we could resolve but for some reason feel we can’t.