After suffering burnout a few years back, I am constantly looking out for it in myself and my colleagues. It isn't easy, many of us get a buzz from being needed, working harder and achieving the goals we are aiming for.

I personally find that this can be almost addictive, I will work an extra hour and get this work completed tonight, soon becomes a habit with me working an few extra hours each night. My expectations on what I can achieve in a day increases and before I know it, I am working excessively and not feeling that I am achieving what I need to.

The challenge is breaking the cycle and resetting our own and others' expectations on what can be completed within a normal working day. Working longer hours isn't more productive, it leads to lower quality work and an increase in busy work.

It is our duty as humans to help each other keep realistic expectations, helping each other to live a productive and healthy life. This isn't about self-care and community care, as leaders we need to embed this caring and approach into our company cultures.

To try and encourage this among my team, we have a 15-minute call each week with the focus on wellbeing. The team is remote across timezones, so this call provides a welcome opportunity for the team to connect. The call consists of a 2-minute meditation or exercise we all do, followed by a question we all answer - this question changes each week. Examples are: What made you smile in the last 7 days? or What are you looking forward to this week? This call is focused on being about the team, no work-related talk anbd no negativity allowed. 

What do you do to help bring balance for your team?