Recently, I had what was a very important, but difficult conversation with a sales employee I manage. He expressed to me that most of his weekend was spent putting out fires internally and then finishing a RFP proposal that was due Monday. The weekend before that was spent traveling for and setting up for a conference.

Flat out, he was feeling overextended and stressed. Having to respond to emails and messages close to midnight on a Friday night and getting on calls on Saturday and Sunday, really put a strain on him. He felt like he had the accelerator pushed all the way down for a few weeks straight and it was just too much.

We are still relatively young company, and our individual contributors play a vital role in our relentless approach to growing the business. But, it can never come at the sacrifice of the well-being of our employees.

Despite what some “#motivationalmonday gurus” might try to tell you, no one can do full throttle 100% of the time and deliver their best work. Click to Tweet

I truly believe in knowledge work, where our ability to think and reason are paramount, that a healthy lifestyle and a reasonable work life balance are critical in order to keep people performing their best.

Our business, which sells technology to local government, is going to go through periods of busier and slower times, but we also have to realize that we are in a market that isn’t going to be won or lost overnight. Instead, we’re in civic tech for the long haul. And in order to be successful over an extended period, we need happy and healthy employees – they are the backbone of our company.

Reorienting My Thinking

Personally, I have to admit that my initial thoughts weren’t the best. Inside of my head, I thought to myself that the scenario being described by this employee, are just part of the demands of the business at this moment. Basically, I was thinking, I need to tell him to just “step up”.

However, I quickly realized that this person was opening up to me and sharing his experience and his genuine feelings. It’s not my place to tell someone that their feelings are disingenuous. It’s not my job as a manager to question someone’s recounting of their own experience.

Instead it’s my job to listen, to really listen, and to empathize and understand where that person is coming from. Fortunately I took a pause, caught my breath, and realized more than anything that this person was looking for acknowledgement: a sign that myself as his manager and really as an executive in the company, that I understood and acknowledged his hard work.

Hearing Your Employee Honesty

The simple act of listening and acknowledging when your people are extending themselves to the fullest can be incredibly important. The employee in this story is incredibly loyal, on top of anything that needs to be done, and is someone I can know as a manager will always be completely reliable.

If anything, I had taken him for granted and it was an incredible opportunity to step back and realize how lucky I was.

As we concluded the conversation, I acknowledge how lucky I was with the ease of mind that he provides to me as his manager.

If I wouldn’t have been open and welcoming to that type of feedback, I would have been missing this incredible opportunity to continue to nurture this employee that I greatly respect and consider a teammate. Further, if I had rebuked his honesty, I would been punishing his honesty.