Burnout Is The Silent Killer of Fast-Growing Companies.

Burnout?!

It's true. And I think you'll see it too if you give me a chance to explain.

Not surprisingly, fast-growing companies grow, well, fast.

Every year, there's more work to be done, more products to develop, more people to serve, and more problems to solve. And it all needed to be done yesterday.

Stated simply, fast-growing companies experience High Demand (like really high).

And not just this year, but next year, and every year after that.

Without fail, every company we have ever talked to experiences friction as the demand consistently rides dangerously close to (and eventually higher than) their capacity.

The dynamic of rising demand meeting a limited capacity creates a host of issues, starting with disengagement, then burnout, resulting in downstream effects like high turnover, low performance, and profitability problems.

We interviewed over 200 INC 5000 Founders and discovered "lack of capacity" to be the most common issue.

If Burnout is the Silent Assassin, then Lack of Capacity writes the Checks.

And burnout is killing our companies.

Consider the downstream impact burnout creates ...

On performance ...

Burned-out employees are 22% less productive. They get less done in a day, conduct their work with lower quality than they're capable of, drop important balls, and waste precious hours struggling to find their groove.

On profitability ...

Burned-out employees are 21% less profitable than engaged employees. They create less value for the organization, impacting relationships with your customers and unknowingly undermining the value proposition you've worked hard to establish.

On teams ...

Unnecessary drama and tension grow as people become increasingly self-preservationist, killing much-needed cohesion and collaboration. Leaders spread burnout to their teams. 73% of teams with burned-out managers also report burnout, compared to the 22% of burnout in teams with engaged leaders.

On turnover ...

58% of employees with burned-out managers consider leaving. Many of these valued employees do leave, costing you time and money to replace and train someone new. The ones that do stay still spend sideways energy thinking about (and pursuing) other job opportunities. I'm sure you're familiar with the Great Resignation.

Imagine a world where your people perform better, create more value for customers, lead engaged teams, and work for you longer.

The good news is burnout can be beaten. You can experience more capacity for yourself and your people ...

To Solve the Problem We Have to Define the Problem

Maybe burnout is a millennial term that makes your roll your eyes.

So let's think about it differently.

At the end of the day, burnout is just a symptom of a lack of capacity.

Defined as: Humans struggling to meet the demands of work and life.

We're all chasing more capacity...

Hiring is just an attempt to increase overall team capacity by spreading the workload over an increased denominator.

Productivity is hoping to expand your capacity by getting more out of your time and effort.

Working from Home for many (not all) is a desperate attempt to hide their exhaustion and sneak in an afternoon nap.

Resignation is often just an employee's Hail Mary shot at finding a less exhausting job and more fulfilling one.

My guess is you've seen this in your company too.

As we've gone deep with the founders of America's most successful high-growth companies, we've discovered that nearly all who experience this pain treat the symptom rather than the sickness.

Treating the Symptoms, not the Sickness.

Lack of capacity often masquerades as a hiring issue.

I often hear founders feeling the pressure to embark on massive hiring campaigns to right-size their organization's capacity to meet the demand.

Founders that fall into this trap discover a vicious cycle that only intensifies the issue: First, they make massive hires. Then, thinking they can finally run full throttle, employees get stretched thin again. Burnout creeps in, and folks begin to quit—anddddd shit. Now you have even more work than before and still not enough people. So you cycle again.

It's a 2-steps-forward-1-step-back approach.

Or ...

Founders try to increase their team's capacity by instilling a culture of productivity and focus.

They double down on calendar blocking, time management, prioritization models, etc. Don't get me wrong; this is great until your employees have no room in their calendar to breathe and your managers have too much work to care for the employees under them.

Sure, this strategy buys you a little bit of time, but eventually, the calendar gets full, and there are too many priorities to spread your focus across.

Even if delayed, employees still find themselves maxed out and exhausted.

We need a better approach that solves your capacity issue at its core.

What if I told you...

We can take a new approach to capacity and solve the root issue, largely relieving unnecessary hires, increasing productivity, and retaining your top performers.

Let's get even more specific - tell me if you see this in your company ...

Are people tired or moody?

Are more balls being dropped than usual?

Are teams struggling to meet deadlines?

Are people quitting at an unsustainable pace?

Do your high performers seem to be "off" and lack the energy + focus they once had?

Do you hear management crying for more hires?

Not yet? Or perhaps you just haven't seen it yet.

Solving the Sickness: The New Way of Optimizing Human Capacity and Treating Burnout.

Our teams must master the management of their energy, not their time.

Let us explain...

At some point in life (typically in your mid-30s), you experience a life-altering reversal regarding the demand your life and your workplace on you and the capacity you have to accomplish it.

We call this the Capacity Breaking Point. It's when your overall Demand becomes greater than your overall Capacity.

Where you used to be the master of your schedule, now you have kids with desires, goals, and agendas of their own that you're now responsible for.

Where you used to be accountable for your job performance, now you're leading a team, and your people look to you for guidance, direction, and clarity.

Not to mention the typical and expected bodily changes you experience as you age.

Your energy isn't what it once was ... and despite this, you're now expected to do and be more than ever before.

So what most people do (and perhaps you've done this too) is manage their time like hawks.

They get up earlier.

Stay up later.

Maximize their weekends.

Become more efficient.

And hit the afternoon coffee every day, trying to hack their way into more energy.

It's a red herring.

Short term, this works just fine until eventually you hit the snooze more often, lose your mental clarity, become downright irritable and unfun to work with, and fall off your habits entirely.

**High-Performance research has proven energy, not your time, to be the greatest resource to move the needle on your overall capacity.**

We close the gap between your rapidly increasing Demand and your declining Capacity, by focusing on The 4 Sources of Energy, first studied by Schwartz and Loehr.

This is built upon validated research guaranteed to drive higher performance.

Professional athletes have been doing this for years to stay at the top of their field. It's time we borrow their insight and deploy it to our "corporate athletes".

Wouldn't you agree?

The key is to fluctuate between Performance and Recovery intentionally.

Instead, most people cycle between Performance and Survival until Survival turns into Burnout, leaving them feeling depressed, exhausted, and hopeless.

Do you recognize this in yourself or your team members?

Have you ever had a project that you knew was key to your success that you delayed or avoided, day after day, despite its importance? And then, one day, after a great weekend with the family, an energizing workout at the gym, and a perfect cup of coffee, you walked into the office and crushed that project in a few hours with an insane focus...

Your issue was not a lack of execution skills or a need for more employees but rather a lack of energy. Had you known that you needed some recovery, you would have taken a needed break and returned to that project days earlier with fresh eyes and renewed focus.

Or what about this?

Ever had a manager walked into your office to ask for some help only to find you reacting, speaking sharp and short, glaring with frustration?

Later you realize what you've done and apologize.

"Sorry, James, I had a rough morning. I Just needed a break from my last meeting before we spoke; I didn't mean to take my frustration out on you."

Imagine how that conversation would have gone had you been energized rather than exhausted.

The truth is, every day, we are fighting a battle for our energy.

How you choose to manage this energy affects your performance, happiness, productivity, relationships, and culture.

The science is precise... without intervention, your capacity only decreases with age starting in your mid-30s. What once could be handled at 30 will be lost at 40.

But with intentionality and effort, you can reverse the trend by increasing your capacity with an Energy Management skillset.

And you can experience the benefit in less than 30 days.

That's more focus on the projects that really matter, more compassion for the relationships you care about, more energy for when the moment needs you, and yes, objectively more profits.

The best part of all ...

It has a significant impact on your bottom line.

We'll save you $45,000, minimum.

Don't believe me? Want to check my math?

Disclaimer: if you hate numbers and already get the point, skip this section.

The two biggest revenue drivers that result from increased capacity, more energy, and decreased burnout are increased engagement and reduced turnover.

Gallup's research indicates ...

Engaged employees are 21% more profitable than their engaged peers, and regrettable turnover costs a company 40% - 2.5x of that employee's salary (think about the drain on management drain when it comes to searching, hiring, onboarding, and training).

Take, for example, a company that generates $3M in annual revenue with just 15 employees. There's a good chance you hit this mile marker already, but I want you to see just how the numbers stack up quickly.

If just 5 of those employees are burned out and disengaged, you're losing up to 21% profitability on their revenue attribution.

If those five employees represent $1M of annual revenue, we just found an extra $210,000 for your company, even if all we do is impact the engagement for just those five key players.

So if we can increase energy by just 20%, which leads to an increased engagement at just 10%, we have already put $21,000 back in your pocket.

Or maybe we instead consider how capacity is wrecking your employee churn.

Of the 5 disengaged team members, what if 3 actually decide to "free up their future" at your company because they're burned out or work for a burned-out manager?

If each command a $60,000 salary (highly conservative) that sets your company back another $72,000 at least (40% of $60,000 x 3).

Increasing the capacity and energy of just 1 key employee could save your company $24,000 (40% of $60,000).

In this scenario, a company has a decision to make.

Either risk is losing up to $210,000 due to lost productivity and up to $72,000 lost to turnover costs.

Or (drum roll, please) ...

Pay us to increase your people's capacity and conservatively save up to $45,000 (over a 10x ROI).

"Ok ENOUGH, just tell me how you do it!"

Fair enough.

Over two weeks, we conduct 2, 60-minute training with you and your leaders (including soon-to-be leaders) to:

1) Assess engagement and energy across the 4 Sources of Energy for each individual. (you will know statistically who is burned out, who is thriving, and why)

2) Train your leaders to raise their Energy IQ together and prime them to manage their own energy. (Awareness of the problem solves half the problem, but we go way beyond enlightenment)

3) Install a common language and specific habits to intentionally drop into flow states of high energy and recovery for future work periods. (think Personal Success rituals, Rapid Recovery habits, structuring their day to maximize flow)

4) Coach true mastery of energy management principles by bridging new concepts into leaders' specific contexts. (We get into your world and ensure your leaders can act on what we teach)

In addition to your leaders finally being able to manage their own energy and unlocking their capacity, you'll receive:

1 number of measuring capacity levels for all leaders (We call it an energy optimization score - it cuts straight through the woo and gives concrete data of how to increase your energy)
A common language to build leadership culture (It's time for the conversation to shift from " I'm just too busy today" to "I crushed everything I needed to do today, and it's only 2 pm")
Actionable insights for managers to assist in managing employee energy

And if I haven't told you already ...

**We will not regret working with us.**

Our Perform-to-Pay Guarantee

If you're still with me at this point (and haven't scheduled your training), it's time you should know ...

We guarantee 100% of our work.

We hate the idea of "trainings" or "workshops" that should be a lunch and learn because the only good part was the food.

We have worked for the last 12 years to perfect our experience to be the most enjoyable thing you'll do that month and to be an experience that creates lasting results.

It's why we start with assessing your people and end with assessing your people. It holds us accountable for bringing real change to your organization.

We use a research-validated assessment to gain an objective measurement of your current capacity and energy level at any moment in time.

If your team applies the tools and methods we share and doesn't experience increased energy and capacity and scores higher on their final assessment, we will refund the entire experience.

That's right.

Actually ... You pick how we make it right.

We will either pay you back or work with your team for free until they experience our promise of increased capacity.