How to go from Overwhelmed to just “whelmed”?
We are now officially six articles into the SHIFT Happens! series. The feedback we’ve received has been amazing so far—in variety, volume, and veracity. I wanted to address a common theme within the feedback: “being overwhelmed.”
That word always makes me wonder: exactly when and under what circumstances are people just “whelmed”?
Quotes from the readers:
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- “I forget that change is ongoing and we exist in a time of never-ending rapid changes.”
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- “The organization prioritizes the systems and frameworks (and ultimately outcomes) and not the people, per se. They say they want to invest in the team, and in your success, but that is the first place budget is cut.”
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- “We reach this moment of exponential ‘can of worms’ sociological, cultural, global, technological, environmental, economic, informational, artificial, virtual, robotic on and on and it is all coming at increasing volume and velocity and more overwhelming it is all interconnected. To adapt is risky and uncertain, but to not adapt is worse—certain extinction. Not just as business, government, family, community but as a species.”
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- “It’s scary how well it describes what is going through at (my company).”
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- “This article scared me but I’m still at a loss of how to personally fix it…”
The good news: it’s not just you, and it’s not just me thinking and feeling all of THIS. We’re in it together.
Life and people happen daily and very often don’t show up exactly as we’d prefer. The conflicts that often result are driving 82% of your workforce toward risk of burnout and manager engagement to an anemic 27%. But it’s not because they’re ‘lazy’, it’s because of Organizational Entropy.
Make no mistake, entropy is winning. You can add more Slack channels, hire more consultants, and hold more ‘all-hands’ meetings, but the feeling of disarray persists. Why? Because we are trying to solve a systemic crisis with individual effort. We’ve reached the limit of what ‘trying harder’ can do.
Now that I’ve depressed the heck out of you, what can be done? Individually, organizationally…
I’d like to recommend three approaches that will help you take back some level of control:
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- Process pruning– For every new program added, 1-2 need to be removed. If we keep adding, then there’s an inability to adequately manage programs already in place, let alone new ones.
- Co-Creation– Once a quarter, ask your team: “Which 20% of your work feels like it belongs in a museum and which 20% makes you feel like you’re contributing to the future?”
- Shorter time horizons– Start daily team huddles if you haven’t already. Ask each person what ONE thing they’ll complete today or this week. This focuses you and your team on the “next right thing” and cuts smoothly through the noise.
The Final Word: Choose Your Micro-Shift
The state of entropy we’re in didn’t happen overnight, and we won’t “vision” our way out of it by Friday. But we can stop the paralysis.
Moving the ball forward in a state of disarray isn’t about big, sweeping mandates; it’s about the courage to do less, more intentionally. It’s about choosing the “next right thing” and trusting that “whelmed” is a perfectly fine place to start.
Which of these three shifts can you start tomorrow?
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- Prune: Cut one meeting or report that has lost its “why.”
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- Co-Create: Ask your team where the “museum work” is hiding.
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- Focus: Narrow the horizon to the next 24 hours.
The “macro” might be scary, but the “micro” is where you actually live. Let’s start there.
About The Shift Series
Shift Happens is a series exploring how organizations can turn disruption into direction. We write about the real, human side of work, where change, technology, behavior, and leadership collide in ways no framework fully captures.
Every article follows one of the five currents that shape modern work:
The Human Side of Transformation, the heartbeat beneath the strategy.
Change Management as the Missing Discipline, the discipline hiding in plain sight, quietly determining who succeeds.
Technology, Tools + Human Behavior, the space where logic meets instinct, and where most rollouts live or die.
Organizational Structure, Power & Governance, the lines, ladders, and tensions that decide how work truly flows.
Leadership Micro, Shifts, Governance & Operating Models, the small shifts that create disproportionate impact.
We combine lived experience with practical insight. The kind you can apply the same day, not someday.
Shift happens! But with the right mindset, it happens through you.
If your organization is navigating a shift in technology, structure, or culture and needs practical, human, centered support, reach out.
This is the work we love! And the work we do best.
