May 13, 2025 • 12 mins
As team leaders, we need to understand what prevents burnout, understand work styles, and build thriving teams by creating environments where everyone can succeed, from the ultra-resilient to the highly sensitive.
This episode breaks down the “Dandelion-Orchid Theory” and what it means for your career, leadership style, and how you handle stress. You’ll learn:
- Why “one-size-fits-all” leadership leads to burnout
- The subtle signs your team is struggling—even if they say they’re fine
- How to support both high-achievers and deep-feelers
Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).
Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:
- Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
- Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
- Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
- Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
- Keynote Speaking
- Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, this is Jill Griffin and I'm the host of
the Career Refresh.
Welcome back.
Today.
I'm talking about what everyleader thinks that they are good
at, but a lot of them get wrong, and it's how to prevent
burnout on your team.
Now you've probably noticedthat some people bounce back
from stress like it's just anyother day.
(00:21):
It's not that big of a deal.
But others need a little bitmore time.
They seem a little bit low key.
They need maybe a little bitmore nurturing in order to be
able to reset and function again.
And I want to point out this isnot a weakness, this is wiring,
and there's a concept called thedandelion orchard theory, and
(00:42):
it's a framework that explainswhy some of your members thrive
in chaos, while others sort offeel like they're shrinking back
without the right support.
And if you're leading teams ofpeople, this matters.
It matters that you, as aleader, notice this to create an
environment in which all ofyour teammates are thriving.
(01:03):
In this episode, I want to talkabout how this theory shows up
at work and what you, as aleader, should be observing, and
how you can adjust yourleadership style to support your
team before burnout becomes thebig headline of the day.
Listen, your job isn't justabout results.
As a leader, it's to build anenvironment where everyone can
(01:24):
thrive, and that includes allpersonalities, even your most
sensitive, your most insightfuland maybe your most
misunderstood team members.
All right, let's dig in.
Here's what leaders need toknow.
(01:45):
In every team, there seem to bepeople who tend to bounce back
really easy.
I always talk about there'sculture and there's climate, and
if your culture is strong, youshould be able to weather
whatever the climate is, andclimate is wins and losses and
new business and restructuringand new team members.
(02:05):
If your culture is strong, youcan withstand the climate, and
part of making that culturestrong is really understanding
how your teammates work and whathelps them thrive.
So there's people who are goingto be totally fine with the
last minute meeting, the pivot,they're good to go, it's no big
deal.
And there are other teammembers that are going to feel
(02:27):
really stressed out by thosehigh stake moments where they
need to perform on the spot andthey tend to disengage if you
give them feedback and they maystruggle more visibly with
change, and I want to reallytalk about that.
This is not about theirperformance.
We don't want an environment inwhich we only have the exact
same type of people right?
We want diversity of thought,diversity of experience,
(02:49):
diversity of what people arebringing to the table.
Right.
We want to make sure that we'renot just putting all emphasis
on go go, go performance and notalso looking at the other
essential skills.
This is how people are wired,and people are all wired
differently.
So the orchard dandelion theorycomes from it's W Thomas Boyce.
(03:12):
I've talked about him on theshow before and he explains that
people differ based on theenvironment and the level of
stress.
So a dandelion is resilient,adaptable.
They can thrive in a range ofenvironments, whereas the
orchard is highly sensitive tocontext, meaning they can
struggle in misalignment orharsh environments, but they
(03:32):
excel in ones that are much moresupportive and emotionally
intelligent, and this shows upeverywhere, from hiring to
hand-raising, to collaborationand burnout.
So great leadership meansobserving those subtle, not just
the metrics and the deadlines,but the energy, the behavior and
(03:53):
the interpersonal dynamics ofyour team.
So, as a leader, this is what Iwant you to look for.
Your dandelion team members aregoing to thrive in the fast pace
, the ambiguity.
They're much better in startupenvironments, or they're visibly
much better in startupenvironments.
They rarely complain.
They're fine even when they'renot, and they can handle
(04:16):
conflict pragmatically.
They move on quickly.
They're often perceived asdependable, sort of low
maintenance and leadership ready.
But the burnout warning signsof someone who is a dandelion is
that there may be increasedsarcasm or detachment.
You should be watching out forthat because if that's happening
, they're starting to get alittle bit burnt out.
(04:37):
They may withdraw afterlong-term overperformance.
Right, they were on a marathonand now they're like, oh my God,
I can't keep this up.
There may be sudden unexpecteddrops in their motivation or the
quality of their work and beingin that crisis mode which is
their default operating systemlike if any of you are watching
(04:59):
the Pit or have watched it Imean, I loved it.
I was like, oh, this is myfavorite place ever.
Clearly I'm the dandelion here,but if you're in that crisis
mode by default for too long,you're going to fall into
burnout.
Our orchard team members are theones that are sensitive to tone
(05:21):
, unspoken dynamics, theemotional undercurrents.
They're going to do best whenthey have clear expectations,
regular feedback and some levelof safety where they feel like
they can ask you a question andthey're not going to get an
abrupt or curt or clipped answer.
They are thoughtful, intuitiveand detail-oriented and at times
(05:42):
they're misinterpreted as highmaintenance or not ready for
leadership roles or soft.
Right, we're going to use thatas a negative here that they
might be soft and their warningsigns might be obsessive,
overworking so that they startto earn your approval.
They may be taking vague orpoorly delivered feedback.
Personally, there might besigns of physical stress,
(06:06):
fatigue, illness or overapologizing and they may start
asking fewer questions or theymay speak up less than usual.
And I just want to remind us asleaders, just because someone
looks fine doesn't mean thereare right.
Orchids mask and dandelionsminimize, and both types of
(06:27):
people need proactive check-ins.
And here's how it impactscareer growth and the team
dynamics Without realizing it,many managers start to promote
and reward the dandelion traitsspeed, visibility, loudness,
comfort and chaos right.
But they start to overlook theorchid strengths like emotional
insight, thoughtfulness, patternrecognition, empathy really
(06:52):
good nurturing their teams.
So what does it mean?
It means that orchids could beunder leveraged in leadership
roles and dandelions may be overrelied upon without adequate
support.
So if you want more innovative,inclusive leadership with
diversity makes us stronger,right, we're having diversity of
(07:14):
thought and ideas andexperiences to bring into our
business.
We want to look beyond who maybe those initial and early hand
raisers.
So when you're thinking abouthow you, as a leader, can
support and also prevent burnoutin both types is I'm going to
tell you leadership is not abouttreating everyone the same.
(07:36):
You have to tailor.
If you want to be a good leader, you have to tailor your
approach based on who you aretalking to or the teams that
you're talking to.
So you might want to learn thestress response patterns right
Asking a teammate, what doessupport look like for you when
you're under stress?
And normalize conversationsaround workload, processing,
(07:58):
feedback, team dynamics.
Make sure it's not somethingwhere people feel like they're
complaining if they're askingfor questions, and don't assume
that silence is satisfaction.
Next, you want to diversify yourcommunication style and your
feedback style.
Whereas orchids may preferwritten feedback, so they have
time to prepare and presenttheir ideas, dandelions may
(08:22):
appreciate fast feedback, butalso they may benefit from that
reflection time.
So when you're offering bothsynchronous meetings and
asynchronous opportunities,right Slack and documents.
Finding different channels forideas to be shared will make
sure that both types of workerswill have an opportunity to be
heard.
(08:42):
And then make sure thatperformance reviews and
check-ins are predictable, thatthey're specific, they're
actionable and, as always, thatthey are kind.
This is going to benefiteveryone, not just the orchids
out there.
So I want you to also thinkabout how you're designing
inclusive growth opportunities.
Don't conflate visibility withreadiness.
(09:03):
Some of your best strategicthinkers aren't loud in meetings
.
They are crafting theirthoughts, they're processing and
they're going to send youinformation after they may
stretch projects and add in somebuffer right.
If you can do this, this isgoing to really help some of
those people who are orchids toprepare and reflect and make
(09:25):
sure your leadership again ispsychologically safe, making
sure that people can askquestions.
They don't feel like theirhead's going to get bitten off
or they're going to get a terse,a clipped answer.
You want to make sure thatyou're not just being
performative with yourinclusivity, that you really are
working on that, and this is agreat opportunity, as you, as a
leader, you're going to needsupport too.
(09:45):
So this is where it's great foryou to have a leadership
strategy and for you to hire anexecutive coach.
I might know one.
I also want you to rethink whathigh performance means.
Is it speed or is it sustainedcontribution?
Is it charisma or is itinfluence, credibility and trust
(10:07):
?
Is it the loudest idea or theone that actually creates impact
and changing?
These are not binary and Irealize I'm asking them in ways
that are binary.
I'm just trying to get you tothink about some of the ways
that we measure what highperformance is.
So look in some real lifeexamples.
If a dandelion joins a startup,adapts quickly and becomes the
(10:29):
go-to for crisis managementgreat.
But in six months they quietlyquit because it wasn't that they
couldn't handle it.
It's because no one ever askedthem if they were okay.
And an orchid might start in arigid corporate structure and
gets labeled too sensitive andthen stops speaking up.
Later they transfer to a moresupported team, but within
(10:52):
months they are one of the topperformers and one of the most
respected mentors right?
So those are two real worldexamples of clients that again
disguising them between thedandelion and the orchid, but
those are real world examples.
Both have potential, but onewas in an environment to unlock
it, whereas the other one endedup leaving because it wasn't
(11:14):
something that they felt theyweren't cared for.
So I want you to think aboutyour leadership and how you're
designing from an environmentalstandpoint.
If you want high-performing,burnout-resistant teams, you
need to understand how peopleare wired, build systems that
adapt to their strengths, notthe other way around, and make
(11:35):
sure your culture is flexibleenough to accommodate both speed
and sensitivity, that intuition, because thriving teams aren't
grown in identical rows like agarden right.
They're more like great gardensthat require light and space
and care and give you a littlebit of air to breathe and some
(11:56):
time to marinate before yourespond.
All right, friends, as always,you know, I want to hear from
you.
Email me, hello atjillgriffincoachingcom, I want
to know what you think and,until next week, I want you to
watch for the signs of burnouton your team.
Be in possibility.
What's possible?
How can I think about thisculture differently?
How can I make this a reallyinclusive environment and always
(12:19):
, always, always, be kind?
All right, I'll see you soon.
Hey there, this is Jill Griffin and I'm the host of
the Career Refresh.
Welcome back.
Today.
I'm talking about what everyleader thinks that they are good
at, but a lot of them get wrong, and it's how to prevent
burnout on your team.
Now you've probably noticedthat some people bounce back
from stress like it's just anyother day.
(00:21):
It's not that big of a deal.
But others need a little bitmore time.
They seem a little bit low key.
They need maybe a little bitmore nurturing in order to be
able to reset and function again.
And I want to point out this isnot a weakness, this is wiring,
and there's a concept called thedandelion orchard theory, and
(00:42):
it's a framework that explainswhy some of your members thrive
in chaos, while others sort offeel like they're shrinking back
without the right support.
And if you're leading teams ofpeople, this matters.
It matters that you, as aleader, notice this to create an
environment in which all ofyour teammates are thriving.
(01:03):
In this episode, I want to talkabout how this theory shows up
at work and what you, as aleader, should be observing, and
how you can adjust yourleadership style to support your
team before burnout becomes thebig headline of the day.
Listen, your job isn't justabout results.
As a leader, it's to build anenvironment where everyone can
(01:24):
thrive, and that includes allpersonalities, even your most
sensitive, your most insightfuland maybe your most
misunderstood team members.
All right, let's dig in.
Here's what leaders need toknow.
(01:45):
In every team, there seem to bepeople who tend to bounce back
really easy.
I always talk about there'sculture and there's climate, and
if your culture is strong, youshould be able to weather
whatever the climate is, andclimate is wins and losses and
new business and restructuringand new team members.
(02:05):
If your culture is strong, youcan withstand the climate, and
part of making that culturestrong is really understanding
how your teammates work and whathelps them thrive.
So there's people who are goingto be totally fine with the
last minute meeting, the pivot,they're good to go, it's no big
deal.
And there are other teammembers that are going to feel
(02:27):
really stressed out by thosehigh stake moments where they
need to perform on the spot andthey tend to disengage if you
give them feedback and they maystruggle more visibly with
change, and I want to reallytalk about that.
This is not about theirperformance.
We don't want an environment inwhich we only have the exact
same type of people right?
We want diversity of thought,diversity of experience,
(02:49):
diversity of what people arebringing to the table.
Right.
We want to make sure that we'renot just putting all emphasis
on go go, go performance and notalso looking at the other
essential skills.
This is how people are wired,and people are all wired
differently.
So the orchard dandelion theorycomes from it's W Thomas Boyce.
(03:12):
I've talked about him on theshow before and he explains that
people differ based on theenvironment and the level of
stress.
So a dandelion is resilient,adaptable.
They can thrive in a range ofenvironments, whereas the
orchard is highly sensitive tocontext, meaning they can
struggle in misalignment orharsh environments, but they
(03:32):
excel in ones that are much moresupportive and emotionally
intelligent, and this shows upeverywhere, from hiring to
hand-raising, to collaborationand burnout.
So great leadership meansobserving those subtle, not just
the metrics and the deadlines,but the energy, the behavior and
(03:53):
the interpersonal dynamics ofyour team.
So, as a leader, this is what Iwant you to look for.
Your dandelion team members aregoing to thrive in the fast pace
, the ambiguity.
They're much better in startupenvironments, or they're visibly
much better in startupenvironments.
They rarely complain.
They're fine even when they'renot, and they can handle
(04:16):
conflict pragmatically.
They move on quickly.
They're often perceived asdependable, sort of low
maintenance and leadership ready.
But the burnout warning signsof someone who is a dandelion is
that there may be increasedsarcasm or detachment.
You should be watching out forthat because if that's happening
, they're starting to get alittle bit burnt out.
(04:37):
They may withdraw afterlong-term overperformance.
Right, they were on a marathonand now they're like, oh my God,
I can't keep this up.
There may be sudden unexpecteddrops in their motivation or the
quality of their work and beingin that crisis mode which is
their default operating systemlike if any of you are watching
(04:59):
the Pit or have watched it Imean, I loved it.
I was like, oh, this is myfavorite place ever.
Clearly I'm the dandelion here,but if you're in that crisis
mode by default for too long,you're going to fall into
burnout.
Our orchard team members are theones that are sensitive to tone
(05:21):
, unspoken dynamics, theemotional undercurrents.
They're going to do best whenthey have clear expectations,
regular feedback and some levelof safety where they feel like
they can ask you a question andthey're not going to get an
abrupt or curt or clipped answer.
They are thoughtful, intuitiveand detail-oriented and at times
(05:42):
they're misinterpreted as highmaintenance or not ready for
leadership roles or soft.
Right, we're going to use thatas a negative here that they
might be soft and their warningsigns might be obsessive,
overworking so that they startto earn your approval.
They may be taking vague orpoorly delivered feedback.
Personally, there might besigns of physical stress,
(06:06):
fatigue, illness or overapologizing and they may start
asking fewer questions or theymay speak up less than usual.
And I just want to remind us asleaders, just because someone
looks fine doesn't mean thereare right.
Orchids mask and dandelionsminimize, and both types of
(06:27):
people need proactive check-ins.
And here's how it impactscareer growth and the team
dynamics Without realizing it,many managers start to promote
and reward the dandelion traitsspeed, visibility, loudness,
comfort and chaos right.
But they start to overlook theorchid strengths like emotional
insight, thoughtfulness, patternrecognition, empathy really
(06:52):
good nurturing their teams.
So what does it mean?
It means that orchids could beunder leveraged in leadership
roles and dandelions may be overrelied upon without adequate
support.
So if you want more innovative,inclusive leadership with
diversity makes us stronger,right, we're having diversity of
(07:14):
thought and ideas andexperiences to bring into our
business.
We want to look beyond who maybe those initial and early hand
raisers.
So when you're thinking abouthow you, as a leader, can
support and also prevent burnoutin both types is I'm going to
tell you leadership is not abouttreating everyone the same.
(07:36):
You have to tailor.
If you want to be a good leader, you have to tailor your
approach based on who you aretalking to or the teams that
you're talking to.
So you might want to learn thestress response patterns right
Asking a teammate, what doessupport look like for you when
you're under stress?
And normalize conversationsaround workload, processing,
(07:58):
feedback, team dynamics.
Make sure it's not somethingwhere people feel like they're
complaining if they're askingfor questions, and don't assume
that silence is satisfaction.
Next, you want to diversify yourcommunication style and your
feedback style.
Whereas orchids may preferwritten feedback, so they have
time to prepare and presenttheir ideas, dandelions may
(08:22):
appreciate fast feedback, butalso they may benefit from that
reflection time.
So when you're offering bothsynchronous meetings and
asynchronous opportunities,right Slack and documents.
Finding different channels forideas to be shared will make
sure that both types of workerswill have an opportunity to be
heard.
(08:42):
And then make sure thatperformance reviews and
check-ins are predictable, thatthey're specific, they're
actionable and, as always, thatthey are kind.
This is going to benefiteveryone, not just the orchids
out there.
So I want you to also thinkabout how you're designing
inclusive growth opportunities.
Don't conflate visibility withreadiness.
(09:03):
Some of your best strategicthinkers aren't loud in meetings
.
They are crafting theirthoughts, they're processing and
they're going to send youinformation after they may
stretch projects and add in somebuffer right.
If you can do this, this isgoing to really help some of
those people who are orchids toprepare and reflect and make
(09:25):
sure your leadership again ispsychologically safe, making
sure that people can askquestions.
They don't feel like theirhead's going to get bitten off
or they're going to get a terse,a clipped answer.
You want to make sure thatyou're not just being
performative with yourinclusivity, that you really are
working on that, and this is agreat opportunity, as you, as a
leader, you're going to needsupport too.
(09:45):
So this is where it's great foryou to have a leadership
strategy and for you to hire anexecutive coach.
I might know one.
I also want you to rethink whathigh performance means.
Is it speed or is it sustainedcontribution?
Is it charisma or is itinfluence, credibility and trust
(10:07):
?
Is it the loudest idea or theone that actually creates impact
and changing?
These are not binary and Irealize I'm asking them in ways
that are binary.
I'm just trying to get you tothink about some of the ways
that we measure what highperformance is.
So look in some real lifeexamples.
If a dandelion joins a startup,adapts quickly and becomes the
(10:29):
go-to for crisis managementgreat.
But in six months they quietlyquit because it wasn't that they
couldn't handle it.
It's because no one ever askedthem if they were okay.
And an orchid might start in arigid corporate structure and
gets labeled too sensitive andthen stops speaking up.
Later they transfer to a moresupported team, but within
(10:52):
months they are one of the topperformers and one of the most
respected mentors right?
So those are two real worldexamples of clients that again
disguising them between thedandelion and the orchid, but
those are real world examples.
Both have potential, but onewas in an environment to unlock
it, whereas the other one endedup leaving because it wasn't
(11:14):
something that they felt theyweren't cared for.
So I want you to think aboutyour leadership and how you're
designing from an environmentalstandpoint.
If you want high-performing,burnout-resistant teams, you
need to understand how peopleare wired, build systems that
adapt to their strengths, notthe other way around, and make
(11:35):
sure your culture is flexibleenough to accommodate both speed
and sensitivity, that intuition, because thriving teams aren't
grown in identical rows like agarden right.
They're more like great gardensthat require light and space
and care and give you a littlebit of air to breathe and some
(11:56):
time to marinate before yourespond.
All right, friends, as always,you know, I want to hear from
you.
Email me, hello atjillgriffincoachingcom, I want
to know what you think and,until next week, I want you to
watch for the signs of burnouton your team.
Be in possibility.
What's possible?
How can I think about thisculture differently?
How can I make this a reallyinclusive environment and always
(12:19):
, always, always, be kind?
All right, I'll see you soon.
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