A new employee is trying to figure out how to log into the company training portal again, someone got a splinter from a pallet, a driver called out sick, and three trucks backed up to your dock to be unloaded at the same time, one with an appointment and two without. The customer pickup area is five deep. That can easily be the first 30 minutes of the day in distribution. The required product training will have to wait.

If you’ve spent any time leading in distribution, you’ve lived a version of this. Curveballs are coming at field leaders constantly. The impact is real, and the leader must make snap decisions that are in the best interests of their people and customers. The job is not easy and can cause many leaders to crumble under the pressure. 

However, the best leaders think about these challenges in advance and plan for them. Burnout doesn’t usually show up all at once; it builds over time. Not because of one bad day, but because every day starts to feel harder than it should, and nothing around the work gets easier.

Burnout often builds when leaders fail to delegate and communicate clearly. Leaders who do not train and delegate consistently find themselves in constant firefighter or hero mode. And if you stay in that stage long enough, it will eventually negatively impact you. Most of the time, what looks like a people issue is actually a system issue. 

The work is running through the leader instead of the team. If you’re the only one who can decide, that’s the problem. When everything depends on one person, the pressure has nowhere else to go.

The hidden cost of hero mode

In many cases, leaders respond to that pressure by simply taking on more instead of setting clear expectations for their teams or locations. Even small things can have a big impact. 

For example, years ago, on my first visit to a branch, I walked in and noticed there were no customers. Only two guys on the counter with their backs turned, watching SportsCenter on the TV behind the counter. Just as they were greeting me, the manager came through the warehouse double doors with a cart full of inventory to put away on the shelves. 

He was covered in sweat from the 100-degree heat in the warehouse that day. He introduced himself right as the phone rang. He asked me nicely if I could hold on for a second and went to grab the phone. The whole time I was watching the two counter guys, wondering why they weren’t helping. 

A little while later, I pulled the manager aside and asked what led to him being the only one rushing to the phones and the only one putting stock away. He exclaimed that every time he has the guys do it, it’s not organized correctly. I was shocked that he didn’t think he could coach them on how to ensure the glue and primer were facing the correct way. The counter guys were also “not as polite as he liked” on the phones. To me, this manager appeared to be in a near-crisis mode. 

What I shared is a true story, but one that is quite extreme. The manager had to step down from the role and shift into inside sales because of the stress he was under. What made that situation so difficult wasn’t only the workload; it was the way the work was structured. Everything was routing back through the manager. That’s where burnout takes hold. Seeing that firsthand changed how I approached the role.

Preparation beats recovery

Over nearly 30 years in wholesale distribution, I’ve found that the best way to navigate this pressure is to prepare in advance. Time off can help in the moment, but it doesn’t fix this. If the structure doesn’t change, the same pressure is waiting when you get back. 

The question is, how do you prepare for someone who calls out sick or customers waiting five deep at your pickup counter? It comes down to two things: communication and preparation for the worst possible situations.

What I described at the beginning of this was a real day in my early career, and many more were like those. The way I learned to thrive in that environment was to think through with my team what we would do in those exact situations beforehand. 

Training teams to handle chaos

For example, we made sure there was a clear operating rhythm. Things such as what company had a temp driver that could be at our store within an hour, or ensuring multiple people in the branch were trained in first aid. We also realized that simply saving the hyperlink for the new associates, with clear instructions taped by the training computer, would clear up most issues. 

The more important part was that we preplanned for this as well. We walked through the communication part before it ever happened. Mike, the warehouse lead, knew he would step in to handle a first-aid situation because we had discussed it before any injury had occurred. 

Anna, in inside sales, had the staffing company on speed dial to ensure we had a driver at the branch quickly. She was also prepared to call in a courier service if necessary, because we wanted to be certain our customers were taken care of before any problems arose. 

Our new associate was asked to take a short break from training to greet customers at the counter and thank them for their patience. He would know that the standard was also to offer them cold bottled water or hot coffee while they waited. I might be out on the dock communicating with the delivery drivers about how we would get them unloaded efficiently. 

Everyone knew what needed to be done to get through the chaos. And when the branch settled down, we all looked at each other with a sense of pride and accomplishment that we collectively won that morning. 

And that wasn’t a one-off. What I noticed was that we had created a group of leaders who could step up and keep the branch running when the unexpected occurred. Because the system worked, I could step away from the branch a few days a week and spend time with our best customers. 

With the branch running strong, I was also able to invite an often-overlooked “house account” customer out for a quick lunch. These new leaders didn’t need to come to me for every decision; they knew what to do and were encouraged to take care of customers. Our branch was a top performer, and many associates were promoted to run their own operations.

Organizing pressure, not avoiding it

In many cases, branches celebrate the person who seems to be constantly saving the day, not even realizing it was that same person who created it. Unfortunately, some companies reward firefighters and still wonder why they have fires. That’s what happens when systems aren’t in place.

In distribution, the pressure is there daily. The best leaders embrace that pressure as a privilege and encourage their teams to do the same. Leaders don’t remove pressure; they organize it so their teams know how to carry it on any given day. They don’t even have to say anything; their folks are already trained and know exactly what needs to happen to keep the trucks moving and the customers happy.

When leaders do this, the work doesn’t depend on them. The team knows what to do. 

Brian Eason is a Group Vice President in wholesale distribution with nearly 30 years of experience in the industry. He leads a multistate region in the building materials industry and is the author of Foundations of a Giant: A Branch Boss’s Blueprint for Wholesale Distribution. His leadership writing has appeared in Fortune. He can be reached at [email protected].