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By Lorraine Barnard, CEO & Director, Dananda Global Talent
When people ask me about the highlights of the past 16 months, they expect me to talk about our expansion across South Africa, India, globally and expanding into Africa. They anticipate stories of new contracts, successful placements, or how we maintain our B-BBEE Level 2 status. And yes, those milestones matter.
But the real story? It’s about the invisible weight that accumulates when you’re scaling across time zones, cultures, and continents – and the hard-won lessons about keeping both yourself and your team from buckling under it.
The myth of seamless scaling
Sixteen months ago, I believed that building a multi-country recruitment operation was primarily a logistics challenge. Get the infrastructure right. Hire the right people. Establish clear processes. Scale.
I was half right.
What I didn’t fully appreciate was how scaling fundamentally changes the nature of leadership. When your team is in one office, you feel the energy shifts. You notice when someone’s had three late nights in a row. You catch the subtle signs that a colleague is drowning in their workload. When your team spans Johannesburg and Mumbai, those subtle signals disappear into DM’s and carefully composed emails. Everyone learns to put on their “professional face” in video calls. The burnout creeps in quietly, masked by time zone differences and the universal desire to appear capable.
The servant leader’s paradox
My leadership philosophy has always been rooted in servant leadership – the idea that true leadership means empowering others rather than elevating yourself. My motto, “Don’t chase titles – chase impact,” reflects this belief.
But here’s the paradox I’ve discovered: when you’re deeply committed to serving your team, you can become so focused on their wellbeing that you miss your own warning signs. I found myself constantly checking in on the Mumbai team’s workload, ensuring the Mumbai office had the resources they needed, troubleshooting HR compliance issues across two countries – all while running on empty myself.
The wake-up call came recently during a routine monthly review. I was putting together a management report presenting our growth metrics to the Regenesys Group Stakeholders, and I could barely remember the previous week, never mind the previous month. Not because it was uneventful, but because I’d been operating on autopilot for so long that the days had blurred together.
That’s when I realised: you can’t serve from an empty vessel. And if I burned out, I wasn’t just failing myself – I was failing everyone who depended on the stability of my leadership.
The silent crisis in recruitment
Our industry has a particularly insidious relationship with burnout. Recruitment is built on urgency. Every role is critical. Every client needs someone yesterday. Every candidate deserves immediate feedback. The very nature of our work creates an environment where “always on” becomes the default mode.
Layer in the complexity of executive search and C-suite placements – where due diligence can’t be rushed, where the stakes of a bad hire are enormous, and where clients expect white-glove service – and you have a recipe for exhaustion. Add international operations, where your Mumbai team is finishing their day as your South African morning begins, and suddenly there’s no natural off switch. There’s always another email, another urgent placement, another fire to put out.
As we approach year-end, this pressure intensifies. Clients want to fill positions before the holiday break. Candidates want to start fresh in the new year. Everyone’s rushing to close deals, finalise contracts, meet targets. And somehow, we’re supposed to also plan for next year, conduct performance reviews, and attend every festive gathering without collapsing.
What I’ve learned about sustainable scaling
The past 16 months have taught me that sustainable growth isn’t about working harder – it’s about working differently. Here are the hard-won lessons that have helped us scale across borders while maintaining team wellbeing:
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- Regional autonomy Isn’t optional – It’s essential
Early on, I tried to maintain hands-on oversight across two countries and soon to be three. It was unsustainable and, frankly, disrespectful to the talented professionals I’d hired.
Now, each regional team has real authority to make decisions within their domain. The Mumbai team understands the Indian market better than I ever will. Trusting them to lead locally hasn’t just reduced my workload – it’s made us more effective in each market.
- Communication boundaries create better communication
Counterintuitively, being available 24/7 doesn’t improve communication – it degrades it. When everyone knows they can reach you anytime, messages become less thoughtful. Problems that could be solved locally get escalated unnecessarily.
We’ve established clear communication boundaries. Genuine emergencies? Those can interrupt anytime—we operate in a fast-paced environment where that’s unavoidable. But routine questions, status updates, and general discussions? Those respect time zones and working hours. This distinction forces everyone—me included—to pause and consider: does this actually need immediate attention, or can it wait until morning?
- Celebrate the small wins before they feel small
When you’re scaling rapidly, there’s always a bigger milestone on the horizon. We filled 15 positions this month. Great, but we need 20 next month. We secured a new RPO contract? Wonderful, but we still need to land that private or public sector tender.
I’ve learned to pause and genuinely celebrate wins with the team when they happen—not at some future date when we’re “less busy.” That mythical “less busy” period never arrives. The only moment we have to acknowledge excellent work is now.
- Burnout has a six-week lead time
Here’s something nobody tells you about burnout: you don’t go from fine to burned out overnight. There’s usually a six-week window where the signs are there if you know what to look for.
You notice it in small shifts. The person who always had ideas in meetings now stays quiet. Their deliverables are still solid, but something’s missing—that edge of energy. They’re calling in sick more often. Their usual humour in team channels has vanished.
Having leads across our business that can watch for these patterns—not to police people, but to intervene early. Having a conversation about workload when someone is approaching burnout can prevent months of recovery time.
- December isn’t a sprint – It’s a trap
The recruitment industry treats December like an Olympic sprint event. Everyone’s racing to close deals before the year ends, as if January 1st marks some cosmic deadline after which business evaporates.
Here’s what I’ve realised: clients who are genuinely ready to hire will still be ready in January. Candidates who are the right fit won’t vanish over the holiday break. Yes, we need to meet our targets, but not at the expense of burning out the team who needs to deliver for the next 12 months.
This year, we’re implementing “strategic slowdown” periods. From December 22nd to January 2nd, we’re operating in maintenance mode. Urgent client needs will be addressed, but we’re not pursuing new business during this window. Our team deserves to recharge, and our 2026 performance will reflect that investment.
The numbers tell a story
Since implementing these approaches over the past several months, we’ve seen tangible results:
- Staff turnover dropped by 90% compared to our industry benchmark
- Employee engagement scores increased by 80% in our quarterly surveys
- Client satisfaction ratings remain above 90%, despite reducing after-hours availability
- We’ve successfully filled multiple C-suite positions while maintaining rigorous due diligence standards
More importantly, the intangible indicators have shifted. Team meetings feel more energized. People volunteer ideas instead of just responding to directives. When I ask, “How are you really doing?” I get honest answers instead of automatic “fine.”
Leading from the oxygen mask
Here’s the truth I wish I’d learned earlier: taking care of yourself isn’t selfish leadership—it’s strategic leadership.
When I started prioritising my own wellbeing – taking weekends off, setting boundaries around evening work, being transparent with my team about my own capacity – something unexpected happened. It gave everyone else permission to do the same. The hustle culture mentality that pervades our industry creates an arms race of exhaustion. Someone works until 8 PM, so others feel they should too. Someone answers emails on Sunday, so it becomes the norm. Someone brags about surviving on five hours of sleep, and suddenly rest feels like weakness.
As leaders, we set the culture through our actions more than our words. I can tell my team to maintain work-life balance all day long, but if I’m sending emails at midnight, the message they receive is clear: this is what success looks like here.
The road ahead
As we head into year-end and look toward 2026, I’m approaching it differently than previous years. Yes, we have ambitious goals. We’re pursuing private and public sector tenders, expanding our service offerings, and continuing to scale our international presence. But I’m also committed to measuring success by metrics that matter in the long term: team retention, employee wellbeing, sustainable client relationships, and the ability to maintain quality while growing.
Being recognised among Africa’s Most Influential Leaders Driving HR Excellence 2025 is an honour I don’t take lightly. But the real measure of influence isn’t in the title – it’s in the impact we create for our team, our clients, and the candidates whose careers we help shape.
If the past 16 months have taught me anything, it’s that the most challenging part of scaling a business across borders isn’t the logistics, the compliance, or the infrastructure. It’s maintaining the human connection that makes work meaningful, even as the operation grows more complex. It’s recognising that behind every DM, every placement, every contract, there are real people with limited energy, competing priorities, and a fundamental need to feel valued beyond their productivity.
And it’s understanding that sustainable growth—the kind that lasts beyond a single impressive quarter—requires us to be as intentional about rest as we are about revenue.
A challenge to fellow leaders
As year-end approaches and the pressure intensifies, I challenge you to ask yourself:
- What would it look like to end the year strong rather than exhausted?
- How might your 2026 results improve if your team started January energized rather than depleted?
- What would you do differently if you measured success by sustainability rather than just speed?
- The answers might surprise you. They certainly surprised me.
- Here’s to chasing impact, not titles – and having the energy to make that impact when we get there.
Lorraine Barnard, is the CEO & Director of Dananda Global Talent, an accredited subsidiary of the Regenesys Group
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