Date: Sunday, October 4, 2026
I’m JoAnna Hillman, the Evaluation Managers and Supervisors (EMS) TIG Chair and owner of Hillman Associates, LLC. I’ve dabbled in caregiving my entire career. Starting in high school as a Certified Nurse’s Assistant and later in part-time elder care, I’ve seen up close and personal what burnout looks like for caregivers of their loved ones. The parallel between caregivers and managers is undeniable. As managers we care for our teams, staff, interest holders and clients. We always seem to be managing someone else’s needs and sometimes, we forget about our own. We can’t be good managers if our cup is empty.
It can be lonely the higher up you go in the career chain. You start to look around and there are fewer people looking out for you and checking on how you’re doing. Fewer people to serve as your mentor and provide you with compassion and direction.
I had a situation this summer where I was faced with having to navigate some challenging scenarios. Of course I had my team, but the wise advice that I needed in this particular situation, was not immediately available to me. I knew I needed help, but where do you go when it feels like there’s no one who “gets it”?
Feeling rather overwhelmed I was tempted to temporarily cut anything extra on my plate so I could focus on making it through this slog. I started to send a message to the Evaluation Managers and Supervisors TIG members saying I was feeling burnt out and needed to cancel the next meeting, but as I wrote, I found myself compelled to do the exact opposite. I realized they were exactly who I needed in that moment. So, raw and vulnerable, I asked people to meet me in this tired and broken space of burnout and complexity that I was feeling. What happened next was magical. This group of managers came together at the next meeting and validated what I was experiencing, shared similar lived experiences and offered empathy and compassion for what I was going through. They offered helpful suggestions for how to move through it. Who cares? They did.
Seek out a community like the Evaluation Managers and Supervisors TIG where you have a safe space to discuss and navigate situations with fellow evaluators. This helps you to realize that you are not alone.
Have a trusted colleague or peer mentor who you can reach out to as a sounding board if you don’t have access to one in your day-to-day job. Engage them when you need to feel grounded and need an unbiased perspective.
We don’t get handed a manual for how to be a good boss, but the next best thing we can do is to model it for early-career evaluators. Rather than hiding the struggle, show them how you lead though difficult situations; talk with them about your decision process and how you care for yourself while caring for others as a manager.
Evaluation work is usually focused on others. Nurturing our teams or meeting the expectations of clients and leadership also means being focused on others. In case you need to hear this today, it’s okay to take some time to focus on you. Restore your joy, commitment and confidence so you can pour from a full cup. “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” -Margaret Mead
A special thanks to Renee Boyer for being my sounding board for the development of this blog post.
The American Evaluation Association is hosting Evaluation Managers and Supervisors (EMS) TIG Week with our colleagues in the Evaluation Managers and Supervisors Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our Gov’t Eval TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please do so using the form on our website. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.