The High Burnout Organization - Part 2
Yesterday, I shared the first 4 patterns from our research about organizations that burn out their people. Today I’ll share the rest. No organizations have all of these. But the more you have the higher the risk of burning out your people. Starting with....
5. Lack of support from above
A recurring theme was that people could handle a lot of pressure at work as long as they felt they were supported by their boss. But when that relationship soured or they got a new unsupportive boss the dam would burst. (Nick’s note - the boss was often in the same position as the Direct Report. And so was the bosses’ boss. There are no villains here.)
6. The talk doesn’t match the walk
It is unusual these days for companies not to talk about how important their people and their wellbeing is. In the high burnout organizations the common theme was how little the action and decision making in the organizations matched the words.
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7. People don’t talk about Burnout around here
It is extremely common for the system to be burning people out but individuals feeling they are only one. People in organizations are hiding what they are experiencing from others. In many of our minds and org’s, burnout still has a stigma attached to it.
We shouldn’t continue to create organizational conditions that burn out good people. The organizations above didn’t start out like that. Their goal was high performance, but over time they neglected the health of the organism and became toxic.
A lot of people have said, it must have been depressing hearing all these stories. It wasn’t. I felt inspired by the people and their courage. They lifted me. Partly because of their courage. But partly because of what these people did to turn their situation around. In upcoming posts I’ll share positive examples about what individuals and organizations did to move from toxic performance to healthy performance. Hopefully it will inspire you too.
The research is still in process so if you have ideas, thoughts or stories to share we'd love to hear from you. Just add a note in the comments or email nick@nicholaspetrie.com
We looking fwd to connecting.
Agente de développement et d'intégration
1yI can recognize most of the point that drove me towards burnout in 2018. Lack of personnel, (personal emergency and systemic emergency) not talking about burnout, and I went down when my manager withdrawed her support. I felt on my own, struggling to stay afloat. I didn't see or heard the warning signs. This plus a personal story around performance as my grades were "never enough" put me down. Thanks for this info. Trying to help people now not to fall into this rabbit' hole
Daglig leder Senter for Stress og Traumepsykologi
1yYour summary on this topic is excellent, and very much in line with what I have learned as a clinical psychologist who has worked with people and organizatons struggling with stress and burnout for 20 years here in Norway. So well in fact, that I have allowed me to summarize it, with reference, in a blog post on our own website. If I should point out one factor that really stands out, in my opinion, as especially toxic it is the non-supportive/non-available leader who never "sees" the employee.
Multidisciplinary Problem Solver & Coordinator | Creative Mind | Ayurvedic Cook & Artist
2yI love that you say most companies do not want to burn out their people, I agree, I do not think any of this is intended. I also believe not all of these boxes need to be ticked. You can be offering mental and well-being support, and still have high workload and insufficient resources. You can have support from above and talk about burnout, and still a system designed for insecurity. The bottom line might be that the talk does not match the walk :D or that the people have blind spots in terms what moves the system instead of seeing the isolated events or initiatives. Also, what I have seen a couple of times, is with what mental model employees come to the company. If they only know high burnout organizations they will feel like expendable resources, feel insecurity and will look for queues that support this even if the company is okay. Lack of overcommunication, and the talk not matching the walk might also play a role here.
Experienced CEO | Entrepreneur- AR technology | Facilitator | Speaker | Systems Thinker, strategy and leadership
2yLoved your interview on What's Next with Pete Holliday