Keeping Burnout at Bay
✦ Matt Zinman ✦
Resilience Builder | Burnout Crusader | Author of Z-isms | Speaker | Corporate Trainer | Podcast Host | Happierness Innovator | Mindset and Wellbeing Transformer | Nonprofit Founder
It’s a little like not changing your oil and expecting your car will run after the engine seizes.
In fairness, no single analogy can sum up the many forms and complexities of burnout.
On the whole, burnout remains at epidemic proportions. Among the many forces at work, most studies average the incidence at between 45 to 65 percent. Those specific to high-stress professions, such as healthcare and human resources, report burnout rates in upwards of 80 or even 90 percent.
To be clear, the World Health Organization defines it as, A syndrome resulting from chronic, unmanaged workplace stress characterized by three dimensions:
● Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
● Disconnectedness from, or cynicism towards one’s job
● Reduced professional efficacy
As much as stress is at issue, burnout exhibits different characteristics. Stress involves over-engagement while burnout is marked by disengagement. Emotions are less overreactive as they are blunted. Rather than producing urgency and hyperactivity, burnout is marked by helplessness and hopelessness.
To whatever degree its root cause is attributed to workplace dynamics, the sources of burnout are more holistic for individuals. That’s certainly consistent with my own two bouts, which I experienced in very different ways. I’ve already disclosed the details of my first brush with burnout in “My Fight for Freedom,” the bonus article in Issue 18.
That experience came in the wake of a perfect storm in 2002. My other burnout incident in 2013 had more to do with my most serious and last bout with depression, which took hold following the death of my older brother, Dave. He suffered an injury that spiraled him into depression and opioid addiction. Compounded by a loss of identity and sense purpose in not being able to work, Dave succumbed. That’s all I have to say about that.
Triggering my depression diminished my capacity to sustain the demands of my own life and I was overcome to the point of becoming non-functional. My circumstances are not unique.
THE UNIVERSAL RECIPE FOR BURNOUT
For conventional purposes, let’s return to the work environment. Here are the indicators of a burnout culture:
● Lack of control: autonomy, long hours, flexibility
● Work overload: inadequate support, resources or clear expectations
● Poor work-life imbalance: lack of separation
- Not prioritizing mental health
- Remaining overwhelmed without focusing on recovery
● Breakdown of community: dysfunctional workplace culture
- Strained relationships with boss or team members
- Absence of good communication channel, psychological safety
- Lack of employee engagement / over-engagement / values mismatch
- Going unnoticed
● Insufficient reward: No clear path for growth, not dreaming big
● Absence of fairness: labor regulation, economic insecurity
On the whole, it remains confounding why employers are not doing what it takes to remedy burnout, especially given the strong business case to act. The direct impact of burnout increases employee turnover, disengagement, absenteeism, healthcare costs and presenteeism, intensified by lost productivity, performance errors and a communication breakdown.
And then there’s its ripple effect involving: loss of talent equity, recruitment and hiring costs, contagious stress, employee loyalty, diminished empathy, reduced accomplishment, missed deadlines and deteriorating relationships.
Companies that do put programs in place, such as about mindfulness and stress reduction, only scratch the surface enough to say they tried.
Other resources, such as EAP services and Employee Resource Groups – by and large – go unutilized. Compounding matters is the Catch-22 that putting effective burnout protocols in place is somehow an admission of guilt that hurts their recruiting brand and corporate culture.
Employers have to put their actions where their interests lie instead of box-checking and making things even worse. There’s no quick, easy or magic fix for something chronic.
People need to have the capacity and opportunity to build the skills to get and stay well.
THE FOUR C’s ESSENTIAL FOR A CURE
As an overarching theme, those employers truly devoted to remedying their organizational burnout will be guided by Four C’s and implement effective programming noted below.
1. Communication – bring the issue to light, remove the stigma, train frontline managers to support their people and have leaders model healthy behaviors. Assure fair practices through transparent decision-making.
2. Control – manage workloads by confirming they’re reasonable, in alignment with clear priorities and offset by eliminating waste, such as unnecessary meetings. Give employees more autonomy, address micromanagement issues and offer flexibility (remote/hybrid) and accommodations, such as PTO and ample leave to prioritize life needs.
3. Community – promote a positive culture and belonging, be intentional with recognition and rewards. It matters.
4. Coping – foster a health and wellness culture and align work with employee’s personal values to instill them with greater purpose and a sense of contribution.
If you’re in a leadership position at an organization contending with burnout, here’s are some steps in the right direction.
Overall, employers need to reframe the basic question from who is burning out to why they are burning out. It’s not enough to simply focus on individual workers. Burnout is systemic. It’s essential to recognize the job conditions at the source. Workers need conditions to thrive and do well.
CHECK-UP: ARE YOU BURNT OUT?
As much as anyone does or does not have the ability to exert control over their work environment and culture, burnout recovery and prevention is an individual journey.
Given that burnout is the result of prolonged stress and self-neglect, it can be difficult to distinguish from daily challenges. However, there are a number of subtle warning signs that can be telling along with some indicators of diminished well-being. Here’s a quick and easy burnout check-up. How many apply to you?
20 WARNING SIGNS OF BURNOUT
Use the key above to score each section. If your results point to a need for recovery, here are some suggestions to consider:
● Identify the cause(s): work analysis
● Communicate with your boss
● Discuss concerns and solutions
● Improve organization skills and tools
● Draw support from others
● Find meaning in your work
● Reestablish work-life harmony
● Find a mentor, coach or counselor
● Evaluate progress and difficulties
● Shake it up: welcome change!
As for prevention, much as with “Defeating Depression,” often the best way to manage a crisis is to not let it happen.
Before we get more prescriptive, here are the basics:
● Practice self-care
- Sleep (7-9)
- Diet / hydration
- Exercise (30m/day)
- Stress management
● Work with purpose
- Make meetings matter
● Pace yourself
● Set boundaries
● Communicate clearly
I believe the main priority is exercise because that alone will positively impact all aspects of self-care. Mentally, an emphasis on fortifying resilience is also essential.
LET’S GET PRACTICAL
We can’t do it all. In fact, more to the point is the added challenge with burnout. You’re already stretched for time, feel depleted and now have to find it within yourself to recover.
Activity 1: The “Take 10” Mood Booster Routine
This is my top recommendation to meaningfully improve well-being. Anyone can “Take 10”! The key is to be prescriptive about activities while remaining intentionally present. It’s easy enough to start small, if even once every other morning and then work up to doing twice per day. Mix it up.
The key to embracing this routine is to notice. Take a few seconds before to tune-in to how you’re feeling and then again after to realize how much better you feel. What adjectives best describe your mood and energy level? Are you having any negative thoughts or physical discomfort? Keeping track in a simple journal or phone app will bring progress to life. By intentionally noticing, you’ll want to keep doing it!
Here's a menu of ways you can vary your “Take 10,” build resilience and enrich your life for good.
Activity 2: Gratitude, Laughter and “Habit-Stacking”
What positive forces can you infuse into your daily living? When was the last time you had a good laugh? Do you make it a point to experience gratitude?
It’s less about devoting time you don’t have as much as it is being intentional with what you’ve got. When is your downtime? Some ideas: showering, brushing your teeth, bio-breaks, your commute, check-out lines, the walk from your car to and from the parking lot? It’s there.
Try associating one of these daily behaviors with opportunities to express and experience gratitude and do things that bring you joy. This is healing through habit-stacking. Who lifts you up? How about giving them a call during a “Take 10”?
REVITALIZE
No one wants to live life as their lesser self or feel other than their best. The practical suggestions here are simple, which is not to say they’re easy. The ultimate question is whether bettering yourself and your life with lasting impact is worth the effort.
When you’re ready to extinguish burnout, here are a few questions to get you started. What’s truly within your control and what is not? What more can you do to better control the things you can? Are the things you cannot control so out of reach that everything else you can control still won’t be enough to feel better and stay well?
From there, your path becomes clearer.
As your journey takes shape, the choice to live on THE BRIGHT SIDE remains yours to embrace.
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TBS Issue 24 - Personal Message
I hope you found this week's article provided a helpful resource to extinguish burnout. Please feel welcome to join me for a minute about:
● October: National Suicide Prevention Month
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To your HAPPIERNESS!
Author of “Z-isms: Insights to Live By” (free eBook and Audiobook)
Host of “Insights to Live By – The Podcast”
Contact: matt@Z-isms.com
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EXCITING NEWS
On September 20th, I had the honor of leading the faculty and staff of Bucks County Community College through my workshop, "Uncommon Mindset Skills for Living Life on Purpose," as well as run a breakout about "Keeping Burnout at Bay." Here I appear to be attempting to inspire curiosity - ha! Thanks to everyone at Bucks for all your kind feedback and inviting me to roll this program out campus-wide.
ALSO: I am beyond thrilled to have the honor of being the lead keynote speaker for the HR Conference Cruise in March. Topic: "Uncommon Mindset Skills to Enrich Your Life with Happierness." Please feel welcome to visit the link for full details as well as use my speaker promo code "FRIENDOFMATT" for an extra discount. My session, along with 5 others provide SHRM/HRCI credits. Alternatively, there's also a second cruise (2/22-27). My code is good for that too.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS FOR WORKSHOPS, KEYNOTES AND LEARNING PROGRAMS
● Extinguishing Burnout for Good: Personally and Organizationally
● Getting Out of Your Head and into Your Life (Taming Overthinking)
● Managing Energy: Personally, Interpersonally and Universally
● Defeating Depression Once and For All
● Foundational Skills for Emotional Intelligence
● Honing Your Intuition for Personal Effectiveness
● Uncommon Mindset Skills to Enrich Your Happierness
To consider having Matt keynote your next event or support your people with workshops, retreats and other custom training programs: Book Matt's Calendar to explore this together.
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Earned Confidence: An logic filter based on one’s life experiences that proves it unnecessary to worry, be anxious or make assumptions about uncertainties because one is fully capable to cope with actual occurrences in real time.
Resilience: The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; remain unaffected by insignificant occurrences; adapt to challenges; and, keep things in perspective.
Presence: The conscious state of observing, noticing and/or experiencing life as it happens while remaining free of distraction; intentional engagement to tune-in to the moments that matter. Practicing mindfulness.
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