Burning at Both Ends

Last month, after decades of debate, conjecture, denial and confusion, the World Health Organization confirmed what many of us have known in our gut all along – burnout is a real thing. For the first time, the WHO is acknowledging burnout as a legitimate issue associated with chronic workplace stress including it in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), the WHO’s handbook that guides medical providers in diagnosing diseases.

According to a statement from the World Health Organization, “burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed” and is classified by three factors: 1) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, 2) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job and 3) reduced professional efficacy.

CNN says the ICD-11 now regards burnout as a “legitimate medical diagnosis.” CNBC disagreed saying the WHO classified burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” and did not call it a medical condition. Even the WHO’s actual use of a phrase like “conceptualized syndrome” feels a little fuzzy. Regardless of who’s right, the debate frames the real problem we have with burnout: everyone is so focused on the diagnosis, they’ve completely forgotten to look for a cure.

If You've Never Felt Burned Out, You Will

It’s understandable to put cause before the cure. After all, the cure is the far more difficult side of the equation. But as CEOs, presidents and leaders of companies, the truth is we don’t have time to wait on either one. Burnout is a roman candle burning at both ends – one end personal and the other among our staffs – that threatens to destroy everything we’re working so hard to create.

It doesn’t help that most of us came up through the business in a time when working long hours and pushing to the limit was a source of pride. The price of success. The most admired of the professional character traits. “If you don’t come in Saturday, don’t bother coming in Sunday” was the common joke. Except it wasn’t.

Those who pushed and pushed and pushed were often rewarded and when you weren’t, the takeaway wasn’t just that you weren’t good enough. It’s that clearly you weren’t working hard enough. That presented two choices. Relax and settle, or push harder. That’s usually when the brain loop that screamed, “You’re not hurt! Rub some dirt on it! Finish the drill!” started playing.

Like me, I’m sure many, if not most, of you have felt this kind of burnout at various times throughout your career and either pushed through it, or simply learned to cope with it. If you haven’t, it’s a shadow that’s constantly lurking on the horizon.

Last year, Canadian pastor and author Carey Nieuwhof wrote a fantastic book called “Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the 7 Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences” that should be required reading for anyone in any kind of leadership role. In his book, Nieuwhof explores Cynicism, Compromise, Disconnection, Irrelevance, Pride, Emptiness and Burnout, but the argument could be made the other six issues are what fuel burnout and all the feelings and physical manifestations that come with it.

In the book, Nieuwhof describes his own frightening descent into burnout in the summer of 2006. He had just given the keynote address to 2,500 of the country’s top leaders at a national conference at the North Point Church near Atlanta and by all accounts, he killed it. A decade later, people still talk about it. For Nieuwhof, it was scaling Everest. Winning the Super Bowl. And yet, three months after landing back in Toronto, he was “hurtling headlong into the abyss.” How does that happen? How do you go from achieving what you’ve spent decades going after to being completely deflated, empty and at worst, believing the world would be better without you in it? That’s a dark place. For you, and for the people who work for you.

We don’t need the World Health Organization to tell us burnout is real. It’s as real a byproduct of hard work and ambition as success and often, more likely. If your culture is anything like the one here at LOOMIS with driven, talented people who work as much to not let each other down as they do to achieve, burnout is an ever present concern and something that can easily be overlooked, or worse, explained away.

If we ever want to move from “bosses” to “leaders,” or from “superiors” to “mentors,” we have a real obligation to look for burnout, both in ourselves and in our staffs. If it’s us, we need to put on our own oxygen mask first and make sure we are not leading from a place of exhaustion, insecurity and fear. And if we see the signs in our friends and colleagues, it’s incumbent on us to step in to help.

From books to therapists, there are plenty of resources to better understand burnout and how to recognize it, but for now, consider these 11 signs from “Didn’t See It Coming” both for you and your staff. Burnout can be corrected. But only if it’s identified with an honest heart and the willingness to put people, including yourself, first.

11 Signs You May Be Experiencing Burnout

1.   Your Passion Fades

2.   You No Longer Feel The Highs Or Lows

3.   Little Things Make You Disproportionately Emotional

4.   Everybody Drains You

5.   You’re Becoming Cynical

6.   Nothing Satisfies You

7.   You Can’t Think Straight

8.   Your Productivity Is Dropping

9.   You’re Self-Medicating

10. You Don’t Laugh Anymore

11. Sleep And Time Off No Longer Refuel You

If you or someone you care about it experiencing burnout, here are some additional resources for help: Workplace Strategies for Mental Health website, the Mayo Clinic, and 10 TED talks on burnout.