How to make sure you stop before you reach burnout

Less than one month into 2023 and burnout is making headlines with Jacinda Ardern announcing last week that she was stepping down from her role as New Zealand’s Prime Minister.

I’ve listened to her resignation speech several times – as a specialist in communication, I am constantly impressed by so many elements of her presentations and interviews. I could write a long article, simply to dissect that.

But this article focuses only on one aspect of her presentation – the reason she gave for stepping down from her leadership role. Ardern has been applauded for her approach. I agree – another great example of her authenticity and humanity as a leader.

But I don’t agree that she cited burnout as her reason. She says she no longer has enough in the tank to do the role justice. In my view, Ardern isn’t showing the courage to ‘admit’ to burnout – I really worry about the implications that burnout is something to ‘admit’ to by the way. ‘Admit’ suggests there is some level of shame in the thing we’re confessing to. I certainly don’t think there is shame in burnout and we need to be careful about the language we use around the topic.

Back to Ardern - I think that she is showing the maturity to step back?before?she reaches burnout. She doesn’t say her tank is empty, she says there is no longer enough to continue to meet the demands of this role.?

Now, whether she is experiencing burnout, or is stopping before she reaches this stage, is something I don’t know – that’s territory for her closest friends and family. But I do think that the difference between burnout and stopping before reaching burnout is important for leaders to consider – both personally and in terms of leading their team.

In too many workplaces nowadays, we’ve got so used to people keeping going until they reach burnout, that we’ve lost sight of the need to create environments where people aren’t at risk of burnout in the first place. Let’s stop cramming in one more project. Let’s stop cramming in one more meeting. Let’s stop sending just one more quick email before we go to bed.

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There is still too much celebration of the long hours culture that prevails in most organisations. Because of this, far too often we ‘cram in’ and think it’s okay to do so because we, and the people we lead, are still functioning.

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Here’s the kind of thing that happens far too often.

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One client closed his computer at 10 pm at night, deciding to respond to an email that had just come in from his boss when he started again in the morning. His boss was requesting last minute data ahead of a meeting at 10 am the next day. When he opened his laptop at 7:30 am, his boss had already sent an email at 5:40 am asking why he hadn’t replied to his 10 pm email.?

Another client I spoke to on a call at 12 noon this week had been at her desk, on Teams meetings, since 6 am.?No breaks between meetings.

And yet another I spoke to last week, who has recently moved on from their role and is taking some downtime, said ‘The (last) job was killing me’. He wasn’t joking.

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You and the people you lead will keep functioning physically, mentally and emotionally, long past the point of good mental well-being – but still not have reached burnout. We ignore this important gap – we don’t go from good mental well-being to burnout, there are many steps between. We need to pay more attention to these steps and learn to stop way sooner. Burnout should not be the goal.?

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That’s why, while I applaud Ardern for the honesty in her messaging and for her maturity in recognising that it is time to step back, way more than that, I really hope that she has done this before she reaches burnout. I hope she has done this when she still has enough in the tank to enjoy her time with her family rather than being at a stage when she has reached rock bottom.?

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Wouldn’t it be great to create the environment where there is the maturity to say ‘let’s not cram in that extra project, that extra meeting, that extra email’? I think everyone reading this article will agree that it would be. Yet too many will feel they don’t have the power to do so – even when they work at levels of seniority where they most certainly can say No, and should do so, for their own well-being and that of the people they lead.

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What would you need to know or believe to give you the confidence to stop sooner? To stop when there is still space between good mental well-being and burnout? What benefits would this bring for you and your team? How many people are you leading?today?who are still functioning, aren’t burnt out and yet are well past the stage of physical, mental and emotional well-being.?

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As we go forward into 2023, I believe this is an important message for us all to consider, and I think that Jacinta Ardern has opened an important door to this discussion. What will it take to step back while there is still something left in the tank?

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Wishing you all the very best for the year ahead.

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And, as always, observe yourself and others with interest and learning, not with criticism and judgement,

Heather

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