Jennifer Moss shares how to build resilience, and it's about to get influential

"We have to step up as leaders to be able to help." In You've Got This this week, speaker and author Jennifer Moss discusses what inspired her focus on workplace happiness, the research that inspired her new book, and ways you can recognize and address signs of burnout. Be sure to check out her answers below, along with announcing our next guest, professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University and social psychologist Vanessa Bohns.

Victoria: "What role did your professional journey play in discovering your passion for studying workplace culture and happiness?"

Jennifer: "I studied journalism in university, and spent my early career working in communications and public relations which means I’ve always been writing. I started in the public sector in Canada and then spent nearly a decade in Silicon Valley where I realized a passion for research and how helpful it is to give people digestible data. It was during my time at Robert Half International, a multinational HR and staffing firm, that I figured out the value of connecting academic research to private industry.

?"Inevitably, it would be a personal experience – a time of pain, resiliency and growth – that would be the driving force behind why I focused on workplace wellness. Our work has the potential to add extraordinary richness and joy to our lives. It can fuel our sense of purpose and learning. It gives our brains novelty – something it persistently craves. And, it connects us to others. And yet, it can be plagued with stress which detracts from our well-being. I’ve made it my mission to give more leaders the tools to identify and manage stress upstream."

If they learn these skills, they enhance people’s lives because stress – both at work and at home are managed more effectively. And, instead of feeling chronically stressed and burned out, employees (and employers) reap the benefits of a higher-performing, healthier culture."

Victoria: "Can you share the process and inspiration behind your upcoming book?THE BURNOUT EPIDEMIC, and what distinguishes a traditional approach to workplace wellness from a more proactive approach to fighting burnout?"

Jennifer: "I started the book before the pandemic. Actually, I’d been writing, researching and speaking internationally about the topic of burnout for years. But when the pandemic hit, I scrapped about 20,000 really solid words. Overnight many of those first words had become obsolete. It was an ironic moment for sure – the burnout expert feeling pretty burned out. But this book has been a passion project for years. I care deeply about this subject, perhaps because it’s so highly misunderstood. It’s an issue rife with myths. And those misunderstandings come with serious – sometimes catastrophic – consequences.

But, the genesis of the book started long before I even realized that I was witnessing burnout in the organizations I was consulting. It was after analyzing the impact of positive psychology interventions in workplaces and wondering why sometimes those interventions worked and other times it didn’t.

What I came to understand is that wellness programming was too far downstream for some companies who needed something different. Their people weren’t looking to be optimized and motivated, they really needed help battling chronic stress, mental illness and/or burnout first. Unfortunately, for far too long we’ve suggested burnout can be solved with self-care and that’s not realistic. The root causes of burnout run far too deep to give it back to someone and say – hey, you solve this one on your own."

Victoria: "As someone who studies happiness and well-being, what are some actionable insights that others can utilize in their day-to-day?"

Jennifer: "Burnout is solvable. It just requires a 'we' approach. If you’re dealing with overwork, it’s valuable to document what you’re working on each day. Spend two weeks and assess the following:

• What do I consider my priorities?
• What are the urgent needs that pop up regularly?
• How often do I work on urgent versus priority needs?
• How often am I skipping lunch or eating at my desk?
• Are there any areas where I fall behind and what are the reasons – is it lack of training? Do I need more resources? Am I constantly disrupted by meetings? By life?
• How often do I check my email right before bed or immediately when I wake up?
• How many hours am I actually working each day – and how much each week?

Document all of this – then ask to have a conversation with your manager. Sit down and discuss what you think are your priorities. Check to see if there is alignment. If not – discuss which ones should be. Have a factual conversation about which urgent needs are the most urgent and which ones your manager suggests you should downgrade.

You can also figure out how to get more training and support. It may not be viable – but perhaps there is mentorship or someone that has a strength on the team that you can borrow for learning and provide support back to your colleague with one of your skills.

We also need to be able to recognize burnout in ourselves and others. A good way to check on that is to assess the frequency of these signs on a weekly basis:

·??????Emotional exhaustion. This looks like feeling tired all the time. It’s hard to overcome demotivation in the morning and face another day of work. You feel persistent dread before you start your week and it only subsides when you are away from work. You feel like at the end of the day you are completely worn out to the point where you need to nap or rest from depletion. You have little energy for other areas of your life.

·??????Disengagement, reduced personal efficacy. My team and I did novel research during the pandemic and found that self-efficacy was very low. When you’re expected to pivot so rapidly and learn new technology on the fly and still perform at the same levels or higher – it was hard to feel good about your work. We’re still struggling to understand why it’s so hard to be as high-achieving as we once were. I keep reminding people – this is not business as usual.?Symptoms of reduced personal efficacy can also show up if you can’t see the vision and the goal any longer. Teachers were particularly hard hit this year because they often felt like the students they were serving weren’t getting what they needed. That can make you feel like you’re losing confidence in your ability to do your job, even though you know you’re good at it. You feel like you’re working more, longer hours, but not accomplishing your goals. You feel less productive and motivated. And you don’t believe in yourself like you used to.

·?????Cynicism/Depersonalization. The parts of your job that you used to love, you’re starting to hate. You used to get along well with your coworkers, clients and stakeholders, but now you feel constantly frustrated and irritated with them. You have a sense of hopelessness that things will get better. And you just feel an emotional distance from your work. Perhaps it’s just too many Zoom meetings or emails and you’re not doing what you really care about anymore. If these signs continue to show up more frequently – say two to three times per week – then it’s important to get support. Typically, this means that a person is at higher risk of burnout and requires the tools to manage some of these emotions. However, I want to highlight here – burnout is NOT an individual’s problem to solve alone. Chronic stress is a systemic problem and unless some of the root causes of burnout – like overwork, loneliness, feeling micromanaged, decreased feelings of safety and lack of fairness – are resolved, then it will continue to be an issue.

?"We have to step up as leaders to be able to help our people before it gets too far."

Follow Jennifer on LinkedIn.

__________________________________________________________________________

Next week's guest: Vanessa Bohns

Interested in growing your sphere of influence? Then you'll want to hear more from our next guest, Vanessa Bohns. As a social psychologist, professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University, and author whose research has been featured by the?Wall Street Journal, the?New York Times, and NPR’s Hidden Brain, here's what I'll be asking Dr. Bohns:

• Can you tell us about your career journey?
• In your new book YOU HAVE MORE INFLUENCE THAN YOU THINK, you harness original research and storytelling to underscore that we may have more influence than we realize. Can you share some key indicators to look for to assess your influence in a particular situation?
• A fascinating point you shared in a recent WSJ article was about the intersection between self-confidence and persuasion, namely that we can be "overconfident in our beliefs but underconfident about being heard." What are some ways to communicate more effectively and with confidence?

I encourage you to join in the conversation by asking your questions for Dr. Bohns in the comments below, and thank you for being a part of You've Got This!