Reducing the impact of burnout through leadership

Once again, the alarms have sounded regarding the impact that burnout is having on our clinicians. This is incredibly important to our health care system. There has been much agreement about how we define burnout, the effects of burnout and even recommendations on how to reduce burnout. It has been stated multiple times that burnout decreases a clinician's quality of life, their performance, and even the likelihood that they will stay in their job. While burnout continues to be a top challenge among clinical professionals, there is a shortage of evidence regarding the tactics to change our cultures in order to make scalable and sustainable changes. In a study of more than 400 nurses across 11 hospitals in Jordan, the nurses showed evidence of burnout and the researchers worked to identify ways to mitigate its effects (Mudallal, Othman & Al Hassan, 2017).

 While this study was not unique, it demonstrated that an increased level of trust by staff, of their leaders, and an increase in empowerment can improve satisfaction, quality of care, and positively impact the effects of burnout. As we know, when leaders use behaviors that are more likely to empower their team, it creates a positive work environment. The authors describe leadership empowering behaviors that are perceived positively by employees. While the study describes the impact of an organization in Jordan, there are lessons that can be applied universally. There are some great takeaways that can be introduced into the workplace that will make it more positive. These are easier said than done, however well worth a try.

 These Leadership Empowering Behaviors include;

·       Enhancing the meaningfulness of work: leader behaviors that infuse employees’ work with purpose and give meaning to their contributions, thereby increasing employees’ sense of worth and motivating them.

·       Fostering opportunity to participate in decision-making: leader behaviors that allow employees to express their opinions and share in decisions related to their work.

·       Expressing confidence in high performance: leader behaviors that demonstrate confidence in employees’ abilities to fulfill expectations of high performance and that recognize employees’ accomplishments.

·       Facilitating the attainment of organizational goals: leader behaviors that improve employees’ skills and knowledge and provide required resources for effective performance.

·       Providing autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic restrictions: leader behaviors that minimize the constraints of rules, restrictions, and commands to allow efficiency and creativity.

(Mudallal, Othman & Al Hassan, 2017, para. 5)

 Consider the impact on work environments when we, as leaders, find ways to make micro-changes to our own behaviors to allow our team to feel a more positive work environment as a result. Some of these changes are as simple as asking for more input or insight prior to making a decision, while some are more difficult behaviors to change. In order to reduce the unsustainable effects of burnout, we should determine which of these behaviors we are going to try first and begin testing the impact on us as leaders, on our work environments, and ultimately, in our organizational cultures. I too am a work in progress. As Mahatma Gandhi stated, let’s make the commitment to “Be the change that you wish to see…”.

Mudallal, R.H., Othman, W.M., & Al Hassan, N.F. (January 1, 2017). Nurses’ Burnout: The Influence of Leader Empowering Behaviors, Work Conditions, and Demographic Traits. Inquiry. 54. Accessed on November 22, 2019. Accessed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5798741/.