Tips for Burned out Leaders

What is burnout?

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Though it’s most often caused by problems at work, it can also appear in other areas of life, such as parenting, caretaking, or relationships.

Job burnout is a special type of?work-related stress?—?a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.

Employees and managers alike can often experience burnout - and I think that is an important thing to remember. While the workday might look different between them, both roles are impacted.?

And burnout is widespread across the globe. A new study by?Asana, looked at over 10,000 knowledge workers across seven countries, and found approximately 70% of people experienced burnout in the last year.

So what can we do about it? I made a list for both managers to help their teams, and for employees (including you, managers) to help yourself manage burnout.

What can leaders do to manage burnout?

1. Listen to work-related problems.?Listening might seem obvious but consider the currency in the manager-employee relationship and what is valuable to an employee. A manager's time,?attention, and ability to address their issues is one of the most effective ways to help employee's feel valued. Prioritize daily check ins and regular 1x1 touchpoints with your team members. You probably can't fix everything, but just listening is more valuable than you'd think.
2. Encourage Teamwork.?Peer support is an important factor in feeling connected at work. Being connected can help curb feelings of loneliness and burnout, especially in our new virtual environment. As a manager, find ways for your employees to work together on projects or tasks so that they stay connected to each other. Got a difficult task? Connect your employee with a peer that had a similar scenario so they can problem solve as a team. As a manager, you don't have to do it all if you empower your team to help each other.
3. Everyone's Opinion Counts.?Asking for thoughts and ideas from your team without judging or shutting them down can help colleagues feel heard and engaged with work. Got a quiet team? Change how you ask your questions. Instead of "What do you think?" - try something more specific. "What do you think the impact of this process will be on our customer? On our team?"
4. Make Work Purposeful.?Many employees want what they do to?mean?something. How does their work tie to the organization's purpose and values? Don't just share a slide with the information, have a discussion with your team on what the purpose and values mean to them, and how their work contributes to it. Then own it, together.
5. Focus on Strengths-Based Development.?Employees are more engaged?when they have opportunities to grow using their strengths. Have a employee that is strong with Excel? Have them assist with a reporting project. Have someone that is a great communicator? Consult with them on how to share messaging with your team or other teams.?

How can employees manage burnout?

Don't wait for someone else to fix burnout for you. Here are some ways you can manage burnout for yourself.?

1. Prioritize self-care.?You've heard it all over the place - but it's true. Check in with how your mind, body, spirit is feeling. What do you notice? Self-care can look a lot of different ways, so find what works for you. Creating new habits is hard, so start with one small thing at a time. Have a mindful minute in the morning, replace one unhealthy food with a healthier one, take a walk, do something small that will bring you joy. Little things lead to bigger things - you just have to start.?
2. Recognize and focus on what you can control (and let go of what you can't).?This one is huge. We have so many choices just floating around that we often can't see. Can I control how others treat me? Nope. Can I control how I react to it? Yep. In a challenging situation where you think you have no control ask yourself - if I had control what would I do? This might open up some choices you didn't know you had.?
3. Reduce your exposure to things that bring you stress.?This?doesn't?mean hiding from reality. Sometimes life and work are stressful, and we build resilience by learning how to navigate them.?This could mean choosing not to listen to a co-worker complain about another co-worker. It could also mean asking for help when you think your workload is getting to the edge of overwhelming. It could mean communicating proactively with a leader when you think a client might have an issue. An ounce of prevention, right?
4. Foster good personal connections.?We're social beings, we need each other. Some need more or less than others, and that's ok. Build and nurture connections with people that give you life. That challenge and support you. That care about your well-being. These connections allow you to recharge your battery to handle the hard stuff.?

If you enjoyed these tips, check out my other articles on LinkedIn about cool stuff like listening, self-management, and and dealing with ambiguity. Interested in developing your leadership skills through coaching? Shoot me a DM.

Cheers!

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