We Need To Talk About Leadership Burnout, Here’s Why

Leadership is tough and increasingly demanding. An ‘always-on’ brain, large‐scale initiatives, and limited peer support at senior level can lead to increased stress, fatigue and eventually burnout. It doesn’t take a lot for leaders to go from balancing both their working and personal lives effectively, to feeling completely overwhelmed from their responsibilities.??

“I can’t remember where I was going but I pulled up into a service station. I’ve got a weird thing about not letting the tank drop below halfway so I suppose I was going to put ￡40 in but after 10 seconds I pulled the nozzle out. Then I thought, because I still had the nozzle in my hand and a lighter in my pocket, what would happen if everything just went up in flames, myself included? Problem solved.”?

This is James’ story, then a 56-year-old CEO of an international logistics company who was interviewed by?Management Today. He is now 10 years older and semi-retired. The story itself may be 10 years old, but the problem of how leadership burnout drives poor mental health is still around today.?

His story points to something that is becoming increasingly apparent: leadership is quietly burning out behind closed doors and choosing not to reveal it. In the last two years alone, there have been major disruptions caused by the pandemic including looming economic uncertainty, supply chain challenges, and complications stemming from the Great Resignation. It’s not surprising mental health challenges are affecting those at senior level.?

There are thousands of how-to articles out there about what leaders should do if they’re burned out, yet very few discuss why leaders feel like they can’t speak up. This just exemplifies the magnitude of the stigma: leaders can often feel too afraid to even talk about it. It also signals that mental health support isn’t something that’s really considered for leaders in the same way that it is for employees.??

And while the well-intentioned advice in these articles is to “talk to someone”, “take more time for self-care” or to “simply delegate more”, the truth is that it’s very difficult to change these ingrained behaviours overnight. Leaders need someone to talk to, and work through these challenges with, even if they’re just a sounding board. This is exactly why we need to start a conversation about it.?

So, why?are leaders?keeping quiet about?burning out??

Most employees are not going around talking about how happy they are at their job. Instead, their happiness levels reflects in their work culture.??

In our experience at Aurora Wellness, there are several different factors that contribute to feeling like leaders have to keep it under wraps. However, we can easily narrow it down one thorny problem: the stigma of how you’ll be perceived as a leader if you’re burned out.??

We’ve all heard the phrase “it’s lonely at the top”, and it’s true. It’s still very much taboo to talk about leadership burnout. It can be difficult to open up to others at senior level and in the C-suite because there is a real risk that you may be seen as “incompetent” to do your job, so it’s easier to work hard to try to push these feelings aside, even if that doesn’t work in the long run.??

Conversations about leadership burnout are also happening discretely because the commonplace belief held by society is that when someone is “successful”, which in turn means highly paid and in a position of power, means they don’t deserve sympathy.

Just think about the backlash the?‘crying CEO’?received on LinkedIn in August, a controversial example for obvious reasons but it gives you the general picture. So, while leaders take on the responsibility of trying to improve their employees’ mental health, they think less about their own.??

People are often on the verge of making horrendously huge decisions in their life, from leaving their wife and kids to leaving their jobs, and it is because they are burned out.”?

The five main signs of burnout in leaders?

1. Loss of enthusiasm and motivation?–?Instead of finding adventure, challenge, and enjoyment in your work, you find yourself putting your head down and focused on simply making it through the day and getting back home. A common thought at this point is, “I am not sure how much longer I can go on like this.”?
2. Constantly feeling fatigued?–?One of the most common symptoms of burnout is a feeling of malaise and fatigue that just won’t budge. You might find yourself wishing the weekend was already here, and it may be getting harder to find the energy to get yourself out of bed.??
3. Avoiding people?–?Do you avoid people? Burned out leaders will often start to fail to return emails, miss phone calls, be late for meetings, miss deadlines and even avoid their colleagues if they’re fatigued.?
4. Irritability and unbalanced moods?–?Have you gone from being enthusiastic and having a cheery disposition to irritable, easily angered or upset? Burnout can leave you feeling cynical, hopeless, irritable, resentful, and low on productivity.
5. Fantasising about leaving your job?–?If you’re burned out, it’s not surprising that you might fantasise about taking a break from work, or doing something completely different. Maybe you’re thinking it’s the only way out.?

If this sounds like you, here’s how Aurora can help you?

If any of those signs sound like you, you might be burned out. Responsibility means pressure. And if pressure is badly handled, it can turn into stress. Resilience and boosting health and wellbeing is the key – having the physical and mental stamina to manage the daily challenges of the corporate landscape. It’s tough and often lonely at the top, but we’re here to help.?

At Aurora, our?Rise of the New Leader: Burnout Programme for Executives?aims to support you holistically as you navigate life and organisational challenges, helping you towards greater wellbeing and mental health. If you’re burned out, we can guide you to the right support, and equip you with the tools and techniques that you can use to face whatever comes your way.?

During this bespoke, confidential programme, we will help you:?

• Recover from immediate chronic stress and burnout, and help you put new strategies in place so that moving forward you feel more in control.??
• Mitigate feelings of being ‘lonely at the top’ by providing a safe space for processing your private concerns and struggles.??
• Increase your capacity to deal with future difficulties by building resilience so that you can lead your team in a healthy way.??

If you would like to find out more about this programme or address any employee wellbeing concerns such as employee burnout, stress-related complaints and absences, or unexplained low productivity, book a consult call?here?and the Aurora team can help support your company’s employee wellbeing plans.?

Aurora Wellness is a mental health and wellbeing consultancy that helps SMEs significantly reduce employee burnout, absenteeism & talent attrition; strengthens employee mental resilience and productivity, through mental wellbeing strategy, training & coaching. Previous clients include London School of Economics (LSE), Imperial College London,?Matillion, OneFile, Energus, Devoteam, Cochlear and North East London NHS Foundation Trust.?