By Rhonda S. Fekete, Crosworks leadership and career strategist
People use the expression “burnout” a lot. How do you know if this is what’s happening to you or if you’re already there? All you know is that you feel lousy and have this feeling of being stuck with no way out. But what exactly is burnout?
The World Health Organization defines burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism related to one’s job.” Numerous emotions can be symptoms of burnout: 1) helplessness, 2) cynicism, 3) feelings of failure and/or self-doubt, 4) decreased job satisfaction, 5) a sense of detachment or feeling alone in the world, and 6) the loss of motivation.
Recently, as an executive coach to some of the participants, I attended the Rising Stars Conference. One of the keynote speakers was Cait Donovan, who has been featured in Forbes, on NPR and is the host of FRIED, the #1 podcast about burnout. While on a recent morning walk, I listened to an episode of FRIED, and I heard Cait talk about the Top 6 Workplace Factors that Burn You Out. In the episode, I heard this: “If you have high levels of job strain and low levels of resources, that becomes an unbearable workload.”
Cait described some of the factors that contribute to burnout in the workplace. Here, I list Cait’s six factors and paraphrase the definitions:
Workload – is one of the most common triggers of burnout. Exhaustion happens when the demands of the job consistently surpass the resources available to complete those tasks.
Lack of Control – is all about the degree of autonomy we are given in performing the roles, responsibilities and tasks to complete the job.
Insufficient Reward – is when we feel undervalued for the effort expended, whether this is compensation, personal satisfaction or praise.
Unfairness – exists when feelings of injustice, favoritism or unequal treatment are present, raising the risk of burnout because trust and morale diminish.
Breakdown of Community – results in feelings of isolation or less than desirable relationships with colleagues, putting a negative strain on personal well-being.
Conflicting Values – the more complex factor of the six; exists when personal values are misaligned with the displayed values (vs. “stated values”) of the organization, leading to frustration and internal anxiety, also causal to burnout.
Coincidentally, I see parallels in the factors Cait associates with burnout and what I learned in coaches training through the NeuroLeadership Institute and Dr. David Rock’s SCARF Self-Assessment model. The SCARF model involves five domains of human social experience: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness.
Ideally, when leaders understand how an individual scores on the SCARF model, they know how to interact and support them in a way that serves their overall well-being. Depending upon the domain most important to an individual, a lack of alignment in that domain in the work environment can cause a great deal of angst and job dissatisfaction. [Note: To learn the domain most important for you, you can take the free SCARF Assessment: https://neuroleadership.com/research/tools/nli-scarf-assessment-wk-1/ ]
Cait’s work underscores that burnout isn’t just an impediment to individuals but has a ripple effect on both teams and organizations. Team implications include decreased productivity, reduced collaboration and lower morale. High turnover and loss or lack of innovation are a few of the negative impacts on an organization.
It’s not uncommon for people to view burnout as a personal failure. American culture often promotes the idea that hard work is inherently good, leading to the mindset that anything less than relentless effort means there’s “something wrong with me.” Cait reiterates, “Burnout is not your fault” and there is no shame to be felt if you’re in burnout.
Resentment also was a focus of Cait’s keynote at the Rising Stars Conference. For brevity sake, I’ll refer you to a video of Cait being interviewed by another burnout guru, Sharon Grossman, The Burnout Doc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUGbWX0ETko). Here, Cait shares the details of dropping out of medical school, completing her studies in Chinese medicine in California, and then moving to Poland to begin her practice. She also discusses her personal experience with burnout. As Grossman notes, “The compulsion to prove ourselves is what sets us on the path to burnout.”
For many people, they don’t even know that they are resentful. They’re just bitter and don’t know what to do about it. Cait shares a few indicators of harbored resentment:
1. If you find yourself overly annoyed that people aren’t following the rules in life that you deem are important, that’s resentment.
2. If every time someone contacts you, you teach them a lesson because they are missing something big and you’re going to help them solve it, that’s usually resentment.
3. If somebody asks you for something and you think to yourself, “Haven’t I given you enough already?” this is resentment.
4. Stress is all about perception and what we perceive to be fair.
Before burnout can be addressed, identifying the source is the first step. During the day, take notice of where you are expending most of your energy. Is there resentment associated with this expenditure of energy? If you identify a source of resentment, this may be a place where you need to create a boundary. Also, consider journaling about your resentment. [Cait offers a free journal on her website to work through resentment.] Use these insights as transformational tools to improve your situation by creating boundaries to free yourself from resentment.
If you are searching for clarity and focus in your own career, Crosworks offers one-on-one career coaching with Rhonda, as well as other award-winning coaches. Find out more about Crosworks’ services for individuals and organizations at crosworks.com or schedule a free, non-binding introductory phone call.