Leading your team (and self!) through burnout

In our May newsletter, the topic of burnout was highlighted and resonated strongly with our readers. We heard from many of you that yes, May was the month of all the things - and we’re freaking tired. 

With July upon us, school being out of session, and many people taking vacations, we thought we would shift the focus less on US being burnout and how as leaders we can identify and discuss burnout with our staff. How do we identify the source of burnout and help staff with resilient skills?

In the article listed above, there are 6 sources that stress can stem from: workload, values, reward, control, fairness, and community. So often we as managers (and employees ourselves!) think that burnout stems solely from too much work- too much in the pipeline, not enough hours in the day. While that may be true, this article, based on the work of Dr. Christina Maslach, suggests that we can dive beneath the surface to truly identify root causes of burnout beyond workload. Is it that we have too much work OR that we perhaps don’t feel rewarded at work? Do we feel isolated and lonely, especially in remote work environments, with weak professional relationships?  

How often are we checking in with staff to really talk about where they are on a burnout scale?

Perhaps as folks leave for - and return from! - vacation, it’s an opportunity to talk with them. What is at the source of fatigue? How can you as a leader help identify root cause AND help co-create resilient ways forward? What needs to change?

As always, we suggest small tweaks. Big changes start from small adjustments.