Burnout Syndrome is impacting the energy and productivity of workers and contributing to growing health concerns. Use mindful leadership tips to avoid burnout syndrome.
What is Burnout Syndrome?
It is no secret that Burnout Syndrome in the workplace is real and ever increasing. Especially during a global pandemic where jobs are being reduced and employees are being asked to increase workload to compensate. The World Health Organization has even now changed the categorization from a “state of vital exhaustion” to “syndrome” in the ICD-11. “Workplace stress causes additional expenditures of anywhere from $125 to $190 billion dollars a year—representing 5 to 8 percent of national spending on health care.” But what exactly is it? The World Health Organization definition states “Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: 1) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; 2) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and 3) a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.”
What can a Mindful Leader do?
This type of stress is classified specifically as occupational stress. So, what can you, as a mindful leader, do to help reduce this increasing phenomenon? The good news is that research shows that mindfulness is a proven tool to help reduce burnout. However, often there is a lack of clarity in exactly how we can BE as leaders to execute this mindfulness practice and apply it to our workplace interactions. Here are 3 Mindful Leadership Tips to Avoid Burnout Syndrome.
Top 3 Tips:
- Purpose: Ask employees what aspects of their job they find fulfilling and purposeful. Establish additional metrics around these and be mindful when assigning tasks. We know from methods of positive psychology and Barbara Frederickson’s Upward Spiral Theory of Lifestyle Change that drawing more attention to the areas that are more enjoyable will help increase a person’s positivity and broaden their capacity to see solutions and other positive resources in their work.
- Monitoring Capacity and Prioritization: “According to the World Health Organization, workplace stress is particularly common in situations when employees are asked to do things that exceed their knowledge, abilities and coping skills, and when they do not have enough support from peers and supervisors to close that gap.” Our personal energy is our greatest resource, and helping employees manage that resource effectively requires open dialogue and communication with your team. It can be as simple as asking the question, “What other projects are you prioritizing and Do you have the capacity for this project in this time frame?” If the answer is No, as a mindful leader, you can discuss with another team member to reallocate workloads or find a workable solution with the employee by restructuring workload prioritization and capacity expectations.
- Cultivate Curiosity: Brene Brown states, “Curiosity and knowledge-building grow together—the more we know, the more we want to know.” Allow employees to ask questions and learn and develop personal work systems that work for them. When an employee can get curious as feel comfortable exploring the best ways to accomplish tasks and learn more about areas they enjoy the more empowered and resourceful they will be which can reduce emotional stress leading to burnout.
These tools are meant to spark your own creativity and curiosity in how to best connect with your employee to reduce burnout. Being a mindful leader isn’t always about what you are “doing” but how you are “being.” Opening a line of communication using these mindful leadership tools will allow you to listen to your employees concerns and stress levels so that as a team you can help avoid burnout syndrome and create a healthier and more positive workplace.
If you think you and your team could benefit from additional consulting in creating a system that works best for your workplace we at Zently Workplace can help! Contact us today and book a Free discovery call!
