Preventing Burnout: How to Protect Yourself?

Preventing Burnout: How to Protect Yourself?

Burnouts

An increasing number of business leaders, managers and employees are showing signs of burnouts (~ being emotionally exhausted and cynical due to work stress, both chronic and acute).

Main Cause: Work Stress

Even if other factors also are playing a role (for example personal circumstances/traits, Covid, a crisis, a war), burnouts are mainly caused by work stress. In turn, this stress at work can be caused by:

• The increasing uncertainties and speed of change in the world around us and in our organizations.
• People are overworking quite a bit ('work presenteeism') and the line between home and work seems to disappear further and further.
• Conflicts with colleagues and other personal factors add up to stress levels and lead people to perceive their work as a burden, rather than as a fun and rewarding activity.

How to Prevent Burnout?

Based on a study from Wiens (2016), a part of the answer to this question can be found in practicing one of the categories of emotional intelligence: "EMPATHY" (~ aiming to be compassionate towards other people by understanding their needs, wants and opinions; expressing them and acting according to them).

How to Prevent You Get a Burnout Yourself?

Most interestingly, the above research shows that compassion does not only benefit others, but also yourself. How does that work? The act of expressing empathy creates certain physiological reactions that make us relax and calm and enhance our long-term sustainability. It also triggers the parasympathetic part of our nervous system (responsible for unconscious processes like digestion, salivation defecation, etc.). Expressing empathy also has a reverse effect on the stress levels caused by our sympathetic nervous system (stimulates psychological reactions on attacks or harmful events).

Protect Yourself by Putting These 2 Things at the Very Top of Your To-Do List

McKee en Wiens (2017) recommend to engage in empathy towards yourself (self-compassion) and towards others to protect yourself against a burnout:

• SELF-COMPASSION: Take care of your body, mind, loved ones and make sure you get enough sleep. Be kind and forgiving to yourself.
• GIVE EMPATHY: Nurture friendships with colleagues you like. Appreciate people. Coach people. Put people at the center.

⇒ What are your experiences and ideas regarding preventing and countering burnouts?

Sources:
McKee, A. and K. Wiens (2017), "Prevent Burnout by Making Compassion a Habit", HBR May 2017
Wiens, K.J. (2016), "Leading through Burnout: The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on the Ability of Executive Level Physician Leaders to Cope with Occupational Stress and Burnout", University of Pennsylvania

		Comments Sort by date Sort by rating Rating
		18 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Empathy Diminishes Stress. Try it! Thanks Anneke for sharing this article review. For me this was a bit of a revelation. You see, sinc... Sign up

		7 Philippe Barteau Entrepreneur, France
	Being Empathetic is Good for Yourself I learned from this article that being compassionate to other people decreases your own stress level... Sign up

		4 Jorge Rodriguez Fonseca Business Consultant, Costa Rica
	Accept your Situation But Try to Improve It 1. In life we have to face bad moments and situations that cause stress. So, first we have to unders... Sign up

		3 Gregory Johnson Coach, United States
	Burnout: How to Protect Yourself as a Leader! Interesting discussion. The 2 prescriptions sound manageable, but (as being a manager/leader) there ... Sign up

		3 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Empathy Requires Sensitivity which in Turn Develops the Capability to Withstand Stress I think that to walk the shoes of someone else SENSITIVITY is required so as to understand the other... Sign up

		2 Monchal Project Manager, France
	Very Interesting Thank you very much for this very interesting post. I was aware of the fact that self compassion and... Sign up

		3 Katie Pawley MBA Consultant, United States
	Interesting ~ Burnout How to Protect Yourself I never considered the word empathy in relation to burnout. The suggestion for looking after self an... Sign up

		2 Salvador Castro, PhD Professor, Mexico
	Masked Burnouts in Toxic Enterprises Erika Villavicencio Ayun PhD, explains about "workaholics" and their relation with enterprises. She ... Sign up

		3 kadi Student (MBA), Morocco
	Give a Hug to Yourself In this fast running world, we forget ourselves. Often when I think about it, I realize how unfriend... Sign up

		1 Ivan Kohlinsky Management Consultant, Guernsey
	They Say This About 'Hate' as Well Yes - They always say that if some ill has been done then if the person on the receiving end continu... Sign up

		0 D P BABU Strategy Consultant, India
	Transform Burnouts Into Positive Blowouts There is a difference between a burnout and a blowout. The former is the result of accumulated stres... Sign up

		4 Naser M. Elmusrati Strategy Consultant, Libya
	Plan-B Readiness also Helps against Burnout Thank you all for this important discussion. I think if we have a ready Plan-B in our pocket, we wi... Sign up

		1 ann musembi Student (University), Kenya
	How To Protect Yourself Against Burnout? Thanks for this discussion. Self-compassion is really important against stress. I have learned tha... Sign up

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Protection Against Stress & Burnout I would disagree that stress causes burnout. In my view: Work stress is from external pressures... Sign up

		5 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Burnout from Internal AND External Pressures? @Maurice Hogarth: Thanks for your valuable contribution. The distinction you make between external a... Sign up

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Stress & Burnout Pressures @Jaap I agree with you regarding the difference between influencing events and the options for respo... Sign up

		1 Gregory Johnson Coach, United States
	Internal / External Stimuli for Stress and Burnout @Jaap de Jonge: Indeed both the internal and external influences are mandatory considerations for a... Sign up

		6 Hong Sun Management Consultant, Canada
	Individual and Team Burnout and How to Manage It Burnout is not only a serious occupational disease for individuals but also an anti-productive workp... Sign up

		2 Sathya Devarakonda Project Manager, India
	How to Avoid Burnout - a Religious Approach If you practice the following you can avoid you end up in a burnout. This is not an overnight soluti... Sign up

		1 Guillermo Cabrera Manager, Mexico
	Burnout Analysis Very interesting discussion covering different aspects related to burnout. This is my opinion: Both... Sign up

		1 Michael Norris Director, United States
	Preventing Burnout in First Responders and Essential Industries @Hong Sun: Very good conversation regarding burnout! I feel that Hong Sun has a great approach to th... Sign up

		2 Gregory Johnson Coach, United States
	Power Stress and Burnout Among Leaders Leadership is exciting but it is also stressful. Among leaders, there is this interesting phenomenon... Sign up