Workplace Going Up in Smoke?: Climb Out on the Stress Doc’s Burnout “Ladder”

This woman works fast!  Yesterday I received the following email:

I'm an editor at Ladders, a website focused on careers and life in the workplace. I'm hoping you might write a brief essay for us or speak to me for a short interview on burnout and how to get over it, in response to this:

https://qz.com/932813/employee-burnout-is-becoming-a-huge-problem-in-the-american-workforce/

Might you have a few minutes in the next few days to speak by phone or write 400-700 words? I'd love to make something work!

More about Ladders: We have more than 2 million monthly visitors and an email newsletter that reaches more than 8 million. We'd link back to your site and share widely across our social networks.

Thanks so much for the time and consideration,

Kirsten

Senior Editor, Ladders

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, by 3:30 that afternoon we began a stimulating half-hour question/discussion exchange. And by this morning, her work/our collaboration was online. Kirsten recorded the conversation and deftly captured the essentials. Trust me, she did a wonderful job sorting out my psychobabble!

I’ve been dealing with burnout since the 1980s – mine and many others. And in 2000, this burnout engine was in full steam mode, at least in the tech world of Northern Virginia…when the industry had its meltdown. Again, it’s in hyperphase and companies are ignoring the "erosive spiral" warning signs…to the peril of both employees and companies.

I’m glad to have contributed to this not just timely but, also, critical piece.

Mark Gorkin

stressdoc@aol.com

www.stressdoc.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ladders Link

https://www.theladders.com/p/17413/overcome-burnout

I overcame burnout. Here’s how you can too.’

Kirsten Salyer

By Kirsten Salyer, Senior Editor at Ladders

Mar 21, 2017

Have you ever felt overworked, stressed, or just plain burned out at work?

You’re not alone.

As productivity has risen and technology has expanded the workweek, wages have failed to catch up. More than half of U.S. workers left vacation time unused in 2015, and surveys have shown that about two-thirds of U.S. workers eat lunch at their desks.

If more employees burn out, it could pose problems for individuals and organizations. As Quartz reported, a recent study found that burnout is responsible for up to half of workplace attrition. Think about that: one of every two workers leaves his job because he just can’t take the stress any more.

Mark Gorkin, who coaches people on how to overcome stress and is the author of Preserving Human Touch in a High-Tech World, spoke to Ladders about his own experience with burnout and his suggestions for how companies and employees can address it in the workplace.

Ladders: What is burnout?

Gorkin: Burnout is the gradual process by which a person detaches from work and other significant roles and relationships in response to excessive and prolonged stress and mental and physical strain. It results in low productivity, cynicism, confusion, and a feeling of being drained and having nothing more to give.

Have you ever experienced burnout?

My first real experience was as a doctoral student. I was trying to do something creative but off the academic wall. At that time in my life, I was immature, and I wasn’t going to let anyone stifle my creativity. But I was being unrealistic, and I eventually burned out.

What I learned is that there are different stages of burnout: physical and mental exhaustion, shame and doubt, cynicism and callousness, and finally failure, helplessness, and crisis.

I went through all of them, and I dropped out of the program.

Why is burnout a problem in the workplace?

Where do you spend most of your time? Most people spend more hours at work than anywhere else.

We live in a driven and distracted world, and management is not taking enough time to really recognize the impact.

One of the consequences is that people feel like they’re being used up. We’re constantly doing more with less.

There are also some people who feel like they’re doing the same thing over and over. They feel like they’re being underutilized and that their talents are not being given a chance.

Burnout can be just the tip of the iceberg. If it goes on, it can cause people to call in sick more, feel distressed, become more passive aggressive, or engage in workplace sabotage.

What can organizations do to prevent burnout?

Good organizations allow people to have a sense of authority, autonomy, and accountability.

The problem occurs when employees have a lot of accountability, but they feel that there isn’t much authority or autonomy. When people feel that they’re in control, they are more stress-resilient.

Organizations should encourage breaks and give their employees a chance to sit down and talk about burnout. They should ask: “Where are people feeling overloaded? How can we give you some support?”

The important thing is to address it not as an individual issue but as a structural issue.

What can individuals do to beat burnout?

Here are some steps I learned in my own personal recovery.

1. Exercise

When I started feeling better, I started an exercise regime. Not only is exercise good for you, but it also gives you a sense of accomplishment and control. When you’re feeling burned out, you need to create some rituals that give you a feeling of accomplishment and competence.

2. Laugh

When you’re experiencing burnout, after a while, your funny bone starts to atrophy. I read books, like The Catcher in the Rye, that made me laugh. Watch Friends. Watch Seinfeld. Do something that helps you see the absurdity of life. Laughing helps you feel that you’re not trapped in a black cloud.

3. Reflect

I took a personal retreat and took time to reflect on how I got myself in the burnout predicament. You might feel like you’re in a great position and can’t give it up, but rigid expectations are a formula for burnout.

4. Write

What was really helpful for me was that I started writing. Research shows that when you’re able to write things out, it can be stress-reducing.

5. Reach out

Find a stress buddy. It’s easy to get caught up in the whole process. Find someone at work who will give you honest feedback.

Once you’ve done these things, you’ll be ready to take more risks — whether that means speaking up in your workplace or saying that it’s time to move on.

~~~~~~~~~

Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, "The Stress Doc" ™, a nationally acclaimed speaker, writer, and "Psychohumorist" ™, is a founding partner and Stress Resilience and Trauma Debriefing Consultant for the Nepali Diaspora Behavioral Health & Wellness Initiative. Current Leadership Coach/Training Consultant for the international Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University at the Daytona, FL headquarters. A former Stress and Violence Prevention Consultant for the US Postal Service, he has led numerous Pre-Deployment Stress Resilience-Humor-Team Building Retreats for the US Army. Presently Mark does Critical Incident Debriefing for organizational/corporate clients of Business Health Services. The Doc is the author of Practice Safe Stress, The Four Faces of Anger, and Preserving Human Touch in a High Tech World. Mark’s award-winning, USA Today Online "HotSite" – www.stressdoc.com – was called a "workplace resource" by National Public Radio (NPR). For more info, email: stressdoc@aol.com.

The Path of Mastery: Don’t Overlook the Forest-Trees Connection

The Stress Doc critiques two recent speaking performances.  And while he did justice to the individual pieces, did he really see or connect the big picture?

The Path of Mastery:  Don’t Overlook the Forest-Trees Connection

Once again, I’m reminded that it is “The Path of Mastery” …there’s no final destination, at least when it comes to strategic understanding and skill development. 

I led two programs this week, “Finding Your Voice at Any Age,” as a guest presenter for a UU Congregation, and garnered the nickname, Sermonator.  The other, “Leading with Passion Power:  Inspiring with Courage, Clarity & Creativity,” at the Virginia Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) State Conference.  And while both programs basically went well, and some might think me overcritical, there was a pattern in my presentations that needs to be examined and modified.

Seeing the Leadership Forest for the Trees

It might stem from my being an inclusive thinker, a “forest” person.  My drive is to illustrate diverse components, e.g, in my SHRM program, personal energy and passion, loss and “letting go,” disarming power struggles, creative risk-taking, mind-mood motivation and communication, etc., that contribute to the compelling-captivating leadership dynamic.  (We were not able to engage the last section.  However, preparing for more material than I use is not simply, or mostly, an obsessive tendency.  I want the freedom to improvise or spontaneously include concepts or exercises that are the best fit for the learning/relationship building moment.)

And while differentiating each part – power struggles, risk-taking, i.e., “the trees” – through conceptual bullet points and a small group exercise (not necessarily in that order), I have overlooked an important step.  In my mind, having previously worked with the components, I perceive the intrinsic, holistic interrelationship – the trees-forest gestalt.  But I have not asked the participants whether and how they perceive the relationship between each concept-tool-technique segment and the overarching topic of “passion power” leadership.

Perhaps I’m also caught up in that eternal rushing stream.  Being conscious of time constraints (as a Mega Speaker I had two hours), once finishing a particular conceptual segment, I’m moving on to the next tree.  If not careful, my inclusive thinker bias can lead to overload.  Realistically, I may need to display a tree sample rather than all the forest trees. 

Song and Voice Connection

The UU program was an opportunity for me to illustrate a number of different scenarios for discovering and cultivating a voice:

1) playing with kids or recalling childhood pain and conflict,

2) communing with nature, and

3) being conceptually challenged – by a colleague to expand both my range and focus or by my own churning-on-a-creative-problem mind…leading to an “Aha!’ moment:  when a vision leads to a voice!

In the presentation, one personal learning curve segment stands out.  I showed an anti-bullying power point slide song.  It’s to the tune of the children’s camp favorite, B-I-N-G-O.  (“There was a farmer who had a dog, and BINGO was his name, oh.”  I turned B-I-N-G-O into…

In my school there is a kid      

And Bully Boy’s his name, oh

Blaming me for what he did

And tries to make me cry, oh…

B-U-L-L-Y… B-U-L-L-Y… B-U-L-L-Y…

And Bully Boy’s his name, sigh.

(Email stressdoc@aol.com for more info on how the song can be used as an educational/discussion tool.)

I was pleasantly surprised.  The wide-ranging in age adult members were really into singing the chorus.)

Anyway, after the program over lunch, a friend and I did a debrief.  She thought the pieces all fit my “Finding Your Voice” theme except, perhaps, the “BULLY Boy/Girl” Slide Song.  When I said, the song speaks of the child turning to a trusted adult which, in turn, helps him stand up to the bully…the voice connection was clear.  However, she insisted, I needed to underline for the audience the moral of finding your “standing up to the bully” voice.

And she was right.  Either I need to make the point or, even better, take the time and have the audience make the connection between “the trees” – anti-bullying song – and “the forest” – “Finding Your Voice” sermon theme.

Closing Summary

So, my learning takeaways:

1.  Be flexibly realistic about the optimal number of program trees and your allotted time

2.  Don’t quickly move on to the next foundational piece after illustrating through concept summary and group exercise a particular tree

3.  Recognize that grasping a tree does not mean having a handle on the forest context

4.  Make sure you check in with your audience after each tree illustration, ideally providing them an opportunity to make their own forest-tree connection.

Amen and women, to that!

Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, "The Stress Doc" ™, a nationally acclaimed speaker, writer, and "Psychohumorist" ™, is a founding partner and Stress Resilience and Trauma Debriefing Consultant for the Nepali Diaspora Behavioral Health & Wellness Initiative.  Current Leadership Coach/Training Consultant for the international Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University at the Daytona, FL headquarters.  A former Stress and Violence Prevention Consultant for the US Postal Service, he has led numerous Pre-Deployment Stress Resilience-Humor-Team Building Retreats for the US Army.  Presently Mark does Critical Incident Debriefing for organizational/corporate clients of Business Health Services.  The Doc is the author of Practice Safe Stress, The Four Faces of Anger, and Preserving Human Touch in a High Tech World.  Mark’s award-winning, USA Today Online "HotSite" – www.stressdoc.com – was called a "workplace resource" by National Public Radio (NPR).  For more info, email:  stressdoc@aol.com.