Burnout can be powerful. You feel like there is encroaching fog enveloping you. You live in state of exhaustion, feeling annoyed for no reason. Your work leaves you feeling like you do not accomplish anything.
What do you do? Quit? Press on? What is the right way to manage the situation?
In this second article we will explore ten sources of burnout. My next article will address practical solutions. Do not allow this breakdown to make matters worse but do take the time to identify which of these are the most challenging for you. Understanding the source of the burnout may help you cope.
The Wiley team conducted a survey of managers and found that burnout and stress are especially high in managers.
We surveyed 2,360 people and found that 47% of people managers report severe levels of stress which have increased over the last six months for 31% of those surveyed. As we have talked about before, the turbulent economy, significant political shifts, and global instability have put organizations on their back feet as they navigate an evolving climate with fewer resources putting an enormous amount of pressure on their people.
Does that sound right? Stress rises. Your plans for the day are mangled beyond recognition. You do not know how you got to this place or how to get out of the rut. Even when you are off work, the jumble weighs on you.
I have identified five questions and five statements that arise from or contribute to burnout. These are not listed in any order. Allow yourself to linger with these for a bit. Which most influences your sense of burnout?
Five Burnout Questions
- Who Am I? What Am I Doing?
This issue addresses your sense of values. What is most important to you? Does it fit with your place on your team? Mismatched values inevitably find a stress point and can contribute to feeling burned out as you are forced outside of your critical tenets.
Burnout occurs when a company's values do not match your own and may result when there is a change in management or ownership. When you value something highly, but your company does not, you might compromise your motivation to help fulfill the company's mission.
Feeling a disconnect between your strengths and your tasks also contributes to burnout. When employees are handed down work assignments or projects without regard for what they do with ease, excellence, and enjoyment, it can create frustration and burnout.
Your sense of control over what you do is undermined or limited and you do not have significant say in what is going on. One study measuring job demands and lack of control found that the one combination that was most detrimental to health and morale was high job demands in combination with low control. Individuals in this category experienced much higher rates of coronary disease and depression than those in other categories.
- What Is Most Important?
This question deals with the goals placed on you. Please note that goals can be self-imposed or compulsory in your position. Knowing the source of your goals is necessary to identify the next step. Are they attainable? Are the goals constantly shifting? Do you adequately understand the priorities?
When you have a workload that matches your capacity, you can effectively get your work done, have opportunities for rest and recovery, and find time for professional growth and development. When you chronically feel overloaded, these opportunities to restore balance do not exist.
One source of unnecessary stress is the mistaken belief held by professionals that only they can perform the work at the level necessary. The “only I can do this” mindset is a major factor contributing to stress and burnout because it results in workloads that are untenable and undoable.
- How Do I Fit on My Team?
Understanding the makeup of your team will help you define the issues leading to burnout. Has there been a breakdown in the sense of community? Are your work relationships toxic? Do you have trust in your teammates? Do they trust you?
Whether it is unclear job expectations, micromanagement, or negative attitudes, potentially toxic environments can lead to burnout. Companies that employ negative tactics create toxic environments that deplete job enthusiasm and promote stress. Also contributing is being forced to work with patronizing colleagues, when there is no mechanism for conflict resolution, or when feedback is non-existent.
Rewarding relationships at work is necessary, and a lack of support can lead to burnout. Ideally, jobs have supportive and trusting relationships that nurture and support your career goals.
How is your relationship with your direct supervisor? A major factor leading to stress or burnout at work is poor leadership. Studies suggest that your relationship with your direct manager influences your mental health, even more than your doctor’s advice or exercise.
- Who Is in Charge?
Do you understand the significant issues of control? Who are the players? To whom do you answer? To whom are your leaders accountable?
Feeling like you lack autonomy, access to resources, and a say in decisions that impact your professional life can take a toll on your well-being.
Professionals can feel a lack of control if they lack access to resources or find it challenging to contribute to work-related decisions. They may also notice a lack of recognition for their efforts or feel that managers may not trust their abilities. Lack of control may appear if job priorities frequently shift, preventing them from working on desired projects or limiting promotion opportunities.
- What Are My Long-Term Goals?
This question raises, again, the significant issues of values? Are your assignments aligned with your strengths? Do you know your own strengths? Do your leaders know what you bring to the table?
If the rewards for your job do not match the amount of effort and time you put into them, then you are likely to feel like the investment is not worth the payoff.
If you highly value something that your company does not, your motivation to work hard and persevere can significantly drop. Ideals and motivations tend to be deeply ingrained in individuals and organizations. When you are assessing this element of burnout, you need to think carefully about how important it is to you to match your values with those of the organization.
Five Burnout Statements
- “The Clock is Ticking”
Burnout increases when we feel the inevitable pressures of time. Deadlines present ongoing pressure. This is the type of burnout that people are most familiar with. Someone works harder to keep up with demands or achieve success.
Stress often comes from unclear or constantly shifting expectations. If employees do not have clear expectations or feel connected to a broader mission, they will not just feel stressed, but also, over time, they will be more likely to disengage.
In cases of burnout, a challenging workload can disrupt work-life balance. Monotonous work can also lead to burnout. Ideally, the amount of work you do matches your capacity to do it, but chronic overload disrupts balance, while monotony depletes motivation. To manage workload-related burnout, set priorities before you begin your day.
- “I Cannot Get it Done.”
The workload can be overwhelming. The pressure is unsustainable. We feel overloaded. Unfair job expectations may result from pressure to succeed in your role or constant worry about job performance.
Burnout can happen quickly when employees feel unsupported. Does your boss contact you at all hours of the day and night, and make you feel like you need to always be on call?
Burnout thrives on “invisible work”—those endless, unrecognized tasks like putting out fires or handling admin that quietly wear people down.
On the contrary, boredom or feeling under-challenged can contribute to burning out. his occurs when someone is not being challenged, or they are bored with their work responsibilities. They may feel stuck, unable to advance, and lack enjoyment in their work.
- “It’s Not Fair”
It is not just kids on the playground who cry out about fairness. Burnout can escalate when we feel that the system around is not equitable. We believe we are not being rewarded for our work. We will also feel the pressure of favoritism.
Do you get acknowledged for your contributions or do other individuals get praised and your work goes unnoticed? Does someone else get regular deadline extensions or access to additional resources when you do not?
You or others are treated unfairly, there is a culture of favoritism, and assignments and promotions are made in an arbitrary fashion and discussed behind closed doors.
When there is a perception of unfair treatment, it reflects job performance and motivation and often leads to burnout. One coworker gets the credit for a team effort, or your manager always approves another coworker for deadline extensions.
- “I Am About to Lose It”
Pressure and stress mount. We feel like the weight of our load is about to overwhelm us. Issues spin out of control. The pressure it turned up ever more.
As this surge of stress moves from momentary influx to pervasive problems, it is turning into a stress crisis with major implications for your organization’s success.
Companies survived the Great Recession by demanding employees do more with less, and that often meant having one person do the work of two (or more). While this may have been a strategy necessitated by the severity of the economic crisis, it is unreasonable to expect this to work as a long-term strategy.
- “It is Not All About Work”
Critics assert that in an superhuman way we can distinguish our work from the issues at home. Often that is impossible. It may be financial stress. We may have family stress. Illness may cause us to be overwhelmed.
