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Welcome to the Momentum Business Coaching
Newsletter for
April 2007
Preventing Executive Burnout
The pace of change at work keeps accelerating. As companies
continue to search for higher levels of quality, service and
agility, the pressures fall on individuals at all levels of
the organisation. The treadmill moves faster, people work harder,
improvements are made - only to be changed again. Today's
executives are experiencing a whole new order of exhaustion.
Performance targets become tougher to meet in each succeeding
quarter and fiscal year. Managers and executives have ever-widening
spans of control. In the boundary-less organisation, work goes
on round the clock. The post-dinner time zone has become prime
for answering e-mails, voice mail, and what didn't get done
during office hours. Thanks to technology, work is now very
portable.
The incidence of job burnout has reached epidemic proportions
as :-
• corporations merge and the interests of the stockholders
come to predominate business policies
• jobs are eliminated or combined because of technological
innovations
• individuals often cover two or more jobs
• more production moves overseas where labor costs are
cheaper
• layoffs occur with frequency
Managing people is an unending source of stress for executives.
He or she must cope with the least capable of the employees,
with the depressed, the suspicious, the competitive, overly
ambitious, the self-centered and the generally unhappy. He or
she must balance conflicting personalities and create from them
a motivated work group. He or she must define group purpose,
organise people around it, resolve conflicts, establish priorities,
make decisions about other people, accept and deflect their
hostility, and deal with the frustration that arises out of
the continuing interaction. That frustration causes many to
burn out.
When executives have to trim jobs, demote people or discharge
them there is extreme stress. Those whose job it is to close
a plant or a department may feel angry at having to pay for
the sins of their predecessors.
It is often those who show the most promise at the beginning
of their careers who succumb to burnout. They are idealists,
perfectionists and highly conscientious. They are dedicated
and committed to doing well. Over time, however, stress and
the inability to cope with the demands of the job lead to dissatisfaction
and pessimistic attitudes.
What can help to prevent executive burnout? The first step
is to become more aware of the signs of burnout. The next is
to recommend talking with someone, preferably a professional
coach who can help make a plan to turn the process around. Dealing
effectively with the symptoms of burnout can lead to increased
self-awareness and a renewed sense of direction, energy and
enthusiasm for career and life.
Some Common Signs of Burnout
Interpersonal Problems - When conflicts occur, a person
may overreact with an emotional outburst or increased hostility.
Because of this, they may then start to isolate from other people.
Emotional Fatigue - When caught in the burnout cycle
negative emotions become predominant. Maintaining oneself throughout
the day becomes tiring - a person can lose their normally positive
attitude and become detached and numb.
Low Productivity - During burnout it is common to experience
boredom and a loss of enthusiasm for projects. A person may
feel disillusioned or cynical. It is difficult to concentrate
and harness the energy required to produce quality work.
Health Problems - As emotional reserves are depleted,
a person may begin to experience physical problems, feeling
constantly tired and run down. Some common physical symptoms
include headaches, back pain, colds, insomnia, rashes or hives,
chest pains or palpitations, gastrointestinal problems, and
nervous tics. Sleep problems and accidents are more common.
Addictive Resolutions - To cope with chronic stress,
some resort to an increased intake of caffeine, nicotine, and
drugs or alcohol. Food, sex, television, and computer use can
also become addicting. These attempts at self-soothing compound
the problem and fail to address the real issues.
Obsessive Thinking - During non-working hours, work
continues to preoccupy the mind, even when one is physically
involved with other pursuits. Usual spiritual, religious or
recreational practices fail to offer relief. Thoughts continually
focus on problems rather than on solutions.
Steps for Burnout Prevention
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First, burnout ought to
be acknowledged up-front by the people in charge of orientation
programs, management training courses and discussions. Let
people know that the organization recognises and cares about
preventing it. |
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Managers can rotate people
out of potentially exhausting positions. Don't allow people
to work extended hours for any length of time. Changes of
pace and demands can shift energy, allowing people to replenish
and revitalise themselves. |
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Make sure the organisation
has ways of letting people know that their contributions
are important. |
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Managers should provide resources
through which people can express anger, disappointment,
helplessness, hopelessness, defeat and depression. When
people in defeat deny their anger, it contributes to burnout. |
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Executives have a need for
peer support. In recent years several executive groups have
formed with participants from non-competing industries.
An executive coach is also an essential means of burnout
prevention. |
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Offering recreational breaks
can help. Informal off-site retreats can help revitalize
teams as well as individuals and they serve as reward and
recognition for hard work. |
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Offering regular retraining
to upgrade skills is vital. When people feel they lack knowledge
and skills, they are prime candidates for helplessness and
burnout. |
If executives fail to see that organisational factors can cause
burnout, their lack of understanding may perpetuate the problem.
Burnout Questions
Burning out at work can be a frightening experience. After
all, most people spend the majority of waking hours on the job
- more hours, in fact, than is spent with families and friends.
When this enormous part of life brings stress, worry, self-esteem
issues, anger, depression and detachment, a major personal crisis
is generated.
Asking the following questions can help turn around the process:
• What really matters to me?
• What do I like the most about my work?
• What part of my job am I really good at?
• What can I do about delegating or teaming the parts of
my job I dislike the most?
• What natural strengths and abilities do I carry into
this work?
• Are my strengths and talents applied in my present position,
and if not, how can they be?
• What can I do to eliminate the stressful energy drains?
• What can I do to get my personal needs met in light of
organizational demands?
• How will I look back on this present situation at the
end of my career or life?
It helps to address these questions with a professional coach
who provides a safe, nurturing and enlightening setting for
exploring these critical life issues.
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Resources for Executive Burnout
Gendron, Marie; Keys to Retaining Your Best Managers in a Tight
Job Market, Harvard Management Update, Reprint # U9806A, 1998.
Levinson, Harry; When Executives Burnout; Harvard business
Review; July-August, 1996.
Unknown author; Help for the Exhausted Executive: How to Manage
"Hecticity"; Harvard Management Update, Article reprint
No. U9712D, 1997.
Manion, Kernan, M.D.; Work/ Life Design; kmanion@pol.net
Maslach, Christina, and Leiter, Michael; The truth about burnout
- How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About
It; Jossey Bass Publishing, 1997.
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