Cheria is a culture and innovation architect, and the VP of Culture at Known, a fast-growing marketing firm.
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Years ago, I had a talented and green team member who had just landed her dream job. The role was demanding, and during her first year, she enthusiastically tackled every challenge. She was a star. In her second year, she was handed an audacious goal to increase her portfolio by 160%. Ever the high performer, she found the energy to kick that tall order into high gear and immediately started winning left and right. She made it look easy—too easy.
When she was weeks from meeting her goal, something shifted. She walked into the office, and her countenance was depleted. The creative thinker and enthusiastic problem solver had been replaced by someone going through the motions as though underwater.
Our star was a supernova; she had burned out. These days, I might have seen the red flags and perhaps prevented the crash. Instead, this talented individual quit a job she loved to save herself, and the company lost one of its highest potential employees.
What I Wish I Knew About Burnout Then
Stress is a reality of everyday life, and it’s not necessarily bad. But there is something that comes before it—the thing or event that causes the stress in the first place, a stressor.
In their book, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Drs. Amelia and Emily Nagoski demonstrate how a stressor is like a lion on the prowl. When facing a lion, your body initiates a stress response, activating your nervous system. This process is like turning on a faucet that floods your body with stress hormones like adrenaline. The hormones launch you into fight, flight or freeze mode. One stressful phone call, email or conversation can even kick off the process. A way to counteract your response is by completing the stress cycle. Otherwise, you’re walking around teeming with stress hormones.
Some of your company’s highest performers will receive recognition for handling epic amounts of responsibilities, taking on new challenges and winning despite the odds. Unfortunately, these abilities are often "code" for staying in a constant state of fight, i.e., the start of the stress response. This is not a sustainable way to work.
You can’t expect anything good to come from people poised to fight every day. Burnout results from built-up and sustained stress. Your body can only be flooded with stress hormones for so long before it becomes too much to handle—and when that happens, everyone loses. When the World Health Organization included burnout in the International Classification for Diseases, it classified the condition as an “occupational phenomenon.” But this work-related phenomenon can lead to deeper challenges.
So, what can we do?
Equal Parts Live It And Lead It
We all know from air travel to put on our own oxygen masks before helping others. Similarly, as leaders, we must prioritize ourselves when it comes to stress management and self-care. But we can’t stop there.
Though self-care is a one-person job, we have a responsibility to create psychologically safe environments in which everyone can do their best work. Here are a few simple, accessible ways to help you and your teams prevent burnout.
1. Become A Master At Completing The Stress Cycle
Once the stress cycle commences, we should take time to complete the cycle—even at work. Here are some simple methods you can practice at work with your teams:
• Move your body. Stretch, dance or go for a walk. Take a cue from Taylor Swift and Mariah Carey and “shake it off.”
• Breathe. Take several deep breaths, then repeat.
• Laugh. Reminisce about your funniest memories, or take time to chat with co-workers.
• Seek positive social interaction. Connect with co-workers you really enjoy spending time with.
Make time for these activities regularly, and practice in real time—when you anticipate a stressor or you feel stressed. If you get off a stressful call, listen to your body and take five minutes to take some deep breaths.
These practices don’t have to be solo endeavors. Integrate stress-cycle completion into your team rituals. Implement moving one-on-ones, host 10-minute Zoom dance parties or start meetings with a few rounds of deep breaths.
2. Max Out Your Paid Time Off
If you are a leader, do not use your PTO as if it’s a deposit in a long-term savings account. Take time for the things you care about and the people you love. Your employees need to see you using your allotted downtime so they will feel empowered to do the same.
3. Ritualize Team Stress Checks
Acknowledging stressors should be a routine part of your workflow. Implement regular team health checks. I’ve used it as a way to gather data on the health of my direct teams, an internal accelerator/incubator, and when onboarding a new team member. As you consistently gather insights, you’re able to use the information to pivot and or make better decisions—or change the way you work.
I personally use and recommend Larry Senn's Mood Elevator, which helps you track, articulate and work through the many moods we all go through individually and as a team, and Atlassian’s Health Monitor, which helps you assess your team based on different critical health attributes.
4. Deploy Professional Wellness And Resilience Plans
Commit to supporting your team members' wellness. Ask them to create an artifact that identifies four points: the stressors that affect them most at work; how they will complete the stress cycle; their commitment to their own wellness at work; and suggestions for ways you as their manager might support them.
The workplace is filled with stressors, but that’s also part of what makes it exciting. To love a good challenge is to be human. Stress is inevitable, but burnout is a phenomenon that simply doesn’t have to exist. We can save ourselves a lot of pain if we simply focus on prevention, prioritize self-care and practice stress management together.
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