(Don’t) feel the burn: preventing burnout for yourself and your team

Research from Mercer shows that 8/10 people are at risk of burnout in 2024. Look around your team (virtually at least!) — almost everyone you work with is on the precipice. We can talk a lot about the ongoing fallout of the pandemic, the ever-increasing rate of change, economic stressors, and so on, but none of that changes how people are feeling today.

What can we do about preventing burnout for ourselves and our team?

Recognizing the signs of burnout

The three main symptoms of burnout are emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy, but how it feels as an individual and the observable behaviors can differ widely. There is a lot of overlap between the burnout experience and depression, as discussed in a 2024 article in the Work & Stress Journal. This can include physical and emotional symptoms, including feeling unmotivated, in pain, tired, or withdrawn.

Burnout researcher and coach Rachel Montañez describes the shock that many people feel initially when facing burnout — feeling physically sick, making mistakes, or feeling resentment or anger. This often transitions into minimizing the issue and looking for temporary fixes.

Keep in mind, there are many types of burnout. We talk a lot about overload burnout, but as Melody Wilding outlines in Harvard Business Review, people can also struggle with under-challenged burnout and neglect burnout. Understanding the root cause of burnout will help find an individual solution.

The ingredients of burnout

A 2016 World Psychology paper from Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter describes the three core elements of burnout in more detail.

Emotional exhaustion was described as feeling worn out, loss of energy, depletion, debilitation, and fatigue.

Cynicism included feeling as negative or inappropriate attitudes towards clients, irritability, a loss of idealism, and withdrawal.

Inefficacy was originally called reduced personal accomplishment, and is described as reduced productivity or capability, low morale, and an inability to cope.

Contributing factors of burnout

Maslach and Leiter identify six contributing factors for burnout:

1. Work overload: not enough rest and recovery, an unsustainable pace or load

2. Lack of control: feeling unable to influence decisions that affect you

3. Insufficient reward and recognition: not feeling seen or valued

4. Lack of community: insufficient social support

5. Feelings of unfairness: comparing your treatment to others and seeing an imbalance

6. Values misalignment: a conflict between personal and organizational values

Who is at risk for burnout?

A recent literature review from Giacomo Angelini in BMC Psychology looked at the connection between the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) and burnout. Neuroticism was the only trait that was consistently positively correlated with burnout (i.e. higher neuroticism = higher risk of burnout).

People with high neuroticism often feel insecurity, anxiety, anger, and/or depression, which can contribute to a negative filter on life and work experiences.

Busting burnout at the source

Montañez notes that many leaders are scared to take true accountability of the issue because it seems unsolvable, but an issue doesn’t go away when you don’t talk about it. I love her “workaholism to wellbeing” ethos, so how can you be part of that change?

Six steps to less burnout

To address burnout, we need to treat the source and each symptom. Combining the six factors above with the three main elements, we can find clear actions for ourselves and leaders.

Reasonable expectations

One of my early managers was a classic pacesetter. One of Harvard Business Review’s six styles of leadership, the pacesetting leaders charges ahead and expects everyone to keep up. It can be very motivating and inspiring but doesn’t lend itself to balance or rest. I was working 8am to 6pm every day, and occasionally coming in on weekends — not a standard expectation for my then job level.

It’s one thing to work hard, but the fact is we need downtime and rest. In addition, for those in creative or strategic roles, it’s difficult to come up with exciting new ideas if your plate is completely stacked with “urgent” tasks.

Burnout prevention has to start with reasonable work loads and expectations.

Autonomy at work

Feeling a sense of control over the key things that impact your day and job is crucial to preventing both exhaustion and cynicism. None of us are 100% in charge of our days, but there’s a tipping point where we will start to feel the burden of other people’s asks.

Wherever possible, give employees flexibility in when and how tasks are accomplished. HBR calls leaders who expect exact and immediate compliance “coercive” — with all the negative connotations that come with that word.

Reward and reinforcement

When people feel ineffective and disconnected from purpose, the right reward or recognition can reinforce the message that they are having a strong positive impact and that they are a valued member of the team. If inefficacy is the primary factor for burnout, then reward and appreciation need to be the response.

Recognition needs to be meaningful — a generic “good job” isn’t going to cut it. Gallup’s research suggests meaningful recognition is frequent and individual. It doesn’t need to be expensive, in fact, low-cost recognition that shows a manager or stakeholder knows the employee has a higher impact than an expensive gift that doesn’t feel personal.

Connection and community

The pandemic showed us the importance of community and connection in so many ways and last year’s warning from the US Surgeon General called out the “epidemic” of loneliness and isolation.

Start by communicating with employees about the support available to them and encourage your team to make friends and build relationships both within their immediate coworkers and in the wider company. These networks not only reduce feelings of cynicism and inefficacy but will serve the organization in the long run as employees build strong connections that drive collaboration, problem solving, and a sense of belonging.

Equity and equality

One of the most important tools for equity and equality at work is listening. It’s hard to improve fairness if you aren’t aware of the existing issues. Anonymous feedback encourages honesty, and when leaders are open to constructive criticism, it can lead to meaningful change. A 2019 academic article in Management Communication Quarterly from authors Chang M. Mao and David C. DeAndrea shows that employees are hesitant to share prohibitive feedback (i.e. things they want to change) if they’re not confident in the anonymity and security of the feedback tool. The more anonymous, the more honest.

My personal feedback cycle recommendation is listen, reflect, respond.

Listen: Gather feedback, including anonymous input, from employees.

Reflect: Consider the feedback and how it represents the reality and/or perception of your company culture. Be open to change.

Respond: Share what you learned with the team or organization and outline the actions you intend to take. Have regular check ins to track progress.

In my experience, reflection is often a weak point. It can be tough to really consider where you and your organization can improve, but without true reflection we can’t evolve or grow.

Values alignment

I’ve written before about culture alignment, and values is a big part of getting that right. As Dr. Natalie Baumgartner discusses in HBR, when people find deeper values alignment at work it contributes to their sense of fit, community, and purpose.

Many of you will be familiar with that sense that the work you’re doing day to day doesn’t match with what you think is important or valuable — I know I’ve been there!

Understand your team’s values and intrinsic drivers and help align their role to those priorities to prevent a sense of cynicism and disconnection from purpose at work. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work any more as people expect more from their companies and managers.

Creating a fire break

Even as I outlined this article, I found these six steps triggering specific memories from past roles. For example, in feelings of unfairness, don’t assume this only impacts those who miss out on preferential treatment. I remember a time when I was the favorite of a specific manager — they always had time for me and my ideas, while frequently cancelling or postponing meetings with others on the team. Surprise: it can feel bad to be special when you know you don’t deserve it!

Potential burnout is rampant, and we need clear actions to start pulling everyone away from the edge. I hope these six burnout prevention strategies resonate with you as much as they did for me, and you find ways to incorporate them into your daily work life and that of your team.