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Who Put the “Burn” in Your Burnout?


At some point, every person feels that they are burned out. The term is tossed around like a hot potato back and forth, manifesting itself in different ways in different people. I believe that if not dealt with appropriately, it will burn down so many good things that you have worked hard to build.


On an organizational level, this means that if your staff are burnt out, the production level drops, creativity and innovation stop,  mistakes are made, and eventually the burnt out staff decide that they can’t take it anymore and quit. The “I can’t do this anymore” attitude sets in and the staff checks out. At this point only an act of God will get the person back on track, so when the person decides to leave it is long overdue. For an organization this means, more money, time, and energy spent on hiring and training. In the process of this, the people that are responsible for hiring and training are getting burnt out. It’s a vicious cycle that is never caught up on.

 

As an individual, the workforce development professional can experience burn out. Workforce development professionals spend all their time giving to others. With every customer interaction a little piece of the workforce development professional is taken from them.  Then the same person goes home and gives a part of themselves to everyone in their personal life. This is exhausting and can burn out a workforce development professional the same way therapists, social workers, teachers, doctors, and nurses get burnt out.  Even a “people person” gets burnt out.  The “so what” and “who cares” attitude sets in. Then the workforce development professional is officially disengaged.

 

What can we do about this?

 

I am proposing that organizations that provide the service directly, the funders that fund the services, and the government agencies that oversee the madness take a hard look at themselves and how they contribute.  I am proposing that we eliminate the phrase “we need to do more with less” and admit that we can’t do everything.  Stop the institutionalized crazy!  This starts with the government that wrote the laws and created the programs that need to be implemented. It’s easy to write a program, but if any of the 535 people in Congress actually had to perform the work they created, life would be different for everyone.

 

What is efficiency? Everyone from the top down needs to examine themselves and each other for this. How many people are actually doing the same exact thing? Is that efficient or madness causing? How many outdates practices and tools/technology being used that cause more stress and become barriers to efficiency? This would be the feeling when you have to keep repeating something because the computer system is so old and not efficient; you are going to toss the computer out the window.  When people feel efficient, they feel productive. When people feel productive, they feel less burnt out. The feeling of making progress and achievement can be had, but without efficiency none of this is possible.


Individuals need to find ways to recharge themselves.  Every day the workforce development professional needs to do something for himself to put back what was taken.  I am suggesting, reading, exercising, relaxing nothing time, vacations, yoga, or anything that is just for the professional.  An organization can choose to support their staff by providing an atmosphere where an individual feels supported and cares about their well-being.

 

Pondering Points:

 

·         How can organizations create environments where people do not get burnt out?

 

·         What steps can an individual take to prevent burn out before it happens?

 

·         What are some ways to recharge? How can an organization support an individual in this?

 

·         How can governmental agencies and funding sources provide support to organizations and individuals to prevent burnout?

 

I would love to hear how people relax, recharge, and unwind. Comments are always welcome. Feel free to post comments below or send me an email at kcirincione@gmail.com. Happy Reading!

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