Burnout, Resilience & Agility

While it was somewhat cathartic for SmarterWisdom to look in the rearview mirror at 2020 in our January Words of Wisdom post, as leadership consultants we are more typically focused on helping people look forward and plan for what is to come. There are, of course, many unknowns ahead; and, after a year of living and working in a world-wide lockdown, perhaps these unknowns are even more complex than usual?  My own recent doom-scrolling confirms many experts’ concerns about job loss, (already showing up significantly with women and BIPOC communities) burnout and mental health issues—the latter affecting all ages, from young school-aged children through the middle-aged. It is not a rosy outlook at all, but as I look at the work of Jeffrey Hull, Jacinta Jiménez and Angela Duckworth, among others, I feel hope and see some preventative solutions that we might try, as leaders and colleagues.

There is no doubt that we will be facing another, albeit of a different nature than Coronavirus but no less invasive, public health problem, as we tackle the onset of mental health issues. In a recent GlobalWebIndex (GWI) piece, Doug Gorman reported high rates of “experienced anxiety” in Gen Z (41%) and Millennials (32%) and while the same report (1/27/21) indicates that even as we are willing to take on public health, racial equity and economic worries, we are all being put to the test. There are plenty of books and webinars out there to help us face this trial, and to find ways to lead others forward and through these hard times. Anxiety and mental health issues, especially in our younger colleagues will, as we know, prevent growth and wellbeing at all levels of our organization. While focusing on these concerns will not be easy, the writers I am quoting here, argue that finding time, space, resources and energy to do this work will pay off.

In his book, Flex (Penguin Random House, 2019), Dr. Jeffrey Hull writes principally about what it means to be a leader today. He focuses on the fact that good leaders understand the “spectrum” of leadership skills and approaches available to them and develop an agility and flexibility that allows them to draw on the method that works best in the moment. He posits that “self-awareness is foundational and step one” in this process. His focus on “Beta” rather than “Alpha” leadership opens up the doors of high-level work in organizations to women and people of color, and to men who can draw on collaborative, consensus-driven approaches as part of their repertoire. His belief in the power of emotions and an understanding of belonging in the team that you are part of is an essential first step in avoiding burnout and exhaustion. Know yourself and preserve yourself.

For the past 10 years or so, whether in education, non-profit or for-profit work, we have become familiar with the concepts of “grit” and “resilience.” Angela Duckworth and her research on grit and resilience, have brought our understanding of these traits a long way. “Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals” (Duckworth et al., 2007)....Grit is about sustained, consistent effort toward a goal even when we struggle, falter, or temporarily fail. Resilience is our ability to bounce back after we have struggled, faltered, or failed.” Perseverance for passion and long-term goals can be developed in children, and certainly in ourselves and our team. Developing these approaches to work and life will help prevent burnout.

In a recent interview as part of IOC’s (Institute of Coaching) programming, Jacinta Jiménez, whose latest book is The Burnout Fix, stated: “Resilience is about how you re-charge or replenish, not about how hard you work.” “Replenish” is one of her three R’s to avoid burnout, the other two are: “Recognize” (burnout, for it creeps up on you) and “Respond” (rest alone is not an adequate response). She urges us to look at the values of our workplace and to weigh our options: is there a mismatch between our place of employment and our own approach to life. Jiménez advises us that when our workplaces model and reflect wellbeing, we are usually part of a culture that is positive, safe and free from harmful stress.

Incorporating a focus on emotional awareness, self-awareness and developing a path towards understanding and developing the resilience muscle within us, will help us face and prevent burnout and mental health issues. As we wrote in our January 2021 Words of Wisdom, In the Rearview Mirror: 2020, we did face the triple crises of 2020. We rose to the occasion; we adapted; we proved agile and flexible. At what cost, we do not yet know, but we already have some idea. All of the writers I source here are asking us to keep our eyes open and scan our environment; go wide and go deep—using our telephoto (compress the field of view) and our wide-range lens (make things seem further away from each other)—know ourselves, be vigilant, and develop strategies for good health and wellbeing. Understanding and incorporating a revised and resilient self and developing your innate capacity for preventative maintenance and sustainable survival, will serve you and ultimately your team well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          

 

 

 

 


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