Having the burnout conversation at work

A question I’m often asked at my workshops and events is how do we have the burnout conversation at work.  Particularly difficult if you’re in a culture where busyness is worn like a bade of honour and long hours are the norm.

My advice in this space is to be the change you want to see, like Ghandi said.  Find the way you work best and get the best from yourself.  Sometimes the only thing we can control is our own behaviour rather than that of others and if enough of us did this we’d start to see a shift.  All our organisations are collections of individuals so if each individual becomes this change the culture will take care of itself. 

I know that’s easier said than done though especially if you’re not in a position of authority or find yourself in a toxic culture of overwork. 

Strangely the intention is often the same, despite the difference ways of going about it, often we’re all meaning the same thing – success, productivity and effectiveness.  It’s a misguided myth (that’s sadly still held by many) that the more we work the more we’ll achieve.  As I discuss in my workshops though, it’s not about quantity but quality.  It’s not about how many hours we work but the impact we have and value we add.  This can’t be effective and of quality if we’re tired, busy brained, unable to focus and overwhelmed.  At this point quantity is our undoing not a pathway to success.

If you are a senior leader or influencer then you have an even better chance of making change, setting an example and role modelling in this space.

If not I’ve found it has more impact framing this conversation as a performance one rather than a wellbeing one even though it’s obviously both.  If we’re in a culture where stress is seen as a badge of honour it can be hard to have a conversation if it feels like we’re asking to do less.  But it’s this concept of less being more.  Less but better.  If we talk about performance and how we get the best out of each other it’s a much easier conversation to have.

It's quality over quantity and impact and value rather than hours at the laptop with a tired brain!  Regardless of culture we all want impact and value we just have to turn this towards quality rather than a quantity focus.

I’ve noticed that we all have the same aim.  Getting the best out of ourselves and our people.  It’s what we all want: to come to work and do our best and it’s what our leaders want, even those who go about it the wrong way by working us to death!  They just want us to deliver our best and achieve their KPIS.  We’re talking about the same aim, the same intention.  Ironically those broken cultures of stress and burnout think they’re driving for more when in fact they just drive us away (or into the ground).  So let’s talk about how we get the best from ourselves and do our best work.

Productivity is about quality and effectiveness not the quantity of hours we’re doing.  My experience has taught me that the more hours we’re doing the less quality we’re likely to be putting out.

It’s often our pursuit of quantity and more and better that lands us at burnout so changing the focus to quality and effectiveness means we make a bigger impact, add more value and we’re sustainable.

If you’d like to support your workplace to have better conversations about burnout and learn practical tools and strategies to go from burnout to brilliance check out my popular workshops.