Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
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Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
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Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#2I wish every leader gets access to these frameworks and takeaways. The #1 issue I face with every single client I've worked with over the years as an executive coach is exactly what they are pointing out here: that dealing with our emotions and inner worlds is the biggest challenge of all. Learning to deal with that has the highest ROI on both success and fulfillment/happiness compared to any other activity for a leader imo.
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#3As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough.
I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my trauma history, impact of world events, etc.
One thing I do know for sure: research like this is so encouraging. Normalizing the conversation about mental health is so important.
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#4As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough. I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my tr…
Hey, I've gone through a very similar situation recently, and my history is similar to what you describe here, as well. My email is in my profile, and I'd love to chat with you about it -- just put something in the subject to identify that you're haswell@HN.
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#5As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough. I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my tr…
I have had burnout in the past, and I’m sorry to say 4 weeks is likely not enough.
For me it was about 1 year to recover.
Sure I could have returned to work after a month or two, because I would no longer have been “exhausted” physically, but going straight back into it would have burnt off that top layer of rest, and still revealed the ruined core within, to truly heal it took a year, then my excitement for programming came back, the excitement about not being able to sleep because there’s so much to enjoy, and the pure joy of creation
I hate that it took a year to come back, being hyper industrious this long period killed me. But I am grateful that it came back.
I appreciate not everyone has the financial ability to take a year off. I didn’t either, but I was lucky that I could adapt a simple, frugal existence to survive. I support UBI or whatever form of support anyone can give people who burnout because it’s real and it’s painful.
I wish you all the best in your recovery, and wrote this to tell you there is light at the end of the tunnel
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#6While I see that this research is aimed at leadership positions and this must surely be a problem, I feel obligated to point out that the issue of burnout could be an even worse problem in non-leadership positions.
It seems that a lot of the suggested solutions (take time off, be more honest about your emotions, etc.) are necessarily things that are difficult to do for people who are not in management positions. Requesting long blocks of time off or being forthcoming about your emotions are easily things that can be used against you in employee reviews and other similar situations.
In cases of severe burnout, the situation is more dire since people earning a lower salary might simply not be able to step back from work to take a year off, for example (something that was suggested by another poster here).
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#7As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough. I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my tr…
One thing that bothers me, is that research (as skeptical as I am of social sciences right now) seems to suggest that "ego resources" don't exist. However burn out does exist.
Therefore it's hard to reconcile and find a balance between "I can push myself a little more, I'm just unmotivated" and "I need to switch off right now or I'll burn out"
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#8As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough. I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my tr…
Jonny (one of the report co-authors) here, thanks for sharing this—I entirely agree that normalising this conversation around mental health is essential, yet often requires courage to do so, especially in a work context. Yet, as our research illustrated, you are very much not alone in experiencing pre-existing mental health challenges that were amplified by the events of 2020.
re: 'telling the difference between work burnout vs. residual issues from a traumatic history', this is a nuanced topic but from the perspective of your nervous system, there really isn't a difference—the emotional debt (which could also be labelled as 'micro-trauma') that accumulates doesn't neatly distinguish between work + life as we have a tendency to do (the RED framework in the report was our attempt to describe this process in more detail).
Taking an initial 4-week break is really important step—I would encourage you not to commit (at this point) with a date for when you will return but see how the coming weeks unfold. It's also critical to seek help during the recovery process, ideally from someone trained in a form of therapy that addresses the body (Somatic Experiencing Therapy being a good example). Did you notice the [Resilience Wiki](http://resilient.wiki/) that we've started towards the end of the report? Hopefully some of those resources are useful. Also, please feel free to get in touch directly: jonnymiller[at]mac.com
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#9As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough. I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my tr…
One thing that bothers me, is that research (as skeptical as I am of social sciences right now) seems to suggest that "ego resources" don't exist. However burn out does exist. Therefore it's hard to reconcile and find a balance between "I can push myself a little more, I'm just unmotivated" and "I need to switch off right now or I'll burn out"
There is a delicate balance between what the author of Reboot Jerry Colonna describes as 'Foolish Grit' vs. 'Healthy Drive + Ambition'. In my own experience I find it helpful to enquire into the underlying motivations for the work.
i.e am I driving myself from a place of fear? How does my body feel when I begin working on this? What is the source of the resistance? Whilst fear can certainly be a powerful motivator in the short term, it is not a sustainable fuel source.
Re: Emotional resilience and burnout in leadership
#10As someone who has just started a 4 week break spurred on by a burnout-induced breakdown at work, this is very timely. I do wonder if it’s reasonable to think that 4 weeks is enough. I’ve struggled with mental health issues for most of my life due to complex developmental trauma during childhood, and in 2020, I’ve found that it’s very difficult to tell the difference between work burnout, residual issues due to my tr…
Jonny (one of the report co-authors) here, thanks for sharing this—I entirely agree that normalising this conversation around mental health is essential, yet often requires courage to do so, especially in a work context. Yet, as our research illustrated, you are very much not alone in experiencing pre-existing mental health challenges that were amplified by the events of 2020. re: 'telling the difference between work…
Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply. I had not noticed the Resilience Wiki. This looks excellent, and I will be exploring it thoroughly.
> I entirely agree that normalising this conversation around mental health is essential, yet often requires courage to do so, especially in a work context
Broaching this topic and some of the reasons behind the extended break were terrifying in the work context. I've grown into a leadership role after many successful years with the company, and the thought of "admitting" to my mental health issues was daunting at first. Like it would somehow undo my years of professional progress. I'm grateful that my upper leadership was actually quite receptive, and others have shared that they feel more empowered to address their own issues when they see other people willing to share more about their own struggles.
But even with that, there's still incredible pressure to rise above it and lead the product.
I've been working with a trauma-aware therapist for a few years now (amazingly helpful), and they provided input as I planned the 4 week break. I do plan to explore some of these topics more explicitly in upcoming sessions.