Managing Pressure to Avoid Burnout 

There has been significant changes in the language used in the workplace …. ‘collaboration’, ‘hybrid working’, ‘mental health’ are all great terms indicating a desire to continue to build a more positive workplace. One of the words I have noticed being used much more frequently which could be a threat to a really positive work atmosphere is the word ‘anxiety’.

The increase of the use of this word is I believe healthy in that open-ness about pressure is growing. However, the fact that it is more frequently used should raise alarm bells for all us managers. Perhaps it is not just that it is becoming more acceptable to face and discuss anxiety more than previously. Perhaps, putting it simply, people are actually becoming more anxious.

Tony Schwartz, a biographer for Donald Trump, has produced a great CD entitled The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance. In his audio he identifies 4 types of energy which contribute to our stability, health and happiness. I won’t go into the 4 types here but leave for Tony to explain for himself, he does a far better job than I. All I will do is say that he makes great point about something I can perhaps call ‘balance’.

The road to burnout is well documented and thankfully we are generally more aware of how we can be lulled into a burnout state whilst all the time we simply feel that we are just working hard. The way to handle the pressure and manage our anxieties in this pressurised age is I believe by applying balance.

Some clients of mine are in construction, suffering unbelievable instability in the industry due to raw materials prices and supply, skills shortages in subcontractors and hugely increased staff turnover due to high salary rises offered by headhunters. A challenging combination indeed. A board of directors I have recently been working with have dealt with these pressures effectively by supporting each other to achieve balance. That is, seeing things in perspective and delivering to each other a balance of work demands, light conversation, social events, concern for family and honesty about mistakes. In other words treating each other as indeed we all are, ie vulnerable human. The balance achieved produces a true base form which to deal with challenges, those suffering pressure all the way to burnout tend to be unbalanced, that is focusing on very few criteria in their lives. Balance / perspective helps alleviate pressure, and the effective work team is the mechanism to make that real for each person.

We have all experienced this, when tings get tough you find out who your friends really are. We manage pressure and avoid burnout by a healthy working group that offers balance and support, and this close supportive set of relationships is becoming even more necessary under the pressures we experience in today’s working environment. In building our organisations, it is the building of these close teams that is now paramount.

Mark Miller – Director Goodfoot