As per Adam Grant, the Wharton psychologist, every leader should take the following simple steps to prevent burnout among employees as well as themselves.
- Lighten the demand
- Provide more control
- Create a supportive environment.
Burnouts can be defined as emotional exhaustion. It is not necessarily due to long working hours, as many tend to assume. We have seen employees who work all the time 24X7 but are happy and invigorated instead of feeling tired. It is the emotions associated with the work you do that lead to burnout. With this in mind, by adjusting the work itself, instead of taking time off from work, we can make the work more satisfying thereby reducing the chances of burnout.
Lighten the demand.
Team leaders or managers must identify the most exhausting aspects of work and look for ways to reduce them. This does not mean that the work gets delayed or extended and we always find that employees as well as team leaders have more work to do than what can be fitted comfortably into a day’s work.
However, some things can be done to lessen overwork. Certain tedious work, that is routine and is necessary to get the work done can be automated. Again, team leaders can reduce the overload of communications as well as meetings to allow employees to spend more time getting the work done. It is observed that on average, communications and meetings take up 60% of a person’s time leaving very little time to get the work done. Documentation is another aspect that everyone finds stressful. It is necessary to document the work done but team leaders can look for ways to automate them by creating appropriate templates to reduce the workload.
Provide more control.
When an employee does not have control over the work he does and is compelled to do it, he would find it more stressful even though the activity itself may be very simple or routine. So give employees control over the work they do.
One way could be to look for opportunities to help team members set their own goals, how they will achieve them and what additional resources they require to achieve them. Where appropriate, team members can be given the freedom to choose when and where they work by offering flexible hours and remote work. This sense of control over their work is a great motivating factor for all team members and helps ward off burnout.
Create a supportive environment.
Letting employees know that they have the full support they need to do their work effectively is a powerful way to fight burnout. Instead of rewarding the work that is done within the time frame estimated, team members should be encouraged to seek help, admit errors and identify the causes so that it becomes a learning for them.
Burnouts are dangerous and take a heavy toll on team member’s mental and emotional health. Lessening the causes of burnout can greatly motivate team members and can lead to greater career success and business outcomes. Automating repetitive work, giving everyone more control over their work, reducing communication and meeting times and creating a supportive environment would greatly help in reducing the factors leading to burnout.
Wharton Psychologist Adam Grant Says the Best Leaders Do These 3 Things to Avoid Burnout
By Minda Zetlin
INC 2023/05
R2G 