Forget the Frying Pan: How Leaders Avoid Burnout
Management Monday: Avoiding Leadership Burnout
Managers and leaders have opportunities to influence and inspire others around them, or to drag the atmosphere down. They have chances to positively influence the trajectory of their organization, or to set a tone that will lead to failure. It sounds like a lot of responsibility, which doesn’t make the task of successful leadership any easier. In a turbulent economy, it’s not uncommon for leaders to feel like it’s only a matter of time before they’re burned in the frying pan. History certainly has shown that executives and leaders can succumb to the challenges of their post resulting in unfortunate outcomes.
For leaders looking to avoid breaking under the stress, the trick is to continually motivate and monitor themselves. Is that easy? Not always. However, it’s certainly effective and worth doing. The tips below are often successful in helping executives and leaders of all sorts avoid burnout.
Tips to Avoid Burnout:
- Analyze primary tasks for job, and cut frills out or delegate
- If being handed too much work, privately and optimistically discuss situation with boss
- When bored in position, ask what more you can do to contribute to the company
- Make sure your values and goals align with those of the company
- Evaluate productivity and utilize tips to improve
- Try to reinforce your efforts with positive self-talk
- Make sure to get healthy amounts of sleep and exercise
- Eat healthy foods to maintain energy
- Do something nice for others frequently to boost your mood and happiness
- Take steps to establish a healthy work life balance routine
The tips above help combat common causes of leadership burnout such as an understaffed workforce, martyr mindset, internal conflicts, lack of leadership coaching available and unhealthy work culture (Psychology Today). Like the CEO of GE, who can’t finish his 20 year leadership run as planned due to burnout, all leaders are susceptible to burnout (Wall Street Journal). On the flip side, every leader has the opportunity to utilize the tips above as well as seek executive training in order to succeed.
Photo Credit: John O Nolan
