Burnout is Preventable and Hurts your Bottom Line.
There was a recent article published by the World Economic Forum that quoted a Deloitte study on workplace health that found that 84% of millennials are experiencing burnout in their current job. The research resonated with me since burnout and change have been my most predominant research topics over the last decade.
My interest on this topic started during my time at Nokia when I noticed that constant change, an element of the Nokia organizational culture, did not affect everyone the same way. When a change was introduced, some employees went along without hesitation. Others put up a bit of resistance and then accommodated the changes. Others resisted and retreated into their own logically sound cave, seeking protection from any new changes- Basically, those resisting change would either keep their head low, waiting for the next change (maybe they would like that one better); some would disengaged from the organization, actively recruiting others to join their resistance; and others would seek other job opportunities more aligned with their own professional needs, and sadly to say, their professional limitations.
I studied the effect of the perception of constant change as my dissertation project during my doctoral work for my industrial and organizational psychology degree. I found that those employees that perceived change to be constant, had a higher level of burnout, organizational cynicism and incivility. Later in my research, I focused on the type of change and its implementation, seeking to understand if those elements affected the wellbeing of individuals. I wrote a whole chapter on the topic which was published in 2017 and the research supported that change was a potential cause of trauma in employees. Still, I was left with many questions. How was it that two individuals would react completely different to the same change? Was it cultural? Was it educational? Was the difference anchored on the experience of the individual? Was it related to the leadership? How the change was introduced?
Change is inevitable in the world that we live. It does not matter if we are talking about change at the personal level, affected by political, social and cultural changes. Or if we are talking about professional change. As an instructor at the University of Colorado, I tell my students that “change happens”. As a famous villain (community) once stated, “resistance is futile” (hopefully those Star Trek fans will recognize the quote). AND the fact that change happens does not necessarily mean that stress and burnout needs to happen as well.
Studying the works of Nick Petrie and Derek Roger[1], it become clear that we, humans, have a tendency to confuse pressure to perform with stress. We are eager to control everything around us and guess what, we cannot control but a small portion of what happens. At work, we are immersed in a VUCA world, where the ignorant decision of a politician can affect our bottom line. Our business could drown because of a social expectations, environmental regulation or market changes. Our results could be impacted by a weather event such as a bomb cyclone, a hurricane or a drought… and there is a reason why those are called “acts of God”… they are outside the realm of our control. We could plan for it and have back up plans, but the impact will still be there.
We need to learn to learn to let go and understand our locus of control. There are things that we can control, like the thermostat in the house. Other that we can influence, paying our electric bill to ensure electrical supply. And other that we cannot control, a wide area blackout. We could mitigate some of the elements that are outside of our control, by purchasing a generator or installing solar panels. And still some plans will only provide us with a sense of control, but not true control — solar panels covered with snow or gas stations with no power and therefore, no way to pump gas for the generator.
Still, in addition to having a clear understanding on our locus of control and knowing how to differentiate between pressure to perform and stress, there are the leaders and the organizational culture that have the biggest impact on our mental (and physical) wellbeing. Let me explain. I believe that we would agree that the way we handle change is partially rooted in our individual personalities. Some individuals flourish during change and other do not. If you are familiar with the personality Big Five (Originality/Openness, Neuroticism, Consciousness, Extroversion and Agreeableness), you will recognize that the trait referred to as Openness to Experience will provide a picture on the degree to which we embrace change. Other personality traits may translate in a higher need for control or a more pessimistic view of the world. Regardless of what your personality may be, leaders need to assume that they are surrounded by individuals with different personalities and therefore, different needs. They need to develop an inclusive leadership approach to invite employees to understand the need for the change under their own terms.
For example, for those individuals that are low on the openness to new experiences, change needs to be introduced earlier and with clear details on what the next steps would be. Of course, it will also depend on how much control the individual needs to have, as well as how they take their decisions (thinking versus feeling and sending versus intuition, in MBTI terms). For those more introverts, they would want to probably see the information and have time to react. Those more extroverts may need a forum that allows them to verbally process the information. My point is that inclusive leaders and organizations need to ensure that there are many forums to communicate and implement changes and allow for different pace of implementation.
The benefits of this approach are supported by research. Instead of going through all those studies, let me just mention one number — US$16 Trillion. That’s the cost that mental illness will have on our global society by 2030. Inclusive leadership makes sense for your organization from a humane and profit point of view.
[1] Roger, D., & Petrie, N. (2016). Work without stress: building a resilient mindset for lasting success. McGraw Hill Professional.
