Supervisory Leadership |
|
|
| Home Page | |
| Articles | |
| Book Reviews | |
| Newsletter | |
| Questions | |
| Got a Question or Comment? | |
|
Wally Bock Answers Your Supervisory Leadership Question What is burnout?
Here's a quick summary of what I teach in my supervisor programs. Burnout is dangerous because it's a form of depression. At its worst it can lead to suicide. Fortunately that doesn't happen often. Here are some key points.
Everybody gets burnout to one degree or another and most of the time we pull out of it naturally.
An early sign of serious burnout is a change in language. You'll hear someone heading into burnout tell you that they always screw up, taking responsibility for a bad outcome and seeing it as universal. But when good things happen they'll talk about the good thing as a rare occurence and due to something outside themselves.
Burnout is reversible, but not treatable. This isn't a counselling issue. Most of the time it doesn't require an intervention.
When you spot burnout early enough, through those language cues and otherwise there's one thing that seems to work. That's changing the work situation. This might be a new assignment, attending an off-site training program, a special project -- something that changes the work environment for the individual.
You may reprint or repost this article providing that the following conditions are met:
Any other reprinting or reposting requires specific permission which is almost always granted. Click here to request permission if necessary.
Got a supervisory leadership question for Wally? He'll answer as many questions as his workload permits and put the ones with most universal interest on this site. By asking your question you agree that it may appear here at some future time. Your name and affiliation will not be used on the site in conjunction with your question. To ask Wally a supervisory leadership question, click here to go to our question form.
|
