Burnout is an unsettling and an unsettled topic. The World Health Organization defines it clearly as a workplace condition characterized by exhaustion, disconnection from work, and reduced efficacy. The American Psychiatric Association declined, on the other hand, to include it in the latest update of its Diagnostic and Statistics Manual. Prior omissions in the DSM have been attributed to the conclusion that burnout is not a psychiatric disorder, but is “inherent to the human condition.”
In Running on Empty: Navigating the dangers of burnout at work, Amy Bradley and Katherine Semler show what we do know about burnout: the experience is brutal. When individuals overidentify with work, especially within organizations that are not proactive in supporting those experiencing work-related stress, the consequences are deeply painful and long-lasting.
Running on Empty doesn’t shy away from the unsettling nature of burnout. Through searing personal narratives, Running on Empty shows the depth of suffering created by burnout. Bradley and Semler distinguish between burnout and overwhelm, which they describe as being on the way to burnout. The personal stories presented in the book can be hard to read, and certainly provide a significant motivation for leaders to take the steps needed to support their teams and themselves in addressing it.
Running on Empty avoids creating a scapegoat for the primary cause of burnout, and instead focuses on the interaction between the individuals experiencing burnout and their organizational environments. To understand burnout better, Bradley and Semler interviewed fifteen “co-contributors” to the book on their experiences of burnout. The authors conclude that, despite decades of research and intervention, burnout is present more than ever due to our overidentification with our work, with a “work ethic that leads us to believe that total engagement in our work is a measure of self-worth.”
But they don’t stop there and simply lay full responsibility at the feet of individuals. Organizations play a role in the pressures they put on workers, and in their lack of aggressiveness in acknowledging, recognizing, and addressing the suffering caused by workplace pressures. No amount of wellness days will address the burnout when on return to the office, employees return to the same toxic environment.
Those who have experienced burnout consistently say that they didn’t see it coming, but only understand it looking in the rear-view mirror. If similar conditions arise again, this hindsight helps them see the early warning signs of overwhelm and avoid another bout of burnout. If you are experiencing overwhelm right now, slow down and pay attention. Don’t wait to go over the edge of the burnout cliff.
In order to address burnout, Running on Empty advocates for focusing on where the trauma of burnout is experienced – in the body. In a chapter titled “Finding Our Way Back,” the authors focus on embodied healing: meditation, sound, movement and creative activities; getting into nature; as well as the power of talking with strangers. In order to create an environment for people to share their experiences of burnout, the authors host regular Running on Empty Rounds, patterned after the successful Schwartz Center Rounds for healthcare employees.
From an organizational perspective, Running on Empty sees a need for systemic change more than initiatives that “do little more than prune the branches of burnout rather than tackle it at its roots.” This is a big challenge, beyond the scope of the book, but the authors do an admirable job of describing aspects of a humane workplace with reciprocity and healthy listening systems. Burnout arises in the ordinary course of work. As the cumulation of many, many individual events and stressors, it won’t be addressed without attacking the environments that permit the repetition of individual stressors.
Through its unique individual narrative approach, Running on Empty brings a new perspective to how to understand burnout. Through their creation of Running on Empty Rounds, the authors bring to life the healing that flows from what they learned in researching the book.