The COVID pandemic has exacerbated what was already a problem of epidemic proportions: burnout and overwhelm. As we emerge from the pandemic, will we learn the lessons of the costs of burnout and find better solutions as we move forward?
The toll of stress and burnout are enormous.
Even before the overwhelm trigger of the COVID pandemic, burnout was clearly seen as a costly challenge for teachers, medical professionals, and many other fields. It has been estimated that, in the United States, burnout among medical doctors costs nearly $5 billion per year. This is in an occupation with fewer than 1% of all workers in the US.
The World Health Organization estimates that stress related conditions are the second most costly health conditions in the world, behind only heart disease. Although it is not considered a medical condition, the World Health Organization has included it in the most recent update of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) which was released in 2018. It is a significant factor in the health of citizens around the world.
Relieving burnout starts with organizations.
In a recent article by Jennifer Moss in the Harvard Business Review, she makes the compelling case that addressing burnout needs to be an organizational task. The origins of burnout are due to the organizational context, so placing the burden of relieving burnout on individuals won’t work. As she says, “We desperately need upstream interventions, not downstream tactics.”
Our own survey work agrees with this conclusion. The number one structural challenge to compassionate leadership in our work is “Excessive demands on my time and overload,” with 76% of people surveyed expressing that the excess demands put limits on their ability to lead compassionately. Until organizations recognize the importance of right-sizing workloads and supporting employees’ wellbeing in more meaningful ways, the crisis will continue.
Leaders are responsible for creating cultures of compassion within their organizations, and must take the initiative to make the structural, organizational, and personal changes that will enable everyone to flourish.
Compassionate leaders change organizations by changing themselves.
In our survey work with global leaders around structural challenges to compassionate leadership, we also ask what personal challenges they face in leading compassionately. Eighty per cent of survey participants say that “Trouble saying no and overcommitting” themselves is a primary challenge to leading compassionately and a similar eighty per cent say that “perfectionism” is a primary challenge.
Is it any surprise that leaders who don’t cut themselves any slack preside over cultures where employees are feeling overworked and under-appreciated? While the motivation to push oneself to achieve is both deeply ingrained from an evolutionary point of view and well intentioned from a productivity point of view, it may not be achieving its desired result.
If our objective is to promote individual flourishing and reduce suffering and the causes of suffering, then we must change the traditional metrics for success.
In Closing.
This time of rapid change is an opportunity for leaders to reframe their policies, roles and responsibilities with the intention to create a sustainable culture. Burnout starts with organizational culture, and changing the culture can be the path to relieving the pressures that overwhelm you as a leader and your teams. Even small shifts can have enormous impact.