The Cure For Burnout Is Not Being Resilient But Being Aware

In the pre-pandemic period, I wrote that the cure for burnout was to be aware rather than resilient. The epidemic period has become a laboratory for both individuals and organizations. Everyone faced a vast global stressor that can only occur every few generations. Adequate managing stressors has become as critical for organizations as it is for individuals. Just as it is time to question classical approaches, awareness is a concept that should be considered. For this reason, I would like to share this article I wrote in February 2019 once again. Enjoy!

The World Economic Forum (WEF) website contains remarkable findings of the burnout syndrome experienced by the “Millennial” generation born between 1981 and 1996. According to the article, in addition to classical burnout reasons such as workload and stress, millennials who compare themselves more socially with others due to the use of social media are at greater risk of burnout.

The second important finding is that resilience is not the most effective weapon that can be used against burnout. Resilience is a part of psychological capital, which is one of the essential concepts of positive psychology. In the simplest sense, it is defined as picking up oneself to achieve success, even when faced with problems and difficulties.

Psychological capital is an essential concept in the business world because it can be developed. If we can prevent burnout with more effective stress management techniques and teach our employees to be resilient, everything should be fine, right?

Unfortunately, not. In recent years, many sessions of training have been given to many employees on how to be resilient, on the assumption that resilience can be a cure for burnout. In fact, individuals also sought ways of personal development to become more resilient. But a study of air traffic controllers showed that resilient people were at greater risk of burnout. Since telling and teaching employees to be resilient to cope with stress creates an ideal that is hard to reach, people also get stressed about reaching this ideal. The result is a higher risk of burnout.

On the other hand, as many studies have shown, being aware and present can be an effective stress reduction method. The stressors we have to deal with – our job, manager, colleagues, family, and traffic – exist. And we are human beings. We can all feel powerless, defeated, angry from time to time, and we have the right to do so. It seems that the energy we devote to ignoring conditions we cannot change or to rejecting ourselves and creating an “ideal” is inefficient. The most effective stress management tool is to accept reality and ourselves as they are, be aware of what is happening, and be observant.

References

 

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/millennial-burnout-building-resilience-is-no-answer-we-need-to-overhaul-how-we-work

https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5268.full

Luthans, F., ve Youssef, C. M. (2007). Emerging Positive Organizational Behavior. Journal of Management, Vol. 33, 321–349.

Di Benedetto, M ve Swadling, M. (2014) Burnout in Australian psychologists: Correlations with work-setting, mindfulness and self-care behaviours. Psychology, Health & Medicine, Vol. 19, No:6, 705-715

 

Ceyla Durgun Akdağ

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