How To Prevent Burnout Among Your Employees
I have started a new book entitled, “Bold and Broken: Becoming the Bridge Between Heaven and Earth” by David and Jason Benham. It is not necessarily a business book, per say, but offers more of a way to live your life and how to lead others. I am pleased with how many business lessons I am pulling from it.
Through the first several chapters, the authors present an overall concept of how the world needs you to “be bold” about what you stand for – your principles, the things you believe make this world a better place. Be strong and convicted in these things; speak and share that good news with many. You also have to “be broken” – you have to be humble and vulnerable, acknowledge and share your losses, be relatable to other people. Don’t be the leader that stands perfect amongst their people but rather one that has persevered through adversity and harmful attacks in their life and yet has risen to be happy, purposeful and principled, and still seeking good for others even when feeling lowest.
This made me think of the business principle of burnout – and what prevents burnout among your employees. Burnout is what happens when someone does a job and performs at their highest level – they give the job everything they have. Giving something – anything – their all, continuously, drains people of a lot of energy, time and grit. But, in the end, it is just a job that they do day-in and day-out.
People need relationships. Doing just that same job at that high level of intensity, day-in and day-out (especially if the job is difficult), will inevitably and certainly burn a person out. The thing that allows someone to avoid burnout, and still thrive and find happiness in their position, is forming relationships at their company.
As the leader of your business and team, you have to nurture, foster and grow those relationships. The best way to do that is to not only be bold and broken yourself, but to also understand what your people stand for as individuals – what are their principles? What do they feel strong and convicted about most? Help them live their own bold and broken life. And when you show them how much you care about them as an individual and the relationship you have together, they will care about the job you are asking them to perform every day. You will see an abundance of joy flourish in your business.