Burnout is becoming more prevalent, in fact the World Health Organisation predicts that burnout will be a global pandemic in less than a decade, and the World Economic Forum estimates an annual burnout cost of £225 billion to the global economy. Add to that the organisational cost of burnout: increased turnover, absenteeism and, of course, the obvious impact on performance. That’s before we mention the personal cost of burnout which so many of us have experienced.
The term ‘burnout’ was first coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger in his book Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement. He originally defined burnout as ‘the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.’
We use ‘burnout’ to describe physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. Burnout is more than the fatigue we experience at the end of a demanding week, though. It’s an exhaustion that doesn’t ease up after a long weekend recharging the batteries. It’s the kind of tired even sleep can’t fix.
It’s clear the ways we’re working are not sustainable and as demand for my popular burnout to brilliance masterclasses has grown so too have my thoughts about how we can do things differently.
I’m reminded of the time I spent in Bhutan, the kingdom famous for gross national happiness in place of GDP as how they measure the progress of their people and their country. What can we learn from the gross national happiness approach for business?
Ever since the Industrial revolution when we paid people by the hour to work in factories we’ve considered more is better. The more hours worked the more product (and therefore money) made. It’s how GDP works for our economy and has for too long been the measure by which our organisations (and governments) succeed or fail. The only thing is though whilst we may succeed financially it’s coming at a heavy cost (which ironically is costing us much of those dollars earned to fix). We call it productive but it’s not effective. We’re not measuring what matters and it’s costing us. It’s an outdated model that doesn’t serve our new world, in fact it’s detrimental.
We’re running a marathon at a sprint pace, it’s not sustainable. We’ve been looking in the wrong places for success, the busyness we thought would make us productive has just burnout us out. It’s not our fault, it’s what most of our organisations have been built on and it was always the employee of the month who worked the hardest, stayed late, put in the extra hours. We’ve been encouraged to think the more we do the more valuable we’ll be but it’s not necessarily the case because what value can we add when we’re on the verge of burnout, exhausted and unable to think? I think it’s time we measured what matters and found a new way of working.
In 1968 Robert Kennedy said of economic development and GDP; “we have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things……… it measures everything in short except that which makes life worth living.” Yet here we are half a decade later doing the same thing and expecting different results.
In Burnout to Brilliance I describe this as the difference between busy and effective, value and impact versus hours worked, quality versus quantity. We know that once we get to our edge, any further quantity we try and add to our day results in less quality. Exhaustion kicks in, mistakes get made and cognitive function slows, none of this is conducive to peak performance. Yet when we focus on quality we’re adding value and making an impact – this is where the gold is.
Bhutan is one of the few countries that do this differently. Using GNH in place of GDP they’re measuring what matters. It drives the decisions their government makes and enables them to take into account the things that are more important than money – the things that mean real progress. Like being 100% organic, like preserving at least 60% of the natural forest (despite deforestation being worth millions if they sold all their timber to their Chinese neighbours). When they make decisions they have to fit at least 2 of four criteria. Money is one of them but that alone isn’t enough unless it also preserves the natural environment, their cultural heritage or is good for the people’s wellbeing.
During my time in Bhutan I was trekking up to the Tigers Nest monastery in the Himalayas. A much older but more fitter monk was leading us to the top, it was a warm day and I was clearly not as used to this as he was. “How far is it to the top” I asked. He replied “it’s better to travel well than to arrive”. i.e. slow down, enjoy the view, you’ve travelled from the other side of the world to be here so be here. We’re so consumed with trying to get to the destination or the goal. To get everything on the do to list done but what’s the point if it comes at the cost of ourselves. What if we focused on traveling well? The monks point of course was if we focus on the journey the destination takes care of itself, we get there, just in better shape. But we’re not travelling well and for many of us it’s meaning we also don’t ‘arrive’.
We live like our purpose is to get everything on our to do list done and yet as fast as we tick stuff off, more stuff gets added. What’s the point of arriving at our destination or goal if we’ve destroyed our health, performance and relationships in the process. Success should not come with such a heavy price to pay, Real wealth is not measurable in only dollars and if we continue with this model we don’t just sacrifice ourselves but the very performance we think this approach should lead to.
The irony of course is that this model is costing us billions in lost productivity, engagement and sickness absence as we push people harder to make more on our bottom line and return a good price for our shareholders. Imagine what we’d save on those costs if we did this in a more sustainable way.
The organisations of the future are, the leaders of the future role model this and they will be where the talent is drawn to. The current generation entering the workforce want to work sustainably, they’re not sold on the post industrial revolution mantras our parents taught us, the 9-5 and the harder you work the more success you’ll make of life and just hang on in there until you can retire.
Imagine if our bottom lines also accounted for the environment, social change, diversity and wellness of those in the business – as well as the financial outcomes. Some may argue that focusing on those things would contribute to a better financial outcome anyway!
Let’s chat about making this change in your organisation to allow more humans to produce brilliance rather than burnout and save money on the cost of disengaged, under performing, exhausted teams.