With all the external influences we are bombarded with in our highly connected world, I have started to see more of my clients and friends come close to leadership burnout.
With this in mind, here are some signs of excessive and prolonged stress to look for that lead to leadership burnout in both your own life and the lives of those you care about (including those on your team.)
- Feeling Tired Much Of The Time – This can include more frequent yawns throughout the day, or a desire to take a nap when you haven’t done so in the past. It may be due to restless nights caused by the pressures you face during the day.
Other causes of leadership burnout include having inadvertently cut back on your normal exercise routine, or begun to eat different foods.
- Waning Motivation – You find less excitement about going to work, or engaging with others on your team. You may be wishing an upcoming vacation would come sooner, even though you just recently returned from one.
During leadership burnout you may have temporarily lost the drive to accomplish things of value or lost your interest in working on projects that would make a difference.
- Negative Emotions Are More Prevalent – You notice your demeanor may be more abrupt or your normal, friendly, patient self has become impatient or intolerant of mistakes or irritating patterns of behavior.
If you are feeling burntout in leadership you may find yourself either tuning out in conversation or interrupting more so the conversation can end. You may feel frustrated more often than you have in the past and you may be more reactive in traffic while driving.
- Difficulty With Moderately Complex Assignments – Where you used to excel at thinking through difficult situations with clarity, you find this more challenging and it is hard to focus on the issue at hand.
If you are in or nearing leadership burnout you may find your mind straying to all the items on your to-do list and you begin to worry, “How will I ever get through all this work?”
- Job Performance Is Suffering – Deadlines are missed; reports are incomplete or less than your normal good work; your initiative to go the extra mile has disappeared. Other signs may include being more susceptible to distraction or interruptions at work.
- Physical Health Problems Begin – Sometimes these are aches and pains which never bothered you before. Other times it might be weight gain (or loss), poor eating habits or diet, increase in headaches. This is your body telling you to pay attention.
Leadership burnout is a serious issue and is not to be ignored. Much of the work I do with clients centers on their desire to move from their current condition to a desired condition which will provide more reward, satisfaction, and fulfillment.
Leadership burnout is a condition which will keep someone from moving to their desired state, which causes even more frustration. While I am not a psychotherapist, I have been able to help clients recognize the signs of unhealthy stress and develop a plan with them to move past this stage and back into high levels of productivity, performance, and satisfaction.
If you are experiencing this, either in your life or the lives of others close to you, let me be of help. Just let me know you’d like to set up a preliminary call. You will be glad you did.
Best regards,
Bill