Google burnout and you’ll find 110 million links. Self-care turns up even more – over three billion results. But, as every manager knows, an employee’s burnout isn’t only a self-care problem – it’s an organizational problem.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada found that “psychological health problems and illnesses are the number one cause of disability in Canada” with work-related psychological challenges costing the Canadian economy $20 billion annually. But this is an area where organizations can make a difference – by finding ways to identify and respond to burnout in your staff and, even better, to prevent it.

As Liz Rejman, director, fundraising operations for Pathways Canada says, “Organizations don’t fully appreciate the cost of staff turnover but there are ways of breaking the vicious cycle of an employee coming in, burning out, and leaving, so that organizations can actually run a marathon instead of doing a sprint over and over.”

We talked with Liz and other people working in and around the nonprofit sector to find out what leaders can do to support their staff.

What is burnout?

As the name suggests, burnout is like a fire that has completely exhausted all its energy sources, leaving behind a smouldering heap of embers. (Sound familiar?) In fact, this year for the first time, the World Health Organization has identified burnout as a recognized medical condition. According to their classification system, burnout can arise from unsuccessful management of chronic work-related stress, resulting in an occupational syndrome characterized by symptoms including “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.”

Is this a nonprofit issue?

Eileen Chadnick, consultant and author of EASE – Manage Overwhelm in Times of ‘Crazy Busy’, says that this is an issue across sectors, including the nonprofit sector, although every sector thinks it’s unique to them. The one unique factor to the charitable sector, however, may be a strong orientation toward service, which is often accompanied by a difficulty in setting boundaries.

Nonprofit consultant and blogger Joan Garry says, “…In nonprofits, everything feels important. And it IS important. What if that client doesn’t get in front of the judge? She could be homeless. What if the suicide hotline is not sufficiently staffed? On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being ‘the most important decision you need to make,’ all decisions feel like 10.”

Pamela Uppal, project lead of Decent Work for Women of the Ontario Nonprofit Network, says, “There are motivations to not take care of yourself in the nonprofit sector because it means someone else will suffer, whether that’s a colleague or a client.”

Start at the top

Garry says burnout is the number one issue nonprofit leaders ask her about. When she reflects on her own experience as a nonprofit CEO, she says, “Think for a minute about who is drawn to CEO positions. The typical profile: Type A, altruistic, impatient, driven and sometimes relentless. That was me. And this profile can be toxic when it comes to managing staff and setting priorities.”In the book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact Without Burnout, Garry asks, “How can we take care of others when we can’t take care of ourselves?”

Leaders do face challenges in taking care of themselves. Uppal says, “In our study, we heard that a lot of executive directors felt burned out and talked about the struggle to do their job, that they couldn’t use the skills they have to further their organizations because were also doing other things like HR, fundraising and outreach off the side of their desk. Like staff, leaders see increasing community needs coupled with decreasing resources.”

But, while the stresses of leadership can’t always be avoided, dealing well with stress is still possible. As leadership coach Kathy Archer says, “A leader has to role model healthy boundaries if they want to make a difference.” Rejman understands this in her own leadership. She says, “I’m never afraid to verbalize the fact that I’m taking a mental health day. As a manager, you set an example and a tone. If you talk about mental health and practice self-care, it becomes normalized and others are willing to talk about it too.”

Archer also thinks managers need to manage their own emotions around employee wellness. “If an employee is stressed out and you need to help them, you recognize that things are rolling back uphill to you. You might feel afraid that someone might quit. You may feel incompetent that you should have seen things coming, or worry about how you will be seen in the eyes of your funders or your own manager. You may feel angry and frustrated or guilty or overwhelmed. But part of your job is managing these emotions.”

Foster healthy culture

There’s a lot of talk about organizational culture these days, but when it comes to burnout, Uppal says a culture-shifting question to ask is: how can organizations take the onus off the individual and make it a collective responsibility to take care of each other and to work in an environment where everyone is thriving? (She adds that when organizations foster that kind of system, individual employees are more likely to do things to take care of themselves.)

What this looks like is less nebulous than it might sound. It begins by knowing your organization, its rhythms and needs, says Rejman. “At Pathways to Education, we’re really clear in our hiring process that this is the type and pace of work you will engage in, the kind of situations you will find yourself in. If this doesn’t work with you, it’s not the role for you.” Rejman adds that some organizations dress up their organization to sound wonderful, but that one of the best ways to help staff thrive is to be real so that you can hire staff who will thrive in the reality of your organization’s environment. She extends this to having realistic expectations in the hiring process. “If you want someone to raise $1M, for instance, and your organization has only ever raised $250K before, senior leadership needs to be more realistic.”

Another element to developing a healthy work culture is created by establishing strong policies, says Uppal, whether these are flex time or lieu time policies that allow people to work at their best. Rejman says, “There are structural ways to set people up for success.

Having clear policies that are communicated to all staff on a regular basis before a crisis so that everyone understands the organizational values and stance; this ensures decisions don’t have to be made in a moment of crisis.” This also extends into holidays, sick days, leaves and professional development policies. “Like many organizations,” says Uppal, “ONN shuts down from Christmas Eve until the first Monday after New Year’s. This is in addition to our vacation days, and allows time to be with family and friends and to take care of ourselves.” Uppal says, “People want to work for organizations that have systems in place that build a solid human resources foundation.”

Building stronger teams enhances their resiliency, says Archer, which creates a culture where colleagues support one another. “Do activities that build the team. These don’t have to be time-consuming or expensive, but when one team member has a strain, others will be more willing to swoop in to help.”

Archer gives one caution: “Don’t assume wellness and employee assistance programs are the answer to burnout and stress. They are resources but they’re underutilized, sometimes ineffective and don’t really matter if the culture doesn’t support them.”

Centre the worker

“We centre our community in our work all the time,” says Uppal, “but what if we centred our staff, too? There’s a certain hypocrisy if a nonprofit actively tries to solve complex social problems but doesn’t treat its workers well. That’s what decent work is about. It’s not just about clients and community but those who work in organization, and predominantly women doing care work that isn’t valued. When an employee is treated fairly and makes fair wages, they will do more and better work.”

For Chadnick, this is about treating staff with respect. “Things can get out of hand, especially if the leader is passionate about serving the cause and sees people only as instruments in serving the cause. Leaders need to be mindful of their own passion meter and making sure they are building a culture that is healthy. If you don’t take care of people, you can’t serve your constituents.”

This means being mindful of “how you load up your people” says Chadnick. “Have conversations around priorities, not to micromanage but to help staff determine their priorities.” Uppal says, “I personally want to say yes to everything. When you’re in an organization where everyone is like that, it can snowball and cause burnout. Leaders can help make sure people’s plates aren’t full all the time, can celebrate saying no in team meetings, and can reiterate these priorities.”

Centring the worker can also involve coaching a staff member to develop skills that will reduce strain, such as becoming better organized. It can also mean understanding what’s getting in the way of their success, says Chadnick, whether that is volume of work or perfectionism. It means acknowledging stresses that may weigh on staff. Uppal describes being at a meeting after a recent election: “A number of EDs talked about how the political and economic uncertainty had an impact on their staff who worried about whether their programs or even their jobs would get cut.” In such times of real and widespread anxiety, Uppal advises that openly acknowledging this with staff and making space for their feelings can ease some of those otherwise unspoken tensions.

Anticipate and normalize

Where possible, says Rejman, talk about mental health and burnout when there is no crisis. “During World Mental Health Week, we deliberately talked about mental health each day, sharing articles that talk about reducing stress and burnout, highlighting our employee assistance program, and focusing on mental health and wellbeing with the explicit explanation that we were doing this to normalize and destigmatize it.”

But, Pathways’ work in this regard doesn’t end at a particular week. Instead, throughout the year, they share resources, but also find occasions when it seems particularly relevant to check in with staff. “At the start of the busiest time of year, our team meeting was centred around talking about what needed to be done, checking on what we were saying we would accomplish, whether we were lining ourselves up for success, how people were feeling about their workload, productivity and focus, and the obstacles to reaching our goals. Afterwards staff said it was helpful to hear from others that what they were feeling was normal, and that they weren’t alone.” (At the following meeting, Rejman says, the staff shared their ta-da’s, the things they were celebrating and completing, rather than simply focusing on their to-do’s.).

Have the hard conversations

It’s important, says Archer, for leaders to be proactive with their staff and read between the lines when staff might show signs that they are struggling, without coming out and saying so.

“The question as a manager is whether the person is incapable of doing their job or has something going on in their personal life or with their mental health,” says Rejman. “We automatically go to performance but sometimes there are underlying causes.” Archer says it’s useful to look at the bigger picture to determine whether an employee has struggled in their role form the start or whether this is a new development that might suggest that something else is going on. Building trust between a manager and staff can take time, says Rejman, but doing deliberate and consistent check-ins with staff, and approaching these with compassion and curiosity can help. Rejman suggests asking staff where they feel set up for success and where they need help, as well as providing opportunities to talk about feelings of anxiety, stress and being overwhelmed.

Rejman acknowledges that these conversations can be delicate because an employee has no legal obligation to disclose this information, and also because managers rarely have legal or psychological training. “This is where policies and professional consulting can be valuable, as well as encouraging employees to seek professional support.”

It’s also important to listen to the employees themselves in terms of what they need to succeed. Earlier in 2019, Tides Canada with Dragonfly Fund surveyed workers in the charitable sector for their report on the sector’s current resources for mental health and wellness. Those surveyed reported participants wanting flexible hours and/or work location; extended health benefits; a positive office culture and working relationships; and a supportive manager, as well as a way to increase funding for the emotional health and well-being of people working in the charitable sector. Out of this, the Dragonfly Emotional Health and Well-being (EHW) Grant program was launched. The grant provides grantees with “top up” grants of $500 – $2000, in addition to program or organizational funding, to be used toward employee emotional health and well-being activities.

Recognize the steps between stress leave and business as usual

It’s important to remember that burnout doesn’t have to equal stress leave. Rejman says, “Ask the employee what will help them to succeed. When I coached an employee through burnout, they said that knowing they could work from home would calm their stress levels down. Others might benefit from the opportunity to come to work from 10-6 rather than 830-430. There can be easy solutions.”

Archer agrees, suggesting tactics such as work-sharing to give a person a chance to catch their breath, or shifting duties, whether temporarily or permanently.

Rejman says it’s vital for managers to help their staff, especially inexperienced staff, to have a sense of the very top priorities, the things that absolutely must happen.

“A lot of this sounds benevolent and altruistic toward the employee,” says Rejman, “but the hard reality is that from an organizational perspective, it is far better to have conversations when someone is not in a crisis or to encourage them to take a day and rest rather than having them limp along and end up on disability. At the end of the day, employees will do what they will do, but as managers, it’s the little things on a consistent basis that help avoid significant challenges.”

Susan Fish is a writer/editor at Storywell, a company that helps individuals and organizations tell their story well. She has written for the nonprofit sector for more than two decades and loves a good story.

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