136. Leadership in Action: Preventing Burnout in your Team

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Can workplace culture truly change the way we handle burnout and stress? Dive into a transformative conversation with me, Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson, also known as PBJ, as we explore the critical importance of creating a supportive environment that values self-care. In this episode, we tackle the fears and anxieties that often prevent open discussions about burnout, drawing inspiration from Brene Brown's "Atlas of the Heart." We delve into the concept of being "in the weeds" and stress the significance of collaboration and support during challenging times. This is a call to action for leaders to integrate micro breaks and rhythm resets into daily routines, fostering a workplace culture where expressing struggles is met with empathy rather than judgment. 

Join me as we highlight the stark contrast between industries like education and the restaurant sector, where systems allow for stepping back when overwhelmed. We discuss the pressing need for a supportive language and cultural shift in professions plagued by burnout. The episode is a heartfelt plea to establish crisis plans for burnout, akin to those for natural disasters, to prevent staff from reaching their breaking point. Plus, we address the importance of setting boundaries and managing responsibilities amidst life's chaos. You're invited to continue this critical conversation with us next week, as we share more strategies for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Remember, you are powerful, significant, brilliant, and loved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Creating a Culture of Self-Care
• 6:35 Creating a Culture of Support
• 23:02 Boundaries and Self-Care

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

There is a fear for telling people that you're overwhelmed. There is anxiety for saying I am burnt out. There is a fear that folks won't think you can handle the job. They won't think you're good enough, you're smart enough, you're strong enough, you're enough. There's a fear that you will be held back from future opportunities because people know that you have a weakness held back from future opportunities because people know that you have a weakness. There's a fear that you will not be invited to a seat at the table because people see you as a weak link. There is no opportunity or no culture for us to honestly speak up and say I'm in the weeds or I'm blown. And what happens is people continue to serve and operate and teach and educate under these consequences. They continue to show up, acting like everything's okay when it's not okay. They continue coming and knowing that they are at their breaking point and they show up until they break. Hey, hey, hey. Friend, welcome back to the Disrupting Burnout Podcast, where we are giving you the strategies for pouring out purpose without continuing to live through burnout. Friend, if you are new here, I'm Dr Patrice Buckner-Jackson, but you can call me PBJ, and I am so excited to share with you Now.

Speaker 1: 1:32

This week, as you know, we've been talking about a rhythm reset, so if you've missed the conversation, go back to the last couple of episodes. Make sure you catch up so that you're on the same page with us. Today I want to change focus a little bit. I'm still talking about a rhythm reset, but one of the challenges I hear over and over and over from you all as I travel, as you email me, it's PBJ. My folks at work don't care nothing about me needing a reset, pbj. I don't know that I can do this because my boss, my leader, my organization they don't prioritize this kind of thing, so it's not going to work for me.

Speaker 1: 2:15

Today I want to talk to the leaders. I want to talk to the bosses, the supervisors, the managers, the folks who have some influence, some leverage, some power to make space for people to take care of themselves. And the first thing I want to say is friend, I'm not blaming you. I know that you exist in a system where you're trying to survive as well. I know that you have bosses and bosses, bosses and bosses, bosses, bosses that you have to submit, to align with, but at the same time, you see the need of your team. If you're listening to this podcast, you are a boss who cares, because jerks can't hang with us. So I know for sure if you are listening to this podcast, you are a leader who wants to take care of your folks, who wants to do well, who wants to create a healthy environment. But there are often so many external pressures that impact our ability to do that. So I want to give you some thoughts today of what you can do as a leader to create an environment for your folks to be able to take a breath and to recover from all the things.

Speaker 1: 3:41

Pbj. I can't stop. I don't have time to stop. If I stop, all of this falls apart. We're short-staffed. I don't have anybody that can take my place at work. I don't have support at home or at work to stop.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Friends, if any of these thoughts come to mind when you think about taking a break, you are the person who needs to stop the most. I want to offer you our stop plan Simple. I want you to use the same strategies and wisdom and skills that you use at work and I'm going to guide you to using those strategies to plan micro breaks. I'm not talking about a month sabbatical, but can you incorporate micro breaks into your life as a regular rhythm of rest so that while you are serving, while you are giving, you can have moments of revival, so that you can live the life you're living sustainably. Friend, you need to grab this stop plan. Make sure to click the link in the show notes or wherever you're watching or listening to this, so that you can get what you need right now. It can't wait. I know you do a wonderful job, but people don't know what it cost you to be you, and you know what the cost has been. It's time to stop. Grab the plan.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Today I was reading Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. If you haven't read it, it is a read that you need to pick up. In Atlas of the Heart, brene shared how she worked in the restaurant industry many years ago. And in working in the restaurant industry they had some language that they would use when people were feeling overwhelmed, right. So Brene shared if you say I'm in the weeds, in the weeds means it's busy, it's hectic, there's a lot going on, but if I can just get somebody to help me a little bit, we can get through this together. So in the weeds means if you will take drinks to table 20, if you will take appetizers to table 47, if we do this together, then we'll get through this rush and all is well. So in the weeds is a way to say that I need a little bit of help, friend, I need a little bit of help. I'm okay, I don't need to step down, I don't need to step out. But if we could collaborate, if we could support each other, if you could give me a little bit of help, we could push through this busy window and we would all be okay. Brene shared.

Speaker 1: 6:35

The other statement was I'm blown. And, according to Brene Brown, if someone in the restaurant industry says Brene Brown, if someone in the restaurant industry says I'm blown, everybody else takes over. If you say I'm blown, folks don't even ask you what you need. There are no questions asked. If you say I'm blown, you go outside, you go sit in your car, you go in the bathroom and cry. Whatever you need to do, you just go. And we got it. When you say I'm blown, your colleagues go to the hostess. What tables did PBJ have? Okay, I'm going to those tables. How are you? What can I do for you? You need a drink refill. Are you waiting on your appetizer. They don't even expect me to say what is needed when I'm blown. I just get a break and everybody jumps in to help until I can take the 10 minutes, the 15 minutes to come back and I can jump back in.

Speaker 1: 7:37

What I've found and I know that many of you who follow this podcast, you are educators, so I'm going to speak specifically to us for a minute because that's what I know what I've found specifically in education is we don't have language for I'm in the weeds or I'm blown, and not only do we not have language for that, but we don't have space for that. There is a fear for telling people that you're overwhelmed. There is anxiety for saying I am burnt out. There is a fear that folks won't think you can handle the job. They won't think you're good enough, you're smart enough, you're strong enough, you're enough. There's a fear that you will be held back from future opportunities because people know that you have a weakness. There's a fear that you will not be invited to a seat at the table because people see you as a weak link.

Speaker 1: 8:36

There is no opportunity or no culture for us to honestly speak up and say I'm in the weeds or I'm blown and what happens is people continue to serve and operate and teach and educate under these consequences. They continue to show up acting like everything's okay when it's not okay. They continue coming and knowing that they are at their breaking point. And they show up until they break. And then we sit around and wonder well, what happened to so-and-so? Well, I never saw that coming. Well, we are so surprised. Friend, that's my story. That's what happened to me. I pushed myself until I could not push any longer and in a moment, I made one decision that changed my entire life. When I walked away from that job that day, people were shocked because it didn't. It did not align with my character, it did not align with who I am or who they knew me to be. But what they didn't know is I was blown and I had been blown for a long time and I didn't feel like I had language or the opportunity or grace to say it, so I just kept pushing until my body gave out on me.

Speaker 1: 10:07

So if you are a leader or a supervisor, manager, executive, if you have leverage, if you have a seat at the table, if you have influence, develop some language for people to say it's hectic and I need help and I am overwhelmed and I need to stop. Give people permission to be honest about where they are and have a crisis plan in place for what you're going to do when that shows up. We have a crisis plan for everything else in education. We have a crisis plan for tornadoes. We have a crisis plan for hurricanes. We have a crisis plan for fires, and on and on and on, but what we don't have is a crisis plan for burnout. We don't have a crisis plan for people who have had enough and can't keep giving.

Speaker 1: 11:14

But guess what? We still have to respond because at some point they get sick, they're on FMLA, they quit, they walk away or they're present, but they're not giving and serving because they don't have it to give anymore. So we still have to take care of the problem. Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away. So why not create language and give grace for people to speak up and say I'm in the weeds or I'm blown and I need some help? So create the language, create a culture that allows people to tell the truth about how they're doing and then make a plan of what we're going to do when those people speak up. So if I were in a restaurant and I said I'm in the weeds. Folks are going to say what do you need? I got you. What do you need I got you. So in education, or in your healthcare organization or in your corporation, what is the plan for when people raise their hand and say I need help, I need some support here. Or what is your plan when people step up and say I'm blown, I'm out? Here are a few things that I want you to think about. First of all, I want you to think about what is the preemptive step, so what can we do before people hit a wall?

Speaker 1: 12:42

One of the examples I've given you before and I think it's appropriate to share here is as my team and I, when I worked on campus as my team and I were kind of continuing to work through the challenges of the pandemic and they were all exhausted I served a team of folks who were considered essential in education. Essential means you don't go home when the crisis happens. Other people might be home for the snow day, but you're not. Other people might be working from home during the pandemic, but you're not, because if might be working from home during the pandemic, but you're not Because if students are on campus. We are on campus. Essential people don't get the break that others might get when there's a crisis going on. That's our go time. That's the time that we have to show up, we have to act, we have to be there.

Speaker 1: 13:33

So my folks, being essential, were exhausted. They were exhausted, they were overtaxed and it wasn't over. The demand was still. We still had students, we still had to take care of them, we still had to isolate folks and feed them and all the things. So we sat down the leaders in my unit. We sat down and had a conversation of what do people really need? Right, because in that time, educators were saying well, we don't have more money to pay folks, we can't pay you more money or we can't allow you to continue working from home because the mandates have come that we've got to be back on campus.

Speaker 1: 14:13

So what I heard from educators is there's nothing we can do If we can't do those surface things. There's nothing we can do. But I sat down with my leaders and said we know we can't do those surface things, there's nothing we can do. But I sat down with my leaders and said we know we can't do those surface things, we know that those are not options. What do people really need, like what do they need most now and how can we make that happen?

Speaker 1: 14:34

And in that discussion, what we came up with is people needed time. They needed time. They were going from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting, and every one of those Zoom meetings they got assignments and there was no time to even do the assignments. So people were serving students and in meetings all day and then at night at home they were doing all the assignments that they didn't have time to do during the day because they're in meeting after meeting, after meeting after meeting. So there was no time to think, there was no time to be creative, there was no time to be strategic. People were exhausted. So what our folks had shared with us over and over is they needed time, they needed space, right, so we're not out here just giving people free days off. But what we decided was to create a proposal for what we called R&R reading and research days. So we created a proposal that would allow each member of our unit to ask in advance and take at least two R&R days a month, and we defined an R&R day as a day that you are focused on one particular project or one particular thing.

Speaker 1: 15:51

You're not checking email that day. You've got an out of office message on your email. You're not answering the phone that day. The rest of us in the office will cover you that day. You may not even be physically in the office that day. You are working, but we are acting like you are not here and you may not physically be here. On your reading and research day, you may visit another campus and you may learn about something that they've got going on that we're trying to implement. On your reading and research day, you may read a book that aligns with something that we're trying to accomplish or do some research on whatever our next steps or our goals are. On your reading and research day, you may be building a student leadership training program or planning for RA training in August. On your reading and research day, you are doing work. You're doing, you're checking something off your list, you're doing something within your responsibilities, but you're doing it in a way where you are uninterrupted, where you can think clearly. You can have your reading and research day in a park, you can have it in a coffee shop, wherever.

Speaker 1: 17:02

The only requirement because we wanted to be accountable we wanted to be. It wasn't that we didn't trust our people, but we wanted to be accountable to all of our leaders. The only requirement one you got to be approved of it. Only one person out of each department, so out of each office, could be gone each day, so we couldn't have three and four people out at the same time. So you got to get it pre-approved. You got to get it pre-approved Only one person out of the office each day. For that Now, emergencies come up and we'll figure that out but only one person on R&R each day. You got to be working on something that is directly connected to your job, your job responsibilities, your projects. And then the other thing is you got to share some proof at the end of the day. So your proof may be pictures from the campus visit. Your proof may be a quick summary or a paragraph of the reading that you did or the research that you did, or a draft of the program that you're planning, whatever. But you had to turn in some proof of the work that you accomplished that day to your supervisor by the close of business. Those were our responsibilities. Again, we want to be accountable, but we want to honor our people.

Speaker 1: 18:18

So what can you do to prevent folks from hitting rock bottom? Stop telling yourself there's nothing you can do. There are opportunities for you that are in your hand, that people would easily say yes to if you would just allow yourself a moment to be creative and you don't have to come up with it by yourself. If you supervise people, ask them, ask them what they need. People will tell you what they need if you just ask them.

Speaker 1: 18:51

So what can you do to prevent people from hitting the wall? Next, what do you do when they're in the weeds and it's hectic, right? So what help can you bring in? Are there graduate assistants or student leaders or volunteers? People want to help you. They want to learn from you. They're not asking for compensation all the time. Sometimes people just want to be in your space and help you.

Speaker 1: 19:21

So who can you recruit?

Speaker 1: 19:24

Who can you recruit to help? Or how can you exchange help? How can you assign one person this week and a different person next week so that everybody can take a breath? Look for ways to allow people to get a little bit of space Y'all. There is so much going on right now. There's so much going on in our world right now. If we don't find space for people to rest, recover and reset, we're going to lose our best people, not because they don't care, not because they're not passionate about the work, but because they just cannot keep living like this. So think about it. What can you do when you need a little extra help? Is there another department, or even another company, another person? Collaboration is key. We don't have to compete all the time. Who is your peer and how can you reach out to them so that you can be of service to them and they can be of service to you?

Speaker 1: 20:36

And when people are blown, I want you to find ways for them to stop completely. Let go, because if you don't, you're going to have to when they're out on FMLA, when, god forbid, they are in the hospital, when we have lost them Educators, y'all already know what I'm saying. We have lost people to death because they didn't have a way to say I'm blown, and I can't keep doing this. So don't wait. Sit with your people, get creative, strategic, strategic and wise, and find ways that you can support each other, and not just the staff but leader. You needed to.

Speaker 1: 21:35

The research shows us. The Gallup research from 2024 shows us that how the team is doing is a direct reflection of how the leader is doing. So you may not let them see it, you may not be saying it, but I see you and you're tired too. So this solution, this new culture, this direction should not just be for your people, but they need to see you and your humanity as well, because they will do what you do, not what you say. If you say, our culture is now, you can say when you're blown, and we're going to take care of you and somebody needs to be taking care of you.

Speaker 1: 22:19

All right, friend, that's all I got for you this week. I just wanted to really pause and say to those of you who are leaders, managers, executives we've got to start creating an environment where our people can be honest and vulnerable and when they can say they need help and we've got to have a crisis plan in place for how we're going to help them. And crisis plan doesn't have to be elaborate 10 page plan, right Like in the restaurant in the weeds, means we're going to take those tables together. I'm blown. Means you get 15 minutes. Goodbye, get out of here, and we're going to do everything until you can come back.

Speaker 1: 23:02

The simple thing is often the most profound. All right, goodness, we're going to keep talking about this. We'll be back next week and definitely giving you more specifics of how to stop. When you got all the things going on, when you got all the responsibilities, or when you have people in your life who don't honor boundaries, how can you stop then? I'm coming back to help you. All right, friend, as always, you are powerful, you are significant and you are brilliant and you are loved. Love always, pbj. I'll see you next week.