Disrupting Burnout
Disrupting Burnout with Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson is dedicated to overworked, undervalued high-achieving servant leaders who give all to serve others and leave very little for yourself. You are an accomplished woman with many responsibilities and you often find yourself overwhelmed, exhausted, and burned out. I’ve been there. As a matter of fact, burnout almost cost me everything. Compassionate work can carry a high price tag: your mind, body, spirit and relationships may be in distress as you serve the needs of others. I am here to equip your hands and refresh your heart so you can serve in purpose and fulfillment and permanently break cycles of burnout.
Disrupting Burnout
142. A Crisis Plan for Educators in the Weeds
Feeling overwhelmed with no words to express it? That's the reality for countless educators across America. Unlike the restaurant industry where saying "I'm blown" triggers immediate support, educators hide their struggles, compounding their suffering in silence.
Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson (PBJ) addresses this critical disconnect in today's powerful episode. Drawing from her dissertation research on crisis response, she reveals how educational institutions excel at creating emergency plans for students but have no protocols for supporting overwhelmed faculty and staff. She shares compelling stories about managing hurricane crises—both with and without proper planning—highlighting how preparation creates confidence even when unexpected variables arise.
The most valuable takeaway? Communication remains the cornerstone of effective crisis management. When Augusta, Georgia faced unexpected hurricane damage, PBJ observed how city officials maintained communication channels even when they had no updates, providing residents with peace amidst chaos. This same principle applies to managing burnout in education—open, consistent communication prevents people from filling information gaps with fear-driven narratives.
Ready to create a crisis plan for your educational team? PBJ guides you through identifying what you can control, what you can influence, and what you must accept. She emphasizes engaging your team in developing solutions, leveraging their expertise while building trust. The STOP plan offers practical micro-breaks that create sustainable rhythms of rest without requiring extended sabbaticals.
Don't wait until your educational team is completely burnt out. Download the STOP plan today and begin implementing micro-breaks that allow for revival while serving. Remember, you already possess the strategic skills to create effective crisis plans—it's time to apply them to the burnout crisis facing education today.
Upgrade to Premium Membership to access the Disrupting Burnout audiobook and other bonus content: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1213895/supporters/new
In the academy, in education, right now, we need a plan. We don't have a culture for people to say I'm in the weeds, I'm blown. So because of that, people keep it to themselves. They don't talk about it when they're struggling and when they're overwhelmed. They don't share it at work. They hide it. And I'm here to tell you the pressure to hide that you're suffering. It compounds the impact of that suffering. Hey, friends, I am Dr Patrice Buckner Jackson, but you can call me PBJ.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of Disrupting Burnout, where we are giving you the strategies for pouring out purpose without continuing to endure the consequences of burnout. My friends, I'm here to tell you today we need to have a little talk, specifically to my educators. We need to have a little talk because it's time for us to make a plan, friends. We need to make a crisis plan With PBJ. I can't stop. I don't have time to stop. If I stop, all of this falls apart. With short staff, I don't have anybody that can take my place at work. I don't have support at home or at work to stop. 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's 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. 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 costs you to be you and you know what the cost has been. It's time to stop. Grab the plan today.
Speaker 1:Recently, I shared with you all that I read an excerpt of Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. Well, I read the book, but there's an excerpt in the book where Brene shared there's a language and a culture in the restaurant industry for people to say, hey, it's busy, we need all hands on deck right now. Or hey, I need a break, I need to step away and I need you to take care of my, my business. I need you to take care of my responsibilities right now. And Brene shared if you say I'm in the weeds, that means all hands on deck, it is busy, it is crunch time, but if we do it all together, we're going to be just fine and we'll get through it. She shared.
Speaker 1:If you say I'm blown, that language, everybody knows what to do. No one's asking you what can I do to help? How can I help you? If you say I'm blown, you separate yourself, go outside, take a walk, go to the bathroom, whatever you have to do, but you go. You go, take care of you and we will take care of this. We won't ask you a question. We will figure it out. We'll find out what tables you had, we'll find out where all of those tables are in their dining experience and we will handle it until you get back.
Speaker 1:And when I read that, it has not left me because I keep thinking about how we don't have a culture or a language or a plan in education for when it's crunch time, but also when people are blown and they need a break. So, as a result, we find ourselves always reacting, reacting, reacting. Oh my gosh, we're so surprised. Why are we surprised? All of the signs are there. Everything is telling us we need a plan right now. And here's why. Here's why I won't pretend that I don't know. Here's why, in education, we we report to so many systems. There are systems within systems within systems that hold educators, educational institutions and educational systems accountable that it doesn't feel like there's any wiggle room or control at the level of the school or the university or the college. So we're so used to being told what to do, and most of that comes from external. It comes from people who've never been educators. It comes from people who've never been in a classroom or never worked full time on a college campus. It comes from many different levels of external control and because and we have to pay attention because our licenses, because our funding, all of that the future of our career field and our work comes from external. So I understand why we freeze and I want to encourage us to control what we can control, and it is time for us to create some crisis plans to support our faculty and our staff members.
Speaker 1:As a student affairs professional, I am well versed in writing and executing crisis plans concerning students. I thought about a couple of times and then, the more I thought, the more examples came to mind. But I won't tell you all of the examples, but I want to give you a couple of examples of when I needed a crisis plan, one in particular and y'all forgive me if I get it wrong, because we've worked through so many hurricanes, I get them mixed up, but I think this one was Hurricane Michael. Maybe that might be right, but here's what I know for sure. Here's what I know for sure. So hurricanes are the kind of crisis that you get a forecast. It's a maybe. You might not know exactly how you're going to be impacted it may turn, it may change but there is a forecast that gives you an idea.
Speaker 1:Okay, we are on high alert, we're in the path of this thing. We need to start putting our plan in action. And so I was on a campus and we got the alerts and we got the weather reports and we knew that we were in the path. So we started putting our crisis plan into place, and one of the first things we do in student affairs is if we know, if we know we are really in the path. Okay, can we get some students out of here, like, can parents come pick them up? Do we have time for students to physically get to a safer place, so they are not in town, right? So we start executing that plan and then we have to think about our buildings and our facilities. What do we need to do to protect these facilities as much as possible so after the storm is over, there's not as much damage, hopefully, but also we can welcome our students back to a safe environment? So we have to think about facilities.
Speaker 1:In this particular hurricane, one of the challenges was that we had a couple hundred students at least, who could not leave, did not have access to, decided not to leave because they thought it was going to be a fun time on campus. For whatever reason, we had over a couple hundred students left on campus and they rode it out on campus during the storm. So, of course, after the storm, we're trying to evaluate the damage, see where we are as an institution, where our facilities are, what we need to do just assessing, right, like we're just assessing the damage. But we realized having these students on campus was not the best position to be in. While we're assessing, while we're fixing, while our town is recovering. I remember the impact on our particular town. We had curfews, we had National Guard on the roads, so people would not be on the roads. It was not just a fly-by-night kind of situation. There was some recovery that was needed.
Speaker 1:And the thing that kicked us into high gear is we realized that the water in our buildings, including our residence halls, was out and that it was not going to return very quickly. So, as soon as we knew the water was out because, keep in mind, if these students are here, we have to feed them, we have to engage with them, we have to keep them, try to keep them safe Let me just say that right, because the truth is all right. The truth is we can do everything that is in our power. The truth is, we can do everything that is in our power, but human beings have will and they can decide if they're going to comply and all the things. So we have to do our very best to keep them safe if they're with us, right. But when we found out that water was out, when we found out it was not coming back. That means no working bathrooms, no showers, water for drinking cooking.
Speaker 1:When we found out that water was out, we knew we had to make a decision and we didn't have a plan for that. This was a place where we were working on our crisis plans and we didn't have a plan for that, so we had to quickly jump into gear. Thankfully, we had a sister institution that was not that far away that had some facilities that could accept our students, and this particular sister institution was accustomed to dealing with hurricanes. As a matter of fact, most of the time they would be dealing with it as opposed to us. We had some relationships there and I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful because it's one thing to care for your students. It's another thing to have hundreds, a couple of hundred of students from another institution to come, and now you're housing them and you're feeding them, and you're housing them and you're feeding them and you're engaging them and you're doing all the things. But when I tell you, we made that call, they said we've got room, we'll take care of them, bring them this way. We made that call. We got some transportation in place so quickly and our colleagues at the institution received our students. We sent some of our professional staff with them, of course, and they fed them and they programmed with them, they engaged them, they took good care of them until we could bring them back to our campus just a few days later. And so we needed a crisis plan, and in that particular case, we weren't ready. We weren't ready. We did not have the crisis plans in place that we needed. We were in the process of working. We got through it with the help of our colleagues and resources and folks who showed up and stood by us and helped us. We got through it, but we suffered for not having a plan.
Speaker 1:There was another example that I'll give you, and this was 2020. I remember, specifically, I was watching the news and I was scheduled to be out of town to speak. So I was working full time on a campus and speaking a bit at that time, and I was scheduled to be away for a week. I was scheduled to be away for a week, speaking in another state, and I just knew in my heart I got to make a plan. I cannot leave without having a plan in place, because I got a feeling. I got a feeling things are going to change before I get back. I just knew it in my gut. So I sat down and I started writing a plan. If this, then that. If this, then that. This department's in charge of this. This department's in charge of that. If this, then that this department's in charge of this. This department's in charge of that. If we need to do this, this is how we're going to do it. If we have to move students out, this is how we're going to do it, in an orderly way. This is how we're going to communicate. Put a pin there, because we got to come back to communication.
Speaker 1:I started writing a plan and just having the plan gave me peace that I could go and do what I needed to do, knowing if things started moving, there was a plan in place that we could follow, that we would be okay. And I'm here to tell you. I went away for that week and my phone started ringing and things started moving, started moving. But I didn't have to panic because I had already sat down and created a plan for how we're going to move forward when things started moving Right. So that plan started working before I got back in town. By the time I got back in town, we were active, like it was happening and I was so grateful to have a written plan that we could follow. And did we tweak? Yes, you tweak as you go. You can't assume every variable, you don't know every threat, you don't know every need, but having a plan sets you up to make it through the storm. Okay, in the academy, in education, right now, we need a plan.
Speaker 1:We don't have a culture for people to say I'm in the weeds, I'm blown. So because of that, people keep it to themselves. They don't talk about it when they're struggling and when they're overwhelmed. They don't share it at work. They hide it. And I'm here to tell you the pressure to hide that you're suffering. It compounds the impact of that suffering. And there are so many educators who are overwhelmed, have been overwhelmed, have been in burnout for a long time and don't feel free to say anything, don't feel safe to say anything. So the compound effect of having to hide it we're starting to see the results of that. We're starting to see the impact of that.
Speaker 1:So folks don't have a language, they don't have a culture or permission to say it. How do I say I need help? How do I say this is not going well without having undue consequences put on me right. And then, beyond having the culture or the room to say it and then having the language to say what happens when someone says it. Because, as a leader, you may say, hey, my people know, they can tell me anything. You know, I have one-on-ones with them, I ask them how they're doing, I always check on them and I'm grateful for that. Thank you, leader.
Speaker 1:But what happens after someone has said it? After someone has said it, what happens? What's the next step? What's the crisis plan we have, especially in student affairs? We have fire plans, we have active threat plans, we have behavior plans, we have all kinds of crisis plans. And if we're good at it, not only do we have written plans but we rehearse them, we talk about them, we do tabletop exercises if we're good at it.
Speaker 1:Now, sometimes we have a plan, but people are not aware of the plan because we don't spend any time talking about it. But when we're good at it, we have done the tabletop exercises, we have been in the hot room, we have done the tabletop exercises, we have been in the hot room, we have done the things, and so we practice it so much that when and if a real threat happens, we know at least where to start. We know at least where to start and we're not frozen by our nervous system because we've already rehearsed and we've already practiced what we're going to do. That's concerning our students. What we haven't done and what we don't do is we don't have crisis plans for our faculty and our staff. We don't talk about it. We don't write anything down, we don't make a plan. We don't talk about what are the needs. We don't talk about where are our resources. We don't talk about it.
Speaker 1:Communicate, period. The most important thing you can do in a crisis is communicate. The most important thing you need to do is say something. Just recently, back in October, so a few months ago, here where I live in Augusta, georgia, we were impacted by a hurricane by surprise. We just did not expect that we would be impacted to the point of no power, no water for days upon days. Right, we had no idea, and I will have to say this One thing I appreciate from our city officials is they kept the lines of communication open.
Speaker 1:They had communication meetings, they had the media show up, and they twice a day at least, and they would always say we're coming back to you tomorrow at this time, or we're coming back to you later today at this time, even if there was no update, hear me, even if there was no update, they would come and say there has been no change, but we promised we would update you. So there is no change, there is no new instruction. We're in the same place. We were at the last update, but showing up to say something that update may be, we just set up a water station. You can go to this place to get your water. Or we know that a gas truck has delivered to this particular store so you can go there because these other places are out. Or please still stay off the roads. The roads are not safe. Please stay off the roads.
Speaker 1:The communication was constant and it was through social media and it was on their website. And again, I mean, thank goodness we had access to our phones, for those of us who had access to our phones. If we didn't have that, then that's another level. Right, that's another challenge that would have needed to be navigated, but for the most part, most of us figured out a way to have our phones. So, because we had our phones, we had access to these updates and I can't tell you how much peace comes when you're communicating.
Speaker 1:And it's a battle right, because when you stand and communicate in the crisis, then you put yourself in position to be judged, to be challenged, to accept the anger and frustration of people who are in the crisis. I get that, but not communicating is the worst option you can take, because when you don't say anything, we human beings, we're storytellers. We will make up a story, we'll fill in the gap, we'll fill in the gap, and most of the time, what we fill in the gap is worse than what the reality is. So the first thing you need to do in creating a crisis plan and I'm talking about a plan for people who are overwhelmed, a plan for people who are burnt out, a plan for people who are fearful because of what is the future going to look like? How are things going to change? Fear is a driver. It's not a good driver, but it's a driver and people make rash decisions when they're afraid. So the first step you need to take in creating a crisis plan is opening the lines of communication. Sit down with your team, talk about what you know, and it may not be a whole lot, but you need to honor. This is what I know and I know that's not a lot, but what I know and what I can share, you all will know Make space for the fear, make space for the emotions, but also make space for the expertise of your team. They can help you create the crisis plan. They can help you.
Speaker 1:What are we going to do if this happens? What are we going to do if that happens? What are we going to do if we keep losing people to FMLA? What are we going to do if more people leave and we don't have enough coverage for our classrooms or enough coverage for our student engagement events? What are we going to do? What are we going to do in changes in federal funding? What are we going to do? And I know, I know it feels like a lot of that's not up to us.
Speaker 1:Pbj, I got it, I got it, but I want you to consider what you can control. What are the pieces of this? There are pieces that you have to accept. Right, there's nothing you can do. You don't have access or authority to do anything about it. There are pieces of a crisis where you have influence, you have access, you have impact, but you don't have the authority. So how do you want to use that influence. Then there are pieces of a crisis where you have control. Control means you have knowledge, skills, ability, experience and access and authority to do something about it. What do you want to do about what you control? By engaging your folks, by having the conversation, by opening the lines of communication, not only are you fueling trust you're fueling trust, which is the foundation of every good relationship but by taking away the pressure of hiding how folks are feeling, then you are stripping away some of those negative consequences and probably holding on to your people a little while longer.
Speaker 1:I could talk about this for days. Y'all my dissertation research is in crisis and responding to crisis. So this is my thing, this is what I do, and I think we need to talk about it. I think we need to talk about it. I'm considering for the next few weeks, if I want to talk you through how to create a crisis plan for your faculty and your staff.
Speaker 1:What plan do you need in place to protect and support the people who do the educating? Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. It it helps us when we have a plan. The plan will change. We can pivot, we can change, we can respond to any new thing that we didn't think about, that's okay. But having something in place, it's going to support your team and hold it together, and it's time that we do that right.
Speaker 1:Okay, friend, I got to let you go, but I had to get this thing off my chest today. We need a plan. It's time to make a plan, and I'll close with this. You already know. You know how to be strategic. You know how to be creative. You have made so many crisis plans for different situations. Crisis just means it's not normal. Anything outside of your norm is considered crisis. It's time. It's time to create a plan for the crisis that we face right now, for the burnout crisis, for the overwhelmed crisis, for the crisis of change that we're in right now. It's time to create a plan so that we can take care of our people. All right, friend, as always, you know that you are powerful, you are significant and you are loved.
Speaker 1:Man, educators are often blamed. Educators are often blamed. Educators are often blamed for the woes of society, for young people not being prepared for all kinds of things. But here I want you to know that you're not blamed. You're loved, you are supported, you are championed. You deserve that. Alright, thank you, I'll see you later. Love always PBJ. Bye, bye.
