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
145. Are You Prepared for the Burnout Crisis You Know Is Coming?
Facing burnout in education requires the same level of preparation we give to potential fires. We don't just try to prevent fires—we install alarms, conduct drills, and create evacuation plans because we understand fires might happen despite our best prevention efforts.
Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson (PBJ) presents a powerful framework for addressing burnout as the legitimate crisis it is. Drawing from the National Incident Management System used by the Department of Homeland Security, she outlines how educational institutions can move beyond mere prevention to develop comprehensive preparedness plans for when burnout inevitably occurs.
The preparedness phase requires four critical elements: training programs that equip everyone to recognize burnout symptoms, response protocols that outline clear steps when burnout appears, resource identification that catalogs all available support options, and simulation exercises that practice response scenarios. Each component builds organizational capacity to address burnout effectively rather than reactively.
PBJ emphasizes that managers need specialized training to lead during high-pressure periods without transferring their stress to team members. She recommends cross-departmental collaboration where different units support each other during their busy seasons, creating an institutional safety net. Most importantly, she shares the principle "Nothing for them without them"—reminding leaders that effective burnout solutions must include input from those they're designed to protect.
If you find yourself thinking "I can't stop because everything will fall apart," you're precisely the person who needs to stop most. Grab the STOP plan from the show notes to incorporate essential microbreaks into your rhythm of work. Building burnout preparedness isn't just compassionate leadership—it's responsible stewardship of the human resources that make our educational institutions function.
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But we prepare ourselves to respond if the fire happens.
Speaker 1:So there are fire alarms, there are sprinkler systems, there are trainings, there are drills where we practice how to escape.
Speaker 1:So we don't stop at assuming or pretending that the fire will never happen.
Speaker 1:We do our very best to prevent a fire and if the fire comes, we have capacity and a plan and language and knowledge in order to respond to that crisis, because we want to be responsible with the lives that are in our hands.
Speaker 1:I want you to think about burnout in the same way. Hey friend, I am Dr Patrice Buckner-Jackson, but you can call me PBJ. Welcome to another episode of Disrupting Burnout, where we are giving you the strategies for pouring out purpose without burning out. Friend, listen, we are getting back on track today. We started a conversation a couple of episodes ago I think it was 142 or 143 where we were discussing creating a plan for dealing with the crisis of burnout, and it really is a crisis, and what we shared is there is a proven framework for responding to crisis. So the National Incident Management System here in the US from the Department of Homeland Security is not just a plan but a language that allows us to work through crisis On that level. The crisis may be a hurricane, it may be wildfires, whatever mass crisis happens in our area when the federal government is engaged, the National Incident Management System, or NIMS this is the language that we speak, this is the framework that we follow, and many of us educators have been trained and certified in the NIMS framework so that when those resources have to come to our area, we are aware of the plan and the language so that we can collaborate and work together to respond to the crisis. So my challenge is, as educators, because we know burnout is a crisis and let me just say this I know that folks who are not necessarily educators you educate, but not necessarily educators watch and listen to this podcast and you're welcome as well. Friend, this works for you. My examples, my personal experience, will come from education, because that's who I am, but this framework will work for your teams as well All purposeful professionals. So we are taking the tried and true and proven crisis management framework from NIMS and we are applying it to the burnout crisis that we are facing in education and in many of your organizations as well organizations as well.
Speaker 1:So just a reminder the five phases of crisis management according to N to stop, hold up the increase, the crisis from happening, right? So how do we stop this from happening? What can we do to restrain the consequences of burnout so that it doesn't become a crisis or it doesn't continue being such a crisis, right? So let's think about fire safety in our schools. So we have fire men, people, women, fire people come into the school to train our students on fire safety. We have protocols in place, right, we do all of this education to encourage folks. You can't have open flames at school. You can't bring lighters to school. So there's education. There are some restrictions.
Speaker 1:We've done a number of things to prevent fires in our schools, but we don't just assume that there will never be a fire. We don't stop at preventing the fire, but we prepare ourselves to respond if the fire happens. So there are fire alarms, there are sprinkler systems, there are trainings, there are drills where we practice how to escape. So we don't stop at assuming or pretending that the fire will never happen. We do our very best to prevent a fire and if the fire comes, we have capacity and a plan and language and knowledge in order to respond to that crisis, because we want to be responsible with the lives that are in our hands, want to be responsible with the lives that are in our hands. I want you to think about burnout in the same way. In prevention, we want to do our very best to educate folks and equip them and make changes in our culture and our workload so that we are not driven to crisis when it comes to burnout, so that our folks, our teachers, our administrators don't have to experience personal burnout and we are well aware that many of them are already there. So we're not just pretending that a fire can't happen. We will do everything we can to prevent, but preparedness says we are building our capacity to respond when and if it happens.
Speaker 1: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 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: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 microbreaks 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 costs you to be you, and you know what the cost has been. It's time to stop. Grab the plan today.
Speaker 1:So today I want to talk to you about what preparedness looks like, what it looks like to build in systems and capacity to respond when burnout shows up in our schools, in our colleges, in our universities, in our nonprofits, in your organization. What do you need in place to be ready? Preparedness is about being ready. Yes, we hope that all of the prevention is effective, and we are well aware of the days and times that we live in, of the pressures and that our environments lend towards increased burnout. So we're not going to put our head in the sand, we're not going to pretend that the prevention is enough. Prevention is just the first step. Preparedness. Now is where we get ready. So how do we get ready to support our educators, our administrators, our teams, our people concerning burnout? So the preparedness stage calls for four steps and we want to walk through these steps concerning burnout. So again, these five phases from NIMS can be applied to any crisis. This is a proven crisis framework, but we are specifically applying this framework to the work of burnout, to the crisis of burnout, specifically educator burnout.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's talk about preparedness. You need four things. You need training, program development, you need response protocol creation, you need resource identification and simulation exercises. So let me say that one more time Training, program development, response protocol creation, resource identification and simulation exercises. So let's walk through these step by step for what they would look like within our educational institutions in getting ready to deal with burnout.
Speaker 1:So first, you need training program development. What does that mean? We need to train our folks on what to do when the signs of burnout show up. Right. So who needs to be trained. Individual educators need to be trained. They need to be trained on what are the signs and symptoms. They should be able, they should be equipped, to advocate for themselves and raise their hands to say I'm living this right now. I am seeing these consequences, I'm seeing burnout show up in my life and I need some support. So every person, every educator, every individual, every team member needs to be equipped with what burnout looks like and what it is. So you know that I teach through the phases of burnout, from surviving to overwhelmed to burnout.
Speaker 1:This is language, language that we can use and in describing each one of those phases, it empowers folks to check in with themselves and identify how they're doing. So this language can be used within your institution for folks to understand one what burnout looks like before the burnout incident, right? So we're still not at. I'm at FMLA and I need time off. We're. We're still not at. I'm quitting my job because I don't know what to do. We're still not at. I'm quitting my job because I don't know what to do. We're still not at the crisis.
Speaker 1:Yet we are preparing to have the capacity. We want to be ready for the crisis and in order to be ready, we need folks to be aware of what to look for, specifically, your managers and leaders. They one need to be prepared to recognize it. Managers and leaders need to recognize the signs and symptoms in themselves, but they should also be able to recognize the signs and symptoms in their team and in their people. In addition to recognizing, your managers and leaders should be trained to have capacity of how to lead during high pressure, busy, critical times. Friend, listen to me. I can't tell you how many times I've supported people and I've seen it in my own life where having a leader or a manager with lack of skills of how to support people when things are busy, when it's overwhelming, that individual can contribute to the threat of burnout because they don't know how to deal with people when everything is hot. Your leaders and your managers need to be equipped. It's not the same. You need to know how to engage with people when they are stressed. You need to know how to manage your own stress. You need to know how to walk through the crisis without spilling out your own anxiety over everybody else. So your leaders and your managers need to be trained and equipped for what to do and how to lead during high stress times. Everybody needs to understand the signs and symptoms. Leaders and managers need to understand the signs and symptoms in themselves and others, and they should be equipped. They should be equipped, they should be equipped, they should be ready. They should be ready to respond, they should be ready to support, they should be ready to lead during critical times.
Speaker 1:I would also suggest having a burnout response team. This is something that we are supporting some schools and organizations with building this plan out, right? So I just want to give you the critical parts of the plan. Who are the people that are especially trained? Right? So you don't want to put pressure on everybody to be a burnout expert. They are expert in something already. They are an expert in more than enough. You want the right people on the team to be equipped and ready to serve specifically concerning burnout. So who is that small group of people that have been trained in my framework of disrupting burnout or some other framework where they can recognize and respond to the needs specifically concerning burnout? And they don't have to be the executive leaders, they don't have to be administrators. You can assign professors or coordinators or staff members who are passionate about this subject or passionate about wellness, and you just need a small group of people who are equipped and ready to respond concerning burnout.
Speaker 1:So you got to start with training. You got to start with training. Folks need to be trained on several levels and ready to respond to burnout. Next, you need the response protocol. What is the plan? Right? So I've shared with you over and over you need a culture, you need language and you need a plan, because it's one thing for you to say yes, let us know when you're struggling, let us know if you feel overwhelmed, let us know if you're burnt out, but if there's no next step of what you're gonna do about it, then one folks aren't gonna tell you, because they don't trust you, right? So what is the written plan? The step-by-step system that you put in place and listen.
Speaker 1:Writing a plan is not about checking the box on every possible scenario. You would never be able to consider every possible scenario of burnout, right? But you can create something we used in higher ed called an all incident plan. We had a plan that we could cater and use no matter the threat to our campus, right? Do you have a base all incident plan to support your faculty and your staff specifically concerning burnout, wellness, mental health all of these things.
Speaker 1:You need a written plan. Have you sat down and thought about some if-then scenarios? Have you sat down and thought about what the step-by-step is and who's responsible for what? Have you sat down and thought about coverage and how can you cover the busiest times? And, friend, I would challenge you that this not be just your department, because what I've found is if your department is busy, the whole department is busy. So then you don't have extra hands to support. But if you go cross governance, if you go across departments, across divisions, then while one department or one area is in their go time, the other area may be more free to support and vice versa.
Speaker 1:So think about creating across campus plans, think about creating across division plans where you can help and support each other. What are those resources? So what are the step-by-steps? Who's responsible? Who can you engage? Who can help? What are we going to do to support when this burnout is showing up? So you need a written plan. You need a written plan that is not just written, but not just written, but it's rehearsed Right. So you need training, development programs, you need a response protocol, you need a written plan and next you need to identify your resources.
Speaker 1:And you would be surprised. You would be surprised because immediately we think nobody can help, like we don't have money, we don't have resources, nobody can help. But when you sit down and think about all of the resources available to you, the resources in your community that you can engage, the resources in your school system or your state, right? One of those resources? I worked in the university system of Georgia and when I was there, we had a cross institution counseling resources. So it meant that if one particular campus was dealing with a crisis, we could have counselors from across the system and across the state come to our campus and support with therapy and counseling resources, so that, one our counselors are not all tapped out, but two they may be impacted, they may be effective, right, so we've got sister institutions that will send a counselor or two our way to support us. That was one of the greatest benefits of being a part of a system. It wasn't just counseling. I've seen where we've had professionals in different areas, so a registrar or a financial aid person work at this institution, but support that institution because we're all in the same system.
Speaker 1:So what resources are available to you? I want you to get creative. I want you to open your mind to what you haven't seen before, what you haven't thought about. I want you to ask questions, go to your chamber, go to your local government, go to people and say, hey, we're making a plan. We're not in crisis right now, we're okay, but we are actively making a plan for what we can do to support the educators in this community. Here are the things that we would need.
Speaker 1:Can you point me towards the resources and you need a list of those resources available to folks. Make them printed and electronic, so some folks might want to reach out to resources on their own and not go through their workplace. How do they know what's available to them? And I know we say they should. They should know, they should know that HR has this available. They should know that if, if they work here, they have access to counseling, they have access to four sessions. They should know. Don't pretend people know and don't pretend they remember Actively. Remind them, make it as accessible as possible.
Speaker 1:There were years that I told myself I can't afford to go to counseling. I don't have no extra money for that. I don't have any extra money to go to counseling. And when I finally went to counseling, I realized it was covered in my health insurance. I talked myself out of it for years and when I finally looked into it, I was shocked to see that I owed little to nothing for counseling because it was covered in my health insurance. Friend, make sure you identify the resources, make lists of those resources and make them readily available so that people can take advantage.
Speaker 1:And in the final stage, you need simulation exercises, tabletop exercises. You need to walk through it. It's like the fire drill. Why do we do fire drills? Because on the day of the fire, we don't want people guessing about what they need to do to protect their lives. We want them to not just have heard it, but we want them to have practiced and rehearsed what they're going to do. It's the same thing concerning burnout. Take 10 minutes of your staff meeting or your faculty meeting and talk through a scenario that you all have been through and what you would have done differently, or talk through what. If this happens, what will we do? What can we do? It does a couple of things. Those tabletop exercises will equip folks for what to do and it should be on a regular basis so that in the time of crisis, it comes back to mind quickly and people know what the next steps are.
Speaker 1:So you haven't just written conversations openly, that we're working through it together and we have an actual plan. You're not just saying people first, you're not just putting it on the website or putting a banner up in the student center, but you are putting your money where your mouth is, you're putting feet to the ground. You are showing us that you truly care about the well-being of your staff because you're prioritizing it enough to spend time not just to have a plan but to make sure we're all engaged in the plan. Let me just give you one more thought. This is something that my students taught me over the years Nothing for them without them. Let me say that one more time Nothing for them without them.
Speaker 1:I've been in a number of rooms over the years where we create a plan or start an initiative or do a thing and we're so proud of ourselves because we think it's wonderful and everybody's going to love it, and when we roll it out, it's like people don't care or they're disgruntled. And what I learned is you don't plan something for other people without involving them. You know your perspective, but you need all perspectives in the room. So, as you are building this plan, don't just do this in executive meeting, don't just do this among the administrators, don't just do this in the C-suite, but bring people to the table so that you can truly understand and engage their experience and build a plan that works for everybody Not something you're assuming will work, but something that you have had people at the table, you've accepted their investment and they have helped to prepare your institution for this crisis of burnout. All right, friends.
Speaker 1:So again, we discussed the first phase, which is prevention. We're doing everything we can to stop burnout from happening. In the first phase, which is prevention, we're doing everything we can to stop burnout from happening. In the second phase preparedness we're getting ready for when burnout shows up. We're not going to assume that the fire will never happen, but we're going to be prepared to respond on the day of the fire. All right, I hope this is helpful for you.
Speaker 1:Again, this is something that we are working through and helping some organizations to build their response plan for burnout, and I want to share with you as we walk through it. All right, friend, as always, you are powerful, you are significant, you are brilliant, you're brilliant. You got what it takes to build this. You can do this. We can address burnout in our workplaces. We got to stop talking about it and we got to do something about it, friend, and it takes some effort, it takes some time, it takes some attention, but it's worth it. It's worth it. You are brilliant and you are loved. Love always, pbj. I'll see you next time, thank you.
