How Leaders Can Address Burnout

Burnout is a front-burner issue once again.

Messy geopolitics, combined with anxiety around new technologies such as AI, is taking its toll on workers. According to a recent survey from Tiger Recruitment, one in eight professionals who’ve resigned said exhaustion was their main reason  (opens in a new tab). A Gallagher survey says that two-thirds of U.S. businesses are concerned about burnout’s impact on retention  (opens in a new tab).

Associations aren’t immune. A recent survey from the software firm Momentive found that workers in the nonprofit industry are feeling frustrated by their lack of opportunities for professional development and advancement (opens in a new tab), and it’s leading to burnout. According to the study: “While burnout is a common complaint across all industries, including in the for-profit sector, it is closely tied with dissatisfaction with opportunities for skill development and growth for mission-driven workers.”

Leaders looking for a culprit can look to the politics, business, and tech headlines. They can also take a look in the mirror. As Tiger Recruitment CEO David Morel recently wrote at Forbes, workers take their cues from the executive suite, and if the message they’re sending is “never let up,” that trickles down.

“Employees watch leaders closely  (opens in a new tab), and when their CEO sends emails late at night or cancels something personal because of a work commitment, this behavior can become normalized or even lauded,” Morel writes. “There may be robust wellbeing policies, an advice line employees can call if it gets too much, even on-site counselling—but if the signal is that ‘this is what commitment looks like’, these resources are useless.”

Exacerbating the issue: Though the CEO may be putting in a lot of hours, they’re not focusing on the kind of things that can ease employees’ burden. The Momentive survey finds that the problem is particularly acute around technology. If employees feel that their tech systems are inefficient and unaddressed by leadership, it’s easier to start eying the door. As the report puts it: “Among employees who agree that inefficient technology contributes to burnout, 63% are actively exploring other opportunities, compared to 41% among those who don’t experience technology-driven burnout.”

The irony here is that all of this hard work is counterproductive: A new survey by the consultancy unBurnt and Bentley University found a strong correlation between high innovation and low levels of burnout  (opens in a new tab). More to the point, the key driver of burnout, according to the survey, isn’t workload—it’s uncertainty. The survey’s rankings of burnout causes highlighted “cultural signals that amplify ambiguity and pressure…including unspoken pressure to work through PTO modeled by leadership…ineffective leadership or poor communication…and a meeting-heavy culture with unclear meeting roles and outcomes.”

Your people may like their job. They may love your association’s mission. But nobody likes bottlenecks and needless frustrations. One job of a leader is to facilitate the environment where people can be their most creative, dedicated selves—and where those people trust that the people in charge are looking for new ways to facilitate that. As Morel writes, “The most effective anti-burnout leaders recognize that a healthy culture starts with them.”