Is Burnout a Brain Injury?

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I’ve written previous blogs mentioning “exhaustion,” a word that has permeated literally every organization, business, region and level. In 2023, I heard this over and over. This might have been a quiet, discreet comment by a CEO over a beverage, or a very open statement of frustration by an emerging leader. It was also a refrain by frontline people.

Dr. Gloria Mark, is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the book “Attention Span.” She is one of the few people who’s deeply studied the way our attention works, and how that’s changing. She points out in a New York Times interview with Ezra Klein, that indeed we can injure our brain (without obvious physical trauma). It is called BURNOUT!

Dr. Mark notes, “When people are burned out, it’s really quite a serious condition. It’s when we just don’t have the cognitive and social resources to deal with the demands in our environment. And so when you’re really experiencing burnout, you just can’t deal with work, with social life, on a day-to-day basis. We just don’t have the resources available to do that.”

It’s something way beyond tiredness. When a day is complete, it can be quite gratifying to feel weary. It is the foundation for replenishing oneself. It often signals a healthy, emotional connection to progress over perfection. However, when we are burned out, we end up in the danger zone that often leads to sickness and/or shutting down in some way.

Leaders should create conditions for people to energize. This does NOT include pushing for more capacity or productivity by expecting more of what we think of as traditional work. (e.g., hours on screen/in the office.)

Dr. Mark says, “we’ve created a culture where to pull ourselves away signals that we’re not working. I think that managers and decision-makers need to be educated that it’s really important to give people permission to be able to take long breaks when they need them, to take walks outside, to have social interactions with other people, to create a culture where people are not penalized for not answering electronic communications after work hours and before work hours, to give people a chance to really detach from work, to restore themselves. Managers are delegating work to us without considering that people might be exhausted. And they need to understand that sometimes less can be more.”

Leaders, this is why you have to think critically about designing the workplace going forward, rather than trying to push outmoded historical patterns. This includes, but is not limited to the right blend of accepting remote work, and embracing mental wellness of all employees as a measured, desired outcome every bit as important as EBITDA!

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: It’s hard to grasp that less can be more, but sometimes without a little less, there will be no more.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Is Burnout a Brain Injury?

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