Career Executive

Burnout is a common phenomenon among executives of a certain age. How does one recognize the symptoms of burnout and prevent the consequences?

Burnout among professionals and executives is increasingly common, it nonetheless remains largely taboo and is often experienced by those who suffer from it as an individual problem. Burnout results from a burgeoning chasm between what the individual executive gives to his work and what he receives from it. The dis-equilibrium leads to a physical exhaustion and an emotional disillusionment, as well a loss of motivation and performance.

The rise in the amount of work that one cannot handle, increasingly exorbitant demands, time pressure and deadlines, interpersonal conflicts, lack of liberty of action or of possibilities for development, limited opportunities to use one’s talents or do interesting things, lack of support, motivation or regular feedback from managers, bad work atmosphere or employment insecurity….

Burnout should not be confused with stress. There is always stress. But victims of burnout always cite the lack of support at their work and lack of recognition for what they do.

Burnout syndrome often afflicts colleagues who invest themselves in their work without counting – champions of productivity. One finds first among victims those with very high ideals of performance and success, those who link their self-esteem to their professional performance, and those without any other center of interest other than their work, to which they are very strongly committed, or those who have taken refuge in their work fleeing other aspects of their life.

Risky professional situations include those :
-strongly mental or emotional demands
-strong responsibility toward other collegues
-where on seeks difficult or impossible objectives
-where there is a major discrepancy between the tasks to be accomplished and the means at disposal to accomplish them

-where there is ambiguity or conflict of roles
-where there is a gap between the personal investment made in one’s work and the rewards one obtains

The warning signs of burnout are changes in behavior and physical symptoms such as lumbago, chronic cephalitis, dyspepsia, and sleeping disorders or cardiovascular problems.

No one becomes exhausted from one day to the next: the process is long and pernicious. Burnout is a reaction to chronic stress and has several dimensions:

—exhaustion — the most prominent manifestation

—cynicism — the individual distances himself emotionally and intellectually from his work, which is a common strategy used to deal with work stress. Distancing oneself is often manifested by a cynical attitude

— inefficiency – a work situation which has an excessive load ends up by loading the individual with a sense of being ineffectual

Society has every interest in preventing burnout since it results in long, costly, medical leaves and considerable medical expenses at both the individual and collective level. It causes high levels of absenteeism and lowers productivity.

The American psychiatrist Freudenberger proposed a questionnaire to detect the symptoms of burnout. One responds to each question with a grade of 0 (not at all true) to 5 (very true).
1. Do you get tired easily?
2. Do you feel more fatigued than energetic?
3. Do people annoy you when they say “you don’t look well at the moment”
4. Do you find yourself working more and more to produce less and less ?
5. Are you increasingly cynical and disenchanted?
6. Do you often feel an inexplicable sadness?
7. Do you forget your appointments or business frequently?
8. Are you more irritable?
9. Are you more nervous?
10.Are you disappointed by the people around you ?
11.Do you see members of your family or your close friends less frequently?
12) Are you too busy to do simple things like making telephone calls or reading articles or sending cards to friends?
13) Do you have frequent physical problems (headaches, backaches)?
14) Do you feel disoriented when the workday ends?
15) Are your moments of joy rare?
16) Are you incapable of having a laugh at your expense?
17) Do you have few things to say to people?
18) Does sex bore you more than bring you joy?
If your score is from 0-25, no problem. 26-35 – some beginning signs of stress.
36-50 – at risk of burnout. 51-65 – you’re already in a state of burnout.
Over 65 – highly dangerous state.

Several research organizations and think tanks have conducted studies on the subject, concentrating on different fields — such as the IT – or on specific countries . There are also a number of serious books examining the subject, such as Steven Berglas’ Reclaiming the Fire.