Adam R. Kahn serves as Group Event Director, Project Summit & BusinessAnalystWorld, as well as Publisher of BA Times for Diversified Business Communications (DBC). A graduate of Northeastern University (M.S., 1996) and Hofstra University (B.A., 1993) Mr. Kahn joined DBC in 2006. Over his career he has spent the past 11 years working in event, conference and publishing management capacities at IIR, IMARK Communications and Key3Media (formerly ZD Events) managing a variety of industry specific brands/products including: ProjectWorld, Symposium on Healthcare Design, Projects@Work, Linux Business Expo, ASP Summit, COMDEX, Networld+Interop. Prior to his event and conference experience, Mr. Kahn worked in Student Affairs managing student activities, residential life, judicial affairs, and career services at several New England based Universities and Colleges. 
I've been remiss in submitting my blog to BA Times over the past few months and that's the reason I decided to post about Burn-out. In most people's perspective, summer is for relaxing, vacationing and refueling. However, in light of the state of the global economy and the stress it has placed on all of us, I feel even less rested heading into fall.
Seventy-eight per cent of workers say they are burned-out at work (CareerBuilder.com Survey). How much is too much? Meaning; how much stress, time in the office, number of projects, etc? When does "too much" lead to lower job performance? Burn-out is becoming a major factor in the workplace, whether it be you and/or your team - it's something we all need to be cognizant of.
Definition: Burn-out - Noun
- A fire that is totally destructive of something
- Fatigue, frustration, or apathy resulting from prolonged stress, overwork or intense activity
I think it's been easy to be apathetic considering all we've all been facing. Whether it's you or your team that's feeling burnt-out, a lack of motivation and performance hurts on both the personal (career advancement, psychological well-being) and professional (productivity, project quality, revenue) levels. My goal in this month's blog is to provide some tools and techniques to help you combat burn-out. So, here we go.
Symptoms of Burn-out
- Fatigue and low energy levels at work
- Being easily bored, lack of engagement, a "why bother?" attitude
- Increased cynicism or bitterness about the job, boss, or company
- Irritability and emotional outbursts
- Substandard performance, sloppiness in tasks, and missed deadlines
- Increased absenteeism
- Drug and alcohol use
One symptom alone doesn't qualify as burnout, but pay attention if you see two or more in your employees.
How to Combat Burn-out
- Provide flexible work options such as telecommuting, alternative schedules, compressed work weeks
- Offer time off, either as vacation or a short paid or unpaid leave
- Improve your accessibility to listen to employee concerns and gripes
- Give employees more autonomy and control over day-to-day decisions - empowerment can build morale and motivation
- Recognize employees or seek recognition from others for their work and efforts
- If possible, offer a change in responsibilities or duties
- Facilitate coping skills by giving employees access to exercise and breaks, and teaching them relaxation techniques such as meditation and self-hypnosis.
Above symptoms and combat techniques by: CC Holland on BNet
In addition, I found an online assessment tool which is a quick test to rank your burn-out progression. The tool is available at Mindtools.com: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_08.htm take a look and see. There are also some good resources for dealing and coping with burn-out.
How do you ward off or cope with burn-out? I, as well as the entire BA community, would love to hear some of your best coping and recovery strategies. I'm a strong believer that you can never have too much information or insight. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and strategies, so be sure to leave your comments below!
All the best
Adam R. Kahn
Don't forget to leave your comments below
Adam R. Kahn is Publisher of Business Analyst Times.
written by Kupe Kupersmith, September 29, 2009
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written by Adam Kahn, September 29, 2009
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written by Kathleen Krebsbach, September 29, 2009
So I have taken to escape via "mini" vacations, seeing each weekend as an opportunity for adventure. Housework and grocery chores are given less priority, and giving myself, and those who want to come along, a break becomes our primary goal.
This doesn't solve the problems, it just seems to make coping with them easier.
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written by Aaron Callahan, September 29, 2009
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written by Adam Kahn, September 29, 2009
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written by Maureen Brown, September 30, 2009
I do meditate before I go to bed, but that is just to get my stress levels back down to a manageable level and not being in danger of exploding.
The real crux of the matter is to change the working environment, get management and business to stop demanding high workloads and impossible deadlines (solutions for buttons, etc), then maybe we can take a breath and stop the fire fighting.
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written by Jane Lai, November 05, 2009
Stressed and gone into the mode of depression.
But lucky I was able to receover with a lot of friends support and most importantly have time for exercise!
Be mindful of work life balance....
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written by Paul Mulvey, November 13, 2009
Plan your work based on what you can reasonably acheive in the timeframe. If the dates are fixed and there's not enough time, raise the issue. Bring on additional staff. If you cannot, raise the risk that requirements may not be elicited correctly because of the burnout rate.
And remember, if you burnout, you are going to be less productive and the project is going to suffer as a result.
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