September 14, 2021 — Beating Burnout — Authority Magazine spoke with Hard Knock Productions and Art into Activism founder Larissa D’Andrea about ways to beat burnout.
Authority Magazine spoke with a variety of business leaders to discuss how to beat burnout. Burnout can happen at any time but in the high stress and trying times the world continues to experience, taking care of health and wellness is key to preventing and recovering from burnout. Leaders can model behaviors that encourage those around them to take care of themselves to prevent burnout. Key leadership character traits that are instrumental to success, particularly in high stress and trying times, includes resilience, receptivity and a focus on what’s most important.
- Resilience — Lead by example in resiliency and be intentional about these behaviors. Avoid confusing endurance with resiliency. Rather than enduring through issues, which is historically been my approach, and intentionally transition to being flexible in reacting to situations. This includes giving space for things to play out, taking a beat for and with the team to reflect and identify relative priority, and build reflection into the schedule.
- Receptive — These tie back into my philosophy that I don’t have a monopoly on the truth. In addition, it’s important to recognize how my role and value have shifted as a leader. This also means recognizing when to engage more deeply on initiatives or issues rather than providing a broader strategic perspective on various initiatives. This provides space for others to grow and lead.
- Focused — As mentioned I am naturally results-oriented — laser focused on delivering results and return on investment to the business. As a leader, my focus has shifted to people and how I support their growth and enable them to deliver results with value to the business. This includes how we do this in a sustainable way that doesn’t burn out employees and support their wellbeing and mental health.
By the time someone has reached burnout, it is not one vacation or a long weekend that is going to solve the problem. Prolonged stress is not solved with a short-term solution. Recognition of this is critical for individuals and employers. There are many ways to tackle to recover from burnout, but a few are noted below and outlined in greater detail in the linked article.
- Take a step back and evaluate your stressors
- Talk to our family, partner and/or manager to alert them so you have a support system
- Identify the what, when, where, how to immediately provide relief
- Work with your employer and family or partner to identify a strategy for ongoing relief to support resiliency
- Intentionally revisit this strategy on an ongoing basis to check in
Preventing burnout and recovery is even more complex when someone is in a service industry, independent consultant, entertainment industry and others. Often there is no luxury of a supportive manager, HR department or even a long-term work situation. With that in mind, people can still pause and reflect on stressors, speak with support systems, whomever they may be, and develop a plan for immediate relief. Perhaps that means following a free app or video to do short meditation or yoga in the morning and evening, researching free resources on how to use breathe to create a calming effect, or searching for free support groups or reaching out to people you respect (even if you don’t know them), or other incremental step that you can build into your daily routine.
Mental health and wellbeing are important.
Hard Knock Productions is a social impact production company focused on developing unique stories to increase the visibility of LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and people with disabilities, and we leverage these stories to educate others and advocate for marginalized communities through partnerships with non-profit organizations.
Art into Activism is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and supports diversity, equity, and inclusion of underserved and marginalized persons and communities, encourages environmental sustainability, and supports art that promotes positive social impact.
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