BlogHer - Do-Gooder Burnout: How Do You Beat the Burn? - Comments

Solutions

Suzanne Reisman — Mon, 21 May 2007 08:54:24 -0500

Better management would make a big difference. I think there is a lot of hypocrisy in how people are treated. As do-gooders, we would never treat our clients/customers with the disregard that many employees are treated.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminsim & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Care for the caregivers

Kim Pearson — Sun, 20 May 2007 18:52:26 -0500

I started my career as a lay counselor in a comprehensive cancer center. One of the healthiest things about working there was that the social workers, nurses and allied health professionals had a "care for the care-givers initiative. It included inservice workshops, an employee assistance program and a culture that allowed us to share our feelings about what was going on with our clients.

But aside from that, from the point of view of managing one's life and career, I think that when you have a job that makes intense demands on your health and spirit, you have to find ways to build in periodic sabatticals. It would be intriging to think about how that might work with a non-profit, say, in affiliation with an academic institution or another kind of organization.

BlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|Contributing Writer, Online Journalism Review

What is the solution

Britt Bravo — Sun, 20 May 2007 14:18:47 -0500

Hi Suzanne and Karen,

What do you think are some solutions to the problem--both for individuals and systemically?

Britt

Britt Bravo
Blogher Contributing Editor: Nonprofits & NGOs
NetSquared Community Builder
Big Vision Career & Project

Burned Out

Suzanne Reisman — Sun, 20 May 2007 01:29:31 -0500

As a woman who recently ended a nine year stint in nonprofit management, I can totally relate to this problem. For me, though, it was not low pay, but the sheer amount of terrible "leadership" that I had to deal with for years, plus the utter lack of appreciation I got for my work. It was so demoralizing to feel used all the time. Worse, it worries me that I reached the end of my rope already. Burning out at the ripe old age of 31 year old is scary and very sad.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminsim & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Burn out is a tough thing to

Deaf Mom — Sat, 19 May 2007 21:50:53 -0500

Burn out is a tough thing to deal with, especially if you run a non-profit that is starting up. It's difficult to sustain energy and time to build up something new and take it to the next level. This is something that I'm dealing with right now, so I could relate to this post.

Karen
"Life is too short to pout all the time."
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Do-Gooder Burnout: How Do You Beat the Burn?

Britt Bravo — Sat, 19 May 2007 19:20:03 -0500

[img_assist|fid=4054|thumb=1|alt=Burnout|caption=Photo Credit: Burn Out by Patrish]

Last March, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported about a survey by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network that found:

"Young charity workers cited burnout and low pay as the biggest reasons they might leave nonprofit work. When asked why they would not pursue leadership jobs, they cited concerns about the pressure from board members, grant makers, and heavy work burdens that face executive directors.
'We need to think about ways to make these positions sustainable,' said Mr. Solomon, who presented the results. 'Passion isn't enough to keep people in these roles.'"

How can nonprofit, activist and helping professions prevent and/or heal burnout?

Fried Social Worker Blog recommends reading Banishing Burnout: Six Strategies for Improving Your Relationship with Work and taking their My Relationship with Work Test. The Test evaluates your relationship with work around 6 variables: Workload, Control, Reward, Community, Fairness and Values. According to Fried Social Worker, "The chapters are constructed in such a way that you can specifically define a problem, set goals to address the problem, develop an action strategy and track your progress in meeting your goal."

Intensive Care for the Nurturing Soul blog has 8 ideas for how to avoid "Nurturing Burnout":
1. Prioritize by Your Core Values
2. Put Intensive Self-Care as a Top Priority
3. Practice the 3-D Principle (Do It, Delegate It or Dump It)
4. Learn to Say No
5. Learn to Let Go
6. Avoid Multi-Tasking
7, Slow Down
8. Realize That You Cannot Do Everything and Be Everything to Everyone

The Centre for Emotional Well-Being blog suggests using the Life Balance Journal she created for her book, The Art of Calm. The journal has four categories: diet, recreation, nurturing and relaxation, with lists of activities beneath each category. Each night you check off which stress-reducing activities you did. You can see a close up of one of the journal pages here.

In her article, "Set Limits at Work to Beat Burnout," Washington Post writer Mary Ellen Slayter has an interesting quote from an executive coach, Mike Staver, who says that, "Burnout is an internal issue. There's no real correlation between hours spent doing something and burnout because it isn't just about activity." He suggests that burnout is related to the lack of return for the amount of energy expended. Slayter's three tips are: 1. Limit the stimulation (in particular electronic stuff like email checking and instant messaging), 2. Limit the obligations, and 3. Limit the power mistakes have over you.

Finally, Ken Goldstein of the Nonprofit Consultant Blog calls for a Nonprofit Selfishness Movement, "We all need to set aside certain times and days to do something entirely selfish. . . . A little 'me time' to guiltlessly get away from the stress of constantly being other-focused. Time for our own families, time to take a vacation, and time to recognize our own worth."

Photo Credit: Burn Out by Patrish

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Britt Bravo, also blogs at Have Fun * Do Good, NetSquared and World Changing San Francisco.