I was scared. In 2016 when burnout struck, I was afraid to find out what happens next.
Now I am scared for others.
The more people I coach, the more it seems that burnout, overwhelm and overwork are becoming the backbone of business.
Every day I hear about the urgent projects, changing priorities, the multiple roles, the need to multitask, fire drills, the next most important thing, missed vacations, 7 day working, lack of boundaries, instant access…
At a project management symposium in Washington DC in September 2022, 87% of attendees said they had experienced burnout. At another international project management conference in October 2022, 94% said they have experienced burnout.
We are asking humans to be inhuman. And that is inhumane.
Question – Are we designed to multitask?
Answer – Research says we are not. We are not multitasking, we are task switching which leaks time, focus and energy.
Question – Are we designed to make decisions under constant pressure?
Answer – Research shows that we are not. We go into fight, flight or freeze mode and start using shortcuts and biases to make our decisions – which is not good for us or others.
Question – Are we designed to sit at a desk, or stand behind a counter hour after hour?
Answer – Studies show we are not. Our bodies need movement, quality sleep and changing focus. Our brains need recharge time, imagination and mind-wandering time, peaks and troughs in our efforts.
We have all the evidence to show that humans are NOT designed to meet the pressures that we are imposing – long days at work, pressure to deliver outputs faster and faster with fewer mistakes, reduced recharge time. Our increasing sense of urgency for all things – the expectation that if someone wants it today they should have it tomorrow, is actually going to kill us. I see it everyday.
Employers – slow down. Accept you cannot meet every need of every potential customer in record time. Without a healthy workforce you will not have a healthy business. Manage customer expectations instead of pushing employees to the limit.
Customers – we are not entitled to the things we want at the expense of the health and wellbeing of others. So wait a minute, hour, day, week, a year if necessary to get that thing you want. You might even find that you don’t actually need it at all!
Employees – support those who speak out and up on your behalf. It is understandable that you may hesitate to speak yourself, but don’t shut down others who raise the red flag.
#coaches –
What do you see?
What are your thoughts?
Please share in the comments!
#futureofwork Project Management Institute Institute of Coaching, McLean/Harvard Medical School BetterUp International Coaching Federation
