Even though the latest world pandemic took us all by surprise, it also came with valuable lessons we all have learned. We have learned that we must stand in solidarity with the ones most affected and try to offer help to people who need it.
The coronavirus outbreak changed the way we live, eat, and work forever. It still affects our mental health, as we all needed to cope with the environment and lifestyle changes. Mental health is an important topic and the state of your mind affects your behavior, productivity, and the productivity of your team.
Burnout is a more and more popular topic employees and team leaders are talking about. It comes with fatigue, stress, negative emotions such as anger and irritability, and it fosters the development of heart conditions or diabetes. And it is not only the team but also you as a team leader who can experience burnout.
It is challenging to find ways to cope with burnout as a leader and help your team cope with it at the same time. How do you take care of yourself so that you will have time and energy to take care of your team too? Here are a few tips on how to help your team with burnout when you are burnt out yourself.
#1 Take Care of Yourself
According to experts on mental health from assignment help, you need to first take care of you. You are indeed the leader, the one who should look after his team, the one who should inspire and motivate his team to overcome challenges and find solutions to problems. But at the same time, if you are not feeling okay, likely your efforts to make your team feel better will not be successful.
So, the first and most important thing you should do is take care of yourself. Self-care is not a luxury and everyone should adopt healthy habits to maintain a high level of health. Among these healthy habits are eating healthy and balancing your food intake. Avoid eating too much protein and carbohydrates and include fruits and vegetables in your diet.
Exercising is also important, as it helps you keep your body fit and in shape. You can choose from team sports or individual ones, such as jogging or yoga. Any form of exercise is good both for your body and mind, as it has a soothing and calming effect. It can also increase your wellbeing because it triggers the release of endorphins, the feel-good hormones.
Meditation is also a nice and healthy habit that can help you cope with burnout. It teaches you how to breathe and relax by focusing on the body and other stimuli in the environment. Meditation is known to be an antidote to stress, which is one of the main causes of burnout, so practicing it regularly can help you take care of yourself.
#2 Share Your Struggles
If an entire team is experiencing burnout, the best thing you can do as a leader is to try to find solutions as a group. Your team members might want to avoid talking about this, but sharing your struggles may encourage them to be more open.
According to leadership experts from the best writing services, a leader leads by example. Your work with your team and they can adopt some habits and behaviors because they have seen you do it.
For example, if you rush from meeting to meeting every day or skip lunch because you do not have time for it, there is only a message that reaches your team. The one that working is more important than yourself and not having time is normal.
Burnout is experienced by people that are too involved in their professional life and forget to pause, to stop, and to take care of themselves. You need to let your team know that you are struggling too and that you are there to support them in their struggles.
#3 Be Compassionate and Empathic
Burnout is not an easy thing to deal with, and you know this because you are experiencing it yourself. As a leader, you have the responsibility to support your team to overcome challenges and drawbacks, and this is one of them.
Let your team know that experiencing burnout does not mean that they have failed. There are a lot of people that experience it and it appears at the intersection of multiple factors. There may be environmental constraints, deadline stress, and even problems in one’s family. And even your own high expectations from yourself.
Encourage your team to share its experience with burnout and be compassionate and empathic. People that are struggling with the challenges of burnout need encouragement and you are one of the people that can foster positive emotions.
Wrapping it up
Experiencing burnout as a leader can be a challenging process you need to go through. Finding ways to cope with it might be difficult, but sharing your solutions and struggles can help your team find ways to cope with it too.
Leaders lead by example, so pay attention to your habits and behaviors that might send the wrong message. Make self-care a priority, not a luxury, and be compassionate and empathic towards your team. Like this, you help your team members deal with these challenges too, as mental health can influence productivity.
Latest posts by Michael Gorman (see all)
- How to Rise Above Your Own Burnout to Help Your Team with Their Burnout - February 20, 2023
