Over the past year, much attention has been paid to the rise of employee burnout. However, recent findings indicate that leadership burnout may be just as troubling a problem.
These are the four most prominent causes of leadership burnout:
Feelings of isolation:
Leaders are more likely to experience feelings of isolation. Some people believe that achieving a prominent role, recognition or financial reward comes at the cost of loneliness.
The most important factor in isolation is the lack of meaningful connection with other people.
Multitasking:
Research shows that multitasking can add up to 40% productivity loss in a day. Many leaders have convinced themselves that multitasking leads to greater productivity.
However, research conducted at Stanford University found that when we try to process two mental tasks at the same time, our mental capacity can diminish and reduce our cognitive abilities.
Partial Continuing Care:
Leaders can fall into the mental trap of constantly looking for the next best possibility and spend almost all of their time doing so.
When this happens to a leader, they will not focus on the most important tasks, further delaying the most pressing issues. They then rush to finish their most critical tasks on a tight deadline, which contributes to chronic stress.
Power stress:
Leaders can get caught in a vicious cycle of sacrificing for others, leading to burnout because they feel responsible for the success of their business.
Every decision a leader makes has consequences and the entire organization revolves around his or her decision. As a result, leaders may be unwilling to accept that they are burned out, which ends up making their symptoms worse.
Leaders who isolate themselves from others and choose to carry their burdens alone are destined for loneliness and burnout. Leaders, like everyone else, need friends and perhaps in light of the burden they carry, even more so.
Richard Blackaby
