Summary of Key Learning Outcomes

What exactly is burnout?

Burnout is a prolonged reaction to ongoing emotional and interpersonal stress, characterized by three dimensions: overwhelming exhaustion, growing cynicism, and a sense of inefficacy or lack of achievement. Like so many other detractors from peak-performance, burnout is sub-perceptual - the negative effects happen outside of conscious awareness.

Christina Maslach, one of the most preeminent researchers on burnout and the author of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), worked with colleagues to identify six aspects of the work environment that contribute to the onset of burnout:

  1. Lack of Control - Your sense of control over what you do is undermined or limited and you don’t have a lot of say in what’s going on.
  2. Values Conflict - There is a disconnect between your own core values and the core values of the organization or workplace.
  3. Insufficient Reward - You feel taken for granted, not recognized, and/or undercompensated.
  4. Work Overload - Your workload is too much, too complex, or too urgent.
  5. Unfairness - You or others are treated unfairly, there is a culture of favoritism, and assignments and promotions are made in an arbitrary fashion and discussed behind closed doors.
  6. Breakdown of Community - You don’t feel supported by management/colleagues, there is no mechanism for conflict resolution, and feedback is non-existent.

101 Ways to Address Burnout

Work Overload Exercises: