Burnout Leaders: Causes, Effects, & Ways of Prevention Research Paper

Abstract

Leaders are vulnerable to the severe impact of stressors which eventually lead them to burnout. The burnout is extremely dangerous for leaders because it deteriorates their performance and makes their subordinates question their leadership skills and abilities.

The major causes of burnout among leaders are as follows: ‘overachiever syndrome’; organizational or circumstances’ pressure; deterioration of the physical health; beginning of the career; young age of leaders; the use of painkillers, caffeine and disrupted sleep; poor nutrition and alcohol use; and the failure of leaders to recognize burnout.

Burnout leaders have a negative impact on the organizational performance as well. The most widely-spread effects of burnout include: the emotional, psychological exhaustion of leaders; the deterioration of their professional performance; the decline of the organizational performance; the deterioration of the ambiance within the organization; and undermined confidence among employees in the leadership power of their leaders.

Possible ways of prevention of burnout include empowerment of employees, flexible working hours, healthy eating and lifestyle, enhancement of leaders’ confidence, and leaders’ focus on their wellbeing.

 

Introduction

Today, the problem of burnout leaders is not always visible to the large audience but many companies and leaders suffer from their burnout. The problem is that burnout leaders are quite common, especially in the contemporary highly stressful environment. However, the problem of burnout leaders is not just the matter of stress but it is also the matter of many factors that eventually exhaust leaders, their stamina and their strife for success and leadership. Leaders are vulnerable to the severe impact of stressors which eventually lead them to burnout. The burnout is extremely dangerous for leaders because it deteriorates their performance and makes their subordinates question their leadership skills and abilities. The negative impact of burnout leaders may become crucial, especially, when organizations are leader-dependent or when leaders use the autocratic leadership style because the effective performance of such organizations and even their survival depends on their leaders. However, other organizations also suffer from the negative impact of burnout leaders, whereas the negative impact of burnout on leaders can hardly be underestimated. Therefore, the problem of burnout leaders need the effective solution, which is virtually impossible without the identification of its causes. The current paper focuses on the identification and analysis of causes of burnout leaders, effects and ways of prevention of the problem, which is complex in its essence and, therefore, may need the complex solution or a set of measures that can help to minimize the risk of burnout leaders and their negative impact on their organizations.

Literature review

The problem of burnout leaders is not new. Many researchers (Kanste,  Kynga, & Nikkila, 2007) have studied this problem but still there is no homogeneous view on roots of the problem as well as possible solutions that may be applied to leaders suffering from a severe burnout. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that causes of burnout leaders may be diverse. Burnout predominantly happens to high performers and is sometimes described as overachiever syndrome’ (Awbery, 2015, 8). The ‘overachiever syndrome’ implies that the leader has set too high, virtually unachievable goals, and the natural failure of the leader to reach those goals results in his/her burning out. Naturally, if the leader cannot reach goals, which he/she has set, he/she feels frustrated. Such leaders suffer from burnout that becomes more and more frustrating to them and causes multiple problems in their career and interpersonal relations with their subordinates as well as the drop of their self-esteem and other personal problems.

At the same time, there is a deep-rooted belief that the conditions for burnout are created by organizations or circumstances (Awbery, 2015, 8). For example, leaders operating in a highly stressful environment are more likely to turn into burnout leaders, than leaders, who operate in a friendly, positive organizational environment. Some researchers (Muhammad & Hamdy, 2005) point out that autocratic leaders may often slid to burnout because of their leadership style. On the one hand, they are accustomed to keep the situation under control and subordinate all processes and people to their leadership and control. However, as they start growing frustrated or exhausted, the burden of their leadership becomes unbearable for them and they eventually become burnout leaders. On the other hand, their leadership can help to develop the effective leadership system that prevents the risk of the emergence of burnout leaders because leaders hold the full control over their organizations and subordinates. Researchers (Emery & Barker, 2007) point out that virtually all leaders are vulnerable to the risk of burning out, while their organizational environment may increase such a risk.

Therefore, burnout is not just the problem of the organizational environment and impact of stressors. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that burnout predominantly occurs during the first 10 years of a career, following a subtle downward spiral (Awbery, 2015, 8). The risk of burnout leaders at the beginning of their career implies that they can have problems because of the lack of experience or authority in their organizations. For example, employees may resist to the leader change and the new leader may face difficulties with overcoming the employees’ resistance. Therefore, the new leader faces numerous problems and challenges which eventually lead to burnout. In addition, leaders need time to change their organization to meet their own needs and their vision of their organizations. Such changes apparently need time. For example, a new leader that has joined an organization uses a different leadership style compared to his/her predecessor. Hence, the change of the leadership style needs time and extra efforts from the part of the leader which may trigger the leader burning out.

Moreover, Burnout predominantly happens among 20 to 30 year olds (Awbery, 2015, 8). The correlation between burnout and the age of leaders is important because it gives multiple implications concerning possible causes of the problem. For example, burnout may be cause by physiological specificities or young leaders may be just unprepared for leadership or they may have difficulties with gaining the respect of their subordinates because of their age. In fact, many issues associated with the age of leaders and leaders burning out emerge and need the detailed study to measure their impact on burnout leaders. For example, it is possible to presuppose that younger leaders are at higher risk of burnout compared to older ones because of the lack of experience or because they have more challenges to gain the confidence of their subordinates, but such assumptions need further studies and they are not researched in depth so far. Nevertheless, current studies focusing on the correlation between the age and burnout of leaders have revealed the higher risk of burnout among younger leaders.

Furthermore, researchers also point out that leaders immune systems slowly shut down resulting in repeated illness when leaders are burning out (Awbery, 2015, 8). In fact, the deterioration of health in burnout leaders implies that their physical health may have a considerable impact on their performance as leaders. For example, leaders, who have health issues, cannot dedicate as much time to their work as healthy leaders do. Their absenteeism and the lack of time to dedicate to their leadership result to their steady degradation as leaders, while the latter results in their burnout.

At the same time, physical health problems may also contribute to the emergence of other factors that increase the risk of burnout leaders. Lower back or neck pains, increased use of painkillers and caffeine and disrupted sleep patterns are all early signs of burnout (Awbery, 2015, 8). The use of drugs and deterioration of health condition contribute to the aggravation of the leaders’ performance and trigger their burnout. For example, sleep troubles may cause frustration, depression and serious health problems which may ruin the leader’s position in his/her organization. In fact, leaders with health issues may be in a sort of vicious circle, when the treatment of their health condition also leads to burnout leaders. For example, if a leader faces the problem of work overload and consumes a lot of coffee to cope with their sleepiness, they may come to negative effects, because of the excessive consumption of caffeine, which may cause sleep troubles, which, in their turn, leads to the physical exhaustion, frustration and related problems with physical health as well as psychological conditions of the leader.

Nutrition also turns out to be important for leaders since changes in eating habits and increased alcohol consumption are common (Awbery, 2015, 8). Therefore, the poor nutrition causes the deterioration of leaders’ health and the steady deterioration of the leaders’ performance. The development of the effective policy becomes challenging for leaders. They face the problem of the deterioration of their health under the impact of poor nutrition, which may be aggravated by the consumption of alcohol. The latter is particularly dangerous because the consumption of alcohol deteriorates both physical and psychological condition (Chen, et al., 2008).

In addition, often the only person who does not recognize the downward spiral in performance is the leader themselves (Awbery, 2015, 8). In other words, the deterioration of the performance of the leader becomes obvious for virtually everyone but the leader. The failure of leaders to understand and recognize their problems aggravate their position and make them burnout leaders. They keep degrading and cannot change their behavior and improve their condition. As a result, they cannot cope with the problem of their burning out.

Manifestation of leaders burning out may be diverse. Burned out leaders typically “feel exhausted, detached, and emotionally volatile” (Goodman, 2015, 2). They suffer from serious psychological problems and emotional exhaustion and devastation. They have to enhance the performance but their condition deteriorates. They cannot perform their functions as well as they used to do before. In such a situation, the deterioration of their psychological condition results in their degradation as leaders because what they used to do well in the past they cannot perform anymore.

Their example “creates a dysfunctional culture prone to power plays and confusion” (Goodman, 2015, 2). Their subordinates feel the inability of leaders to perform well and they may start believing that their organization is moving to a dead-end under their leadership. Moreover, the poor psychological condition of the leader becomes stressful for subordinates, who do not receive the proper motivation and cannot expect for positive rewards for their positive performance. Their interaction and relations with their leaders deteriorate that naturally lead to the deterioration of the employees’ performance and the performance of their organization.

In such a situation, many leaders just stop progressing in their development as they become burnout leaders. The majority of such leaders freeze their careers, accepting the same or lower levels of responsibility and a small number never recover but compromise by changing their life aspirations completely (Awbery, 2015, 11). They just simply stop at their current level of development and believe that what they have already achieved is their top level in their development.

As for the resolution of the problem of burnout leaders, researchers (Richardsen & Martinussen, 2004) provide such recommendations as: the empowerment of employees, flexible working hours, healthy eating and lifestyle, enhancement of leaders’ confidence, and leaders’ focus on their wellbeing. Researchers (Eid, et al., 2008) believe that such measures can help to ease the pressure on leaders and optimize their performance. They become more focused on their problem and aware of the necessity of changes in their performance as well as leadership style.

Analysis

The major causes of burnout among leaders are as follows: ‘overachiever syndrome’; organizational or circumstances’ pressure; deterioration of the physical health; beginning of the career; young age of leaders; the use of painkillers, caffeine and disrupted sleep; poor nutrition and alcohol use; and the failure of leaders to recognize burnout. In fact, these factors are often closely intertwined and contemporary leaders are always vulnerable to the impact of at least some of those factors mentioned above. For example, the problem of the work overload is common for many leaders. The work overload leads to the emotional exhaustion whereas the emotional exhaustion leads to physical health problems. The latter force leaders to start consuming drugs or alcohol that aggravates their position even more. As a result, leaders simply slide to burning out. They start to underperform, their leadership becomes questionable, their self-esteem drops and the problem of burnout leaders become evident to all but leaders themselves.

The most widely-spread effects of burnout include: the emotional, psychological exhaustion of leaders; the deterioration of their professional performance; the decline of the organizational performance; the deterioration of the ambiance within the organization; and undermined confidence among employees in the leadership power of their leaders. In such a way, it is possible to trace the deterioration of the leader’s performance, their psychological and physiological condition. However, the problem of burnout leaders is not limited by the personal level only. Instead, the problem expands to the organizational level because it affects the entire organization. In addition, burnout leaders affect relationships within the organization and organizational culture. In such a situation, it is quite natural that employees cannot perform well anymore and the organizational performance declines.

Possible ways of prevention of burnout include the empowerment of employees, flexible working hours, healthy eating and lifestyle, enhancement of leaders’ confidence, and leaders’ focus on their wellbeing. The empowerment of employees eases the pressure on leaders because they can delegate some of their functions to employees. As leaders provide their employees with autonomy in the decision making process, they feel better because they are not under the permanent pressure anymore and they can focus on the most important issues. They have enough time to deal with those issues and they can perform well. In this regard, flexible working hours may be helpful since leaders can work as long as they really can but not as long as they have to work. The healthy lifestyle and nutrition are also important for leaders because any health issues have a negative impact on the performance of the leader. The enhancement of the leaders’ confidence helps them to keep believing that they can really keep progressing that increases their self-esteem. The focus on their wellbeing helps leaders to balance their work, personal life, physical and psychological health.

Discussion

The problem of burnout occurs at the personal level, which explains the emergence of burnout from the trait theory’s perspective.  The problem of burnout as the result of the negative impact of processes the leader was managing and dealing with that may be viewed in the context of the path-goal theory of leadership, when the leader is supposed to set goals pave the way,  which his/her subordinates should go. The problem of burnout is the result the result of organizational and social factors that may have a devastating impact on the leader that may be explained from the leader-member exchange theory perspective.

The elimination of causes of burnout is the effective way to prevent the problem’s emergence among leaders. However, further studies are needed to uncover effective ways for the prevention of burnout since current recommendations given above rather show possible ways for the improvement of the position of leaders and prevention of the problem of burnout but they are not always enough to resolve the problem. For example, leaders may need the assistance of professional psychologists to cope with their problems and psychologist should have specific programs to help leaders recover from their burnout.

Conclusion

Thus, the problem of burnout leaders is the common in the contemporary organizational environment. Leaders confront numerous factors that can trigger their burning out. For example, they face the problem of the work overload, psychological pressure, psychological exhaustion and physical health problems. In such a situation, they cannot perform well but burnout leaders affect not only the performance of leaders proper but also the organizational performance and performance of employees. Burnout leaders cannot maintain the effective organizational performance. The gap between them and their subordinates grows wider, while both leaders and employees feel uncertain in their future. In such a situation, organizations cannot maintain their effective performance. Hence, leaders should resolve the problem of their burning out. In this regard, they may consider the possibility of the empowerment of their employees that will ease the work and psychological pressure on leaders. They should also focus on their health and wellbeing that will help them to minimize the impact of factors that may trigger their burning out. However, to find out effective ways to prevent the problem of leaders’ burning out, further studies are needed.

 

References

Casserley, T. and Megginson, D. (2008). Learning from Burnout: Developing Sustainable Leaders and Avoiding Career Derailment, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.

Chen, F., Curran, P.J., Bollen, K.A., Kirby, J. and Paxton, P. (2008). “An empirical evaluation of the use of fixed cutoff points in RMSEA test statistic in structural equation models, Sociological Methods and Research, 36(4), pp. 462-94

Eid, J., Johnsen, B.H., Bartone, P.T. and Nissestad, O.A. (2008). Growing transformationalleaders: exploring the role of personality hardiness, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 29(1), pp. 4-23.

Emery, C.R. and Barker, E.J. (2007). The effect of transactional and transformational leadershipstyles on the organizational commitment and job satisfaction of customer contact personnel, Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 11(1),pp. 77-90.

Kanste, O., Kynga, H. and Nikkila, J. (2007). The relationship between multi-dimensional leadership and burnout among nursing staff, Journal of Nursing Management, 5, pp. 731-9.

Muhammad, H.A. and Hamdy, H.I. (2005). Burnout, supervisory support, and work outcomes: a study from an Arabic cultural perspective, International Journal of Commerce and Management, 15(3/4), pp. 230-42.

Murray-Gibbons, R. and Gibbons, C. (2007). Occupational stress in the chef profession, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 19(1), pp. 32-42.

Pienaar, J.and Willemse, S.A. (2008). Burnout, engagement, coping and general health of service employees in the hospitality industry, Tourism Management, 29(6), pp. 1053-63.

Richardsen, A.M. and Martinussen, M. (2004) The Maslach burnout inventory: factorial validity and consistency across occupational groups in Norway”, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, pp. 377-84.

Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T.A. (2007). Organizational Behavior, 12th ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

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