Navigating the dangers of burnout at work
As part of a two-year research project for our book Running on Empty, our aim was to shed more light on a societal-wide phenomenon that we know is complex, highly individual and deeply entrenched.
In our research, we explore the current overwhelm and burnout crises through a lens of discovery and seek to highlight some of the root causes
As part of a two-year research project for our book Running on Empty, our aim was to shed more light on a societal-wide phenomenon that we know is complex, highly individual and deeply entrenched.
In our research, we explore the current overwhelm and burnout crises through a lens of discovery and seek to highlight some of the root causes of workplace despair. Having inquired alongside people living in, or on the edge of burnout at work over an extended period, we have come to learn that there is no silver bullet, no five steps to beating burnout. Instead, we have been able to uncover learnings, personal prevention strategies and healing practices, in the hope that the book offers deeply human and radical inroads to prevention and healing.
Furthermore, what we have learned is the critical importance of bringing people together in community to restore relationships and connection with others as a way of healing. Running on Empty Rounds is our response to this need.
Given the prevalence of overwhelm and burnout across job roles and industries, one of our hopes is to bring people together who are personally affected from across the globe to create listening spaces and hosted conversations in Running on Empty Rounds. These Rounds take place virtually every two months across the year, so you can sign up
Given the prevalence of overwhelm and burnout across job roles and industries, one of our hopes is to bring people together who are personally affected from across the globe to create listening spaces and hosted conversations in Running on Empty Rounds. These Rounds take place virtually every two months across the year, so you can sign up to one or more conversations. We have set up Running on Empty Rounds because we understand from our research that when dealing with the experience of burnout, the ability to talk in community with people who are not part of your workplace, family or immediate social circle is an important healing practice.
People who have been involved in these confidential community conversations so far speak of the liberating effect of being able to talk to someone they do not know about their struggles; where there is no shared history and no future; participants say they feel free from expectations to be a certain way or to play a certain role and find themselves more willing to talk with someone they do not know.
Many people find it cathartic to share their experiences, however, you may find that by participating in these Rounds, it stirs-up difficult emotions and impacts the way you see yourself and your experience. It is important that we point out that these Rounds are a not a therapeutic intervention, nor are they designed to replace any therapeutic support you are currently undertaking.
Amy (above left) is a Professor of Leadership and Management and author of The Human Moment. She recently made it onto the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar of global management thinkers. Amy works as adjunct faculty at several leading business schools including Henley, Hult Ashridge and the Irish Management Institute (IMI) as well as running
Amy (above left) is a Professor of Leadership and Management and author of The Human Moment. She recently made it onto the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar of global management thinkers. Amy works as adjunct faculty at several leading business schools including Henley, Hult Ashridge and the Irish Management Institute (IMI) as well as running her own consulting business. She and her husband Colin live in the UK and have four children between them.
Katherine (above right) partners with leaders and organizations to help them define and live their purpose. She is a partner at Korn Ferry and adjunct faculty at Ashridge Hult International Business School. She lives in Girona, Spain, where she and her husband hold writing and leadership retreats in a refurbished Catalan farmhouse.
It was our own contemporaneous existential work crises that brought us together to research and write. We began to surface our struggles in conversation with each other, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. So, we wondered, how might our conversation reflect a wider malaise, brought to the fore during the pandemic and reflecting a need to re-address our relationship with ourselves, each other and towards our work.
Running on Empty Rounds forms part of our independent collaboration and is therefore not attached to any of our professional affiliations cited above.
You can read more about us and our work on LinkedIn
Dr Amy Bradley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amy-bradley-851255/
Dr Katherine Semler:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-katherine-semler-6a778031/
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