Gary's Newsletter 377: Groups can Burn Out Too
Posted by Gary R Collins on March 31, 2010 Comments 0
Most care-givers are familiar with compassion fatigue and burnout: periods of exhaustion, frustration, depression, boredom and apathy brought on by the constant needs of people who need help. Care-giving activities that once were motivating and fulfilling often become burdensome and pressure inducing. Several years ago psychologist Steven Berglas addressed this in Reclaiming the Fire: How Successful People Overcome Burnout.
But burnout is not limited to individuals. Small groups can burn out. So can teams, organizations, churches and even large companies. Writing in Harvard Business Review (April, 2010), Heike Burch and Jochen I. Menges, call this "the Acceleration Trap." Groups or companies start with enthusiasm and work hard to accomplish goals and fulfill their visions. But the pace keeps accelerating. I meet regularly with the former lead singer of a group that kept pushing to make it in the competitive music world. The more they succeeded the more the pace picked up until the band burned out and disintegrated in a whirlwind of pressure, conflict, and exhaustion. In the HBR study of over 600 companies, the push to keep going led to reduced productivity, efficiency, morale and commitment. Sometimes these companies (like some churches) started with an exhilarating, adrenalin-fueled ride that led to success, visibility, constant change, and exciting new opportunities, until exhaustion and emotional fatigue took over.
HBR suggests strategies for breaking free and preventing future group burnout:
- Stop the action and look at all that is being done or attempted. Remember that God does not call any individual or group to do everything.
- Revisit the group's mission and strategy. Eliminate activities that do not support the group's core purposes.
- Decide how the group should make decisions and set its goals. The point of goal setting is not to pile up projects but to focus the group's action, attention, and energy.
- Terminate projects in people-sensitive ways. Emphasize the projects' good points. Acknowledge the contributions of those who worked on the projects. Clarify reasons for cutting back or changing direction.
- Take regular group-wide time-outs when the pace can be shut down while everybody takes a breather and regroups.
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