www.fastcompany.com: Have you noticed any recent changes in your coworkers? Perhaps they aren’t as present as they used to be, or they’ve been unusually forgetful, moody, or tired. Maybe they’re racking up repeated absences. These things are not unusual, but they can also be signs that something is wrong.
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This article is a very clever way of telling people the importance of team work. By talking about "Burn Out" in a workplace, the article is successful in conveying that burnouts can easily be dealt with the help of your team mates.
Exhaustion at work place is a common phenomenon. But not everyone is able to deal with it in the correct way. There are some people who get depressed or less efficient. But then there are some people who are able to tackle the exhaustion by either talking to their team mates or by finding a solution with their group.
Team work is way to a lot of problems at the workplace and elsewhere also. By talking to your team mates about your problems regarding your issues, not only do you feel relieved, but your work efficiency and energy is also improved which is paramount to completely utilize your potential at work.
Sometimes approaching a peer about their emotional health can be a messy matter, but by maintaining an open space for communication in the workplace can help all of the people involved. Just by being able to vent, regarding stressing matters, part of the weight is lifted. It also helps people in charge understand the temperature of the room, and address issues that might have gone unnoticed until then. This article helps to identify possible burn out in our coworkers and peers, but sometimes when we are the person burning out, the symptoms go under the radar and the causes are harder to pin point. However, it has some helpful information that could facilitate the process of us identifying why are we burning out, we can take the tips and evaluate ourselves to see if our burn out can be fixed by asking for help, changing our labor practices, or if our stress comes from other non-work related sources.
As a freshman college student, I think this article is so relevant to my current life. Being that my ‘workplace’ is the classroom, and a completely new learning environment, I can see how burning out is something I need to be cautious of. I expect of my first year of university to be full of higher expectations, more difficult classes, and brand new relationships - all of which are labeled big changes that lead to burnout by this article. The author says that though these challenges appear often in the workplace, open communication has proved to be a dependable way to solve them. Too often people feel insecure asking others for help, so having an environment where this type of conversation is free flowing and normalized could reduce stress and likely even increase productivity. This is why I’m quite appreciative of the efforts the university, as well as the School of Drama, have made to talk about stress, needing help, and how to get it in all cases. If we are all conscious of the burnout risk, not only will we feel more comfortable talking to others about it, but we will be more willing and able to help others who are struggling.
I know I have to be careful of burnout. I tend to put a lot of stress on myself to go above and beyond in the projects and things that I do, and the long, sleepless nights can really wear me out. (Not to mention how the heat is making it impossible to get sleep when I have the time). Especially being a freshman in college, where everything from the team, to the shop, and surrounding city is completely new. Processing all of this new material is pretty taxing, and I know that without enough down time and time to myself I’m bound to get burnt out sooner or later. Balancing that, along with trying to maintain positive connections back at home is a lot. This article covers some of the different reasons for burnout in the workplace, but I think it would’ve been better if Tina Salo and Marju Kettunen included more about how to actually deal with burnout, and more on how to prevent it from happening in the future. They only briefly mention what they did in order to prevent it at the end of each reason, saying something like ‘make sure they’re okay,’ and other things like that, but really that little information isn’t too helpful. A lot of times people won’t readily be vulnerable to others and let them help until it’s too late. At the very least, this article does point out the leading causes of burnout in work environments so that others can more effectively notice them.
I did laugh out loud while reading this, just to be honest. Only because in theatre the first four items on this list are givens and always present in the job, I feel. It's not the fault of bad management either, it is just the reality of the kind of work we do. This summer I worked for a really wonderful company where we produced 5 large-scale musicals total, with each show having a footprint of 10 days from 1st rehearsal through opening night. This is fast-paced, and needs to be. I was not accustomed to working with the same folks in close collaboration for an average of 13 hours a day for 13 weeks, but that is what had to happen. I was also the new person to the team, as this was my first year with this company. Additionally, it felt like the work was never-ending, because we simply went from one show to another. But it had to happen that way, because that is the summer season. And we all had an insane amount of work to do in each 10-day period. Period. So while I think this list is helpful, I feel like the tactics they had for dealing with these signs were more helpful. Find times that you can be alone when you don't have to be at work. Talking to others that you may be having disagreements with at work to try and talk through the issues at hand is also really helpful. Going into shops just to say hi and ask how peoples' days have been, not because you need something. This job and this industry is stressful, I won't say more stressful than the medical field, but still. Doing the little things along the way to make sure that it doesn't all add up on any one person is crucial.
Burnout in grad school is happening more and more, especially in environments like CMU. Our program demands the highest that we can give and then seems to ask for a little more. I liked the article but it was really focused more on the work only environment. There are some key takeaways here, especially about adjusting things when new team members join. I have yet to see any of that in my program. It seems that the attitude of “this is the way it’s always been” holds very steady to many people. One thing that the article did not talk about what about burnout of people who feel undervalued or utilized. Hearing comments about “well, you’re in the wrong program”, or “why are you here” can really devalue a person and their contribution. As this continues, this pushing away method causes the person to be less engaged or to develop what may be seen as anger towards others or a stubborness in change or doing things. It takes people to realize that they are hurting others because, depending on the person, those who are hurt may shy away and not speak up.
I didn’t know one could be formally diagnosed with burn out. Is it really a diagnosis or is it just saying that there isn’t an actual underlying mental health condition but instead just burn out? Based on a quick Google search, there is no such thing as a diagnosis of burn out, which makes it a bit of an odd claim to make in this article. That aside, these reasons for burn out all seem like good things to look out for. I always think of the cause of burn out as primarily just being overworked, but I never considered the additional strain of having to work in a style that isn’t how you’d naturally work. I’ve also always considered burn out to be exclusively about my work life and independent of everything else, but in retrospect that is silly, because work can seem a lot more overwhelming if there is something else going on. I’ll be on the lookout for these things moving forward.
Burn out, One of the most common things that people in our industry face. Ever since I was stressing about a show, five years ago, and my technical direction advisor at the time handed me a USITT article about Technical Director burn out, I have always kept it in my mind when working. This article tries to put a framework around it in order to make it seem as though it is something easy to manage and that it only creeps up in these ways. And as being someone who has gotten burned out on things before I can attest that it is not that easy in our industry. The biggest thing that one can do to prevent people from burning out that I found no addressed in the article is to just let your aprication for what they are doing be known and recognize all that they have accomplished. Most times one will see an instant rejuvenated passion in them again.
I didn’t find this article particularly helpful because everything they mentioned that causes burn out is the nature of the theatrical industry. Our jobs and assignments change day to day. The pressure is always high with the combination of school work and crew. Who we are working with is always changing. Thankfully, everyone in the office knows everyone so who we are working with may change but we still know them. There is no time for burn out in theater. It is the nature of our job. You have to push through and that is a skill that is learned over time. I think, and I am still learning this, it seems that the best strategy is to give a steady energy flow throughout and push when a push is needed. As you learn your energy flow you can slowly increase it. That does not mean producing poorer work, that means being aware of where you are spending your energy in times when it is not necessary.
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