The Ability To Influence Others Mitigates Burnout
by Thulasi Mohanadas,
published June 13 2023.
In the final instalment of this three-part series on burnout amongst managers, I talk about the second facet of control - power - and how you can use this to mitigate and alleviate burnout.
In the first blog I spoke about what burnout actually is. Burnout comprises feelings of exhaustion, feeling cynical and negative about ones’ job, and reduced feelings of professional efficacy. It is the combination of these three factors that leads to burnout.
In the second blog I spoke about the first facet of control - self-efficacy. This is about feeling in control of your tasks and workload demands.
Organisations need to understand that human beings have a biological need for control. To create a workplace where your employees are engaged and you reduce the risks of burnout, organisations need to help managers feel empowered.
It is critical that organisations and leaders understand the role power plays in the development of burnout. I summarise key research findings here.
Power: Feeling like you can influence and direct others mitigates burnout
When you are a manager, power is an everyday reality. It may not always seem or feel like it for some, but managers and leaders have a degree of control and authority over others. This is especially true of managers who receive power formally – they naturally see themselves as powerful. They also have more access to resources that are not available to those hierarchically below them. This means they can act with fewer constraints, more freedom, and deliver results. It also means they can impose penalties.
Power is as much about actual control as it is about your perception and experience of it. It is also possible to be allocated power without feeling empowered.
Do you feel like you can influence another person? When you can direct others in their work and achieve positive outcomes, it creates a positive feedback loop which works powerfully in your favour. Your confidence in your own ability increases rapidly; this is called the Winner Effect, and can insulate you from negative emotional states, driving you towards reward-seeking behaviour. At a biological level, your body releases higher doses of the happy-chemical – dopamine.
The opposite – feeling a lack or loss of power – can be devastating. Managers who feel that they are not able to influence or impact others, whether they be subordinates or senior leadership, are more likely to feel detached and cynical about their work.
For example, you could feel like the work you are doing has no meaning or impact. You may be asking yourself what the point of your job is. Phrases such as “anyone can do it,” “it doesn’t matter anyway,” or “it’s not going to change” may describe how you are feeling at work. You may also experience issues around fairness and recognition. These feelings are more common in highly bureaucratised organisations with stringent hierarchies. For example, an HR manager spoke with me about their role in a large organisation stating “… it’s too slow to get things actioned… I don’t really have any influence… no real power”.
From here, burnout is just one step away.
How managers can enhance their sense of power.
Think of the big picture.
Think of a game of chess. Chess players will often willingly sacrifice their pieces to make a grand scheme work. This means that they will have to temporarily and strategically lose some power on the board. But paradoxically, this loss of power actually makes the player more powerful. This is because their focus is on the big picture. They behave in ways that serve their overarching goal, rather than incidental concerns.
In much of the same way, managers who focus on the big picture can feel empowered by controlled loss of power. This is a paradigm shift from how things are done to why things are done.
As I tell my clients, “as long as the king is on the board, the game is still on”.
Practically, you can do this by focussing on positive events that you have influenced. This is an evidence-based technique which you can easily put into practice e.g. by finishing a day’s work with a list of “what I accomplished today”.
Focus on three aspects: tasks I had to do and achieved (my tick list); tasks that I found challenging and took steps toward overcoming or completed; and activities that tapped into my core values. Through this daily habit, you can focus on the big picture and enhance your sense of power.
How organisations can design more effective ways to build engagement.
1. A reminder from the second blog on burnout that remain relevant here is to focus on fixing the workplace rather than the employee.
2. Power-perception is extremely important for managers to relieve their emotional exhaustion. Not only that, it also affects organisational outcomes at every level. Organisations should actively seek to empower their managers by giving them better access to resources, greater autonomy and decision-making powers. Consider how managers are either enabled or disempowered particularly in relation to decision-making, holding accountability and having ownership.
Final Thoughts
Burnout occurs over time which can make it hard to spot until you are in the thick of it. It occurs due to a pattern of experiences at work. Resist the temptation of quick fixes that treat the symptoms but leave the underlying condition unaddressed.
Burnout is also contagious - one by one a whole team can ‘catch it’ through emotional contagion. That is why organisations need to tackle the root causes at a systemic level.