It`s the bounce that counts

“Unfortunately, many executives in the business world have also got their foot to the floor, unaware that burnout lies just around the corner. The consequences can be disastrous and costly, not only for the individual but also for the company.”

—Peter Downey, BEd, MA, EdD1

Managers and executives in the behavioral healthcare field increasingly are at risk of falling prey to burnout. Stakeholders must wake up to what has been an invisible but rapacious threat to our leaders and the security of the field, as opting for a leadership career now holds less promise of job fulfillment and more promise of risk to personal and professional sustainability. This article brightens the light on this problem and provides provocative and imaginative self-directed strategies to nurture emotional resiliency at a core level for better on- and off-the-job effectiveness.

The Importance of Resiliency

Resilient managers are essential to the long-term viability of the behavioral healthcare field. Felicia Mayer, CEO of Family Counseling Services in Miami, Florida, acknowledges the stress she experiences as the top executive:

I have certainly experienced symptoms of burnout at different times in my career. As I moved into administration I had feelings of frustration at not having enough time to improve the quality of services to a level that I knew they could be…. At one point, I was not feeling inspired. Through my personal development work, I created new possibilities. Now I would say that I still feel frustrated that I feel that I don't have time to do all I want to do, and I especially feel frustrated for my staff, as I can't give them everything they need (yet) to not burn out and to provide the best-quality service.

The affective and psychological costs of serving in a leadership position are enormously high. The formal research is scant, yet recent studies show that burnout prevalence rates of managers and executives are steadily climbing. Leaders who lose their “snap, crackle, and pep” leave an employer or change careers prematurely.

From the top of the leadership chain downward, management is about delivering hard-hitting outcomes. Funding shortfalls, comparatively low salaries, little or no administrative and operational budgets, and managing stressed-out employees are among behavioral healthcare executives' unrelenting stressors. Competition for grant dollars, working around girdle-tight budgets, and rising operational expenses pitted against funding challenges make daily jobs even more difficult. Naomi Benyowitz, executive director of Harbel Prevention and Recovery in Baltimore says her top two stressors are “fund-raising and more fund-raising,” adding, “There is virtually no grant money available to support operational expenses such as lightbulbs, computers, and the rising costs…of keeping the heat on.”

What Leads to Burnout

Personality, temperament, lifestyle, societal influences—all equally fan the risk for what I call the “burnout syndrome.” Among the symptoms that lead to full-scale burnout are the following.

Feeling invincible and buying into the message that “good leaders are tough and strong-minded to handle whatever.” But leaders can't be Clark Kent, Superman's alter ego. According to Scott W. Spreier and colleagues, “A leader's hunger to achieve—to continually be the best—is a major source of strength for any organization. It fuels innovation, productivity, and a competitive edge: companies would be lost without it. But taken to an extreme, the drive to achieve can damage an enterprise.”2

Taking work home and misaligning priorities, thereby smearing the line between work and personal/family life. Putting family needs before a job is hard for some executives to do.

Neglecting one's self and family as job demands pile up. Do the following sound familiar?

• “I don't have time to exercise.”

• “I haven't had time for a vacation in three years.”

• “I don't have that kind of time.”

I once overheard a mid-level manager say that she had been so busy that she missed her doctor appointment.

The shepherd is more likely to take care of the sheep than to safeguard himself. Managers and clinicians I've polled admit that they don't practice the self-concern that they recommend to others.

Feeling personally vulnerable to high-level change and pressures around “moving targets” for outcome measures, evidence-based outcomes, and documentation standards. Executives need to recognize that accommodating rapid-fire change is a challenge even for the fittest of leaders.

Building Resiliency

It makes good business sense to employ resiliency-building interventions, especially education and training, as a means to making the management career path more attractive, satisfying, and viable for the long haul. In The Resiliency Advantage, Dr. Al Siebert prescribes five levels of resiliency:

• Maintain your emotional stability, health, and well-being. This is essential to sustaining your health and your energy.

• Focus outward: good problem-solving skills. Problem-focused coping leads to resiliency better than emotion-focused coping.

• Focus inward: strong inner “self.” The roots of resiliency are strong self-esteem, self-confidence, and a positive self-concept.

• Well-developed resiliency skills. These are found in highly resilient people.

• The talent for serendipity: what is possible at the highest level of resiliency. This is the ability to convert misfortune into good fortune.3

Thankfully, most of the latest research consistently reveals that resiliency can be nurtured. Below are five viable, practical strategies for building resiliency.

Stop and assess your emotional fitness. One day I was packing to leave a hotel but could not find one of my socks. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't see it until I took a step back and looked at the room from a wider view. With this perspective in mind, take a step back and consider your “bounce-back ability” by completing the survey on page 28.

Take immediate stock of how much sleep you get. Sleep is an important indicator of your affective health and resiliency. Sleep is the “oxygen” vital to restoration, revitalization, and emotional sustenance. Sleep is a cell rejuvenator and energy charger, and supports a healthy appearance.

Consult a nutritionist and use an energy-boosting food plan. Along with sleep, one's food plan is fuel for working in an intense workplace. Managers have to feel well to perform well. A longitudinal research study of 4,000 executives found that “across the board, leaders' energy at work is going down and their confidence is declining.”4 Prerequisites to transforming your energy level include balanced meals low in carbohydrates, fat, and sugar.

Practice mindfulness. Multitasking, deal-breaking deadlines, and managing problem employees drain the brain. Refresh the mind through practicing intentionally focused, single-tasking, present-moment living. Deep breathing by counts of five gives the mind a break and raises mindfulness to the next notch.

Reduce your personal debt. This is the oddball recommendation of the group, yet money is the number-one source of marital stress and divorce. Reducing your personal debt—your borrowing, spending, and charging behavior—is a high-yield/high-dividend practice that pays in lowering conscious and unconscious wear on the body, mind, and spirit.

Final Thoughts

As a consultant who has spoken in the past six months to more than 200 senior leaders in the behavioral healthcare and healthcare community, I have a profound regard for the leadership of the field. Low-resiliency managers perform like worn tires, burning more gas and being a road hazard. Highly resilient managers have more bang to give. Passion, energy, enjoyment, confidence—these are prerequisites to leading an organization toward effective and efficient client-centered service delivery.

You do not have to be born with resiliency but can strengthen your capacity to weather the storm of leadership. Today's leadership expects to be knocked down by the velocity of hard-hitting job responsibilities. It is not how hard you fall but the capacity to bounce back when knocked down that counts.

Debra Neal, LPC, is President of Pathways to Empowerment. She is an author, trainer, therapist, and consultant with 20 years of experience in behavioral healthcare. In the past five years Debra Neal, LPC, has focused on training behavioral healthcare professionals in competencies essential to effective and inclusive service delivery. Her work includes consulting services that boost morale, increase employee retention and engagement, improve leadership talent, and promote burnout risk management.

To contact the author, e-mail dneal@everestkc.net.

References

1. Downey P. Executive Stress, Burnout and Racing Cars. 2001. https://www.tirian.com/writing/corporate/stress1.htm.
2. Spreier SW, Fontaine MH, Malloy RL. Leadership run amok: the destructive potential of overachievers. Harvard Business Review 2006; June.
3. Siebert A. The Resiliency Advantage: Master Change, Thrive Under Pressure, and Bounce Back from Setbacks. Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 2005.
4. John Agn o. https://home.att.net/∼coachthee/Archives/burnout.html.

Sidebar

The Bounce-Back Ability Quotient

Developed by Debra Neal, LPC

Next to each question, indicate your response using the following numbering system:

1. strongly disagree

2. disagree

3. neutral

4. agree

5. strongly agree

a. I am easy going, cheerful, and maintain an attitude of optimism in moments of chaos and conflict.	_____
b. I only surround myself with others who are optimistic, achievement-minded, and interested in personal improvement.	_____
c. I use past problems, failures, losses, and setbacks as a platform for new opportunities, spiritual growth, and self-confidence.	_____
d. I am able to think for myself and don't rely on others to make decisions for me.	_____
e. I spend 20% of time on the problem and 80% of time on the solution.	_____
f. I face problems, conflict, and difficulties squarely, even though it feels very uncomfortable.	_____
g. I rarely allow myself to go through personal losses or problems in isolation.	_____
h. I have a strong support system of family, friends, colleagues, and coworkers.	_____
i. I see myself as a highly resourceful person and can usually find appropriate tools, information, and guidance, as needed.	_____
j. I am able to forgive others and move past situations in which I feel injured, judged, or mistreated.	_____
k. I see myself as a highly adaptable, open-minded, and change-ready individual.	_____
l. I turn lemons into lemonade and obstacles into triumph and opportunity.	_____
m. I deal well with uncertainty, ambiguity, and not having all the puzzle pieces.	_____
n. I practice direct and assertive communication and face conflict head on.	_____
o. I allow others to disagree with me without being argumentative or defensive.	_____
p. I manage life change without balking, kicking, or whining.	_____
q. I am often creative, proactive, and a self-initiator.	_____
r. Uninvited change and hard times do not scare me.	_____
s. I can leave a job unfinished when the situation warrants or stick to a task until it is completed.	_____
t. I have control over, and the ability to influence, my life for the better.	Total _____

Scoring

85 or higher: High bounce-back ability

70-84: Superior bounce-back ability

50-69: Average bounce-back ability

30-49: Low bounce-back ability

29 or under: No bounce-back ability