When your team is on overload, what you can do to help.
When Deb Calvert asked an online group of PSIvet members to describe how burnout manifests itself at their practice, she received a torrent of messages about stressful signs and symptoms: irritability, fatigue, exhaustion, apathy, lack of leadership, feeling overwhelmed, turnover, mental checkout—and many more.
“You own this,” Calvert, president of People First Productivity Solutions, told the group, “And that’s a good thing. Because if you own it, you have the power or ability to turn things around.”
Burnout, according to the World Health Organization, is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. While it’s probably not avoidable in this time of “the quiet quit,” Calvert says, it can be controlled. “This is something you can do something about. You can take it in hand and help it to be reduced.”
Here’s a look at some of her fast fixes:
Offer challenges for growth. Calvert suggests offering your team challenges so that they are continuing to grow. “If you want people to feel like they are not burned out, a small challenge can be really helpful,” she says.
Typically, employees want to know that they are valued and they want to learn about the practice. Growth ideas could start at the hiring stage with onboarding and then cover the gamut from values, fundamentals and business acumen, to a look at what’s going on at the front desk and why. You could also engage a group of “emerging leaders.” The goal: “To get that emotional connection and see the bigger picture,” says Calvert.
This includes delegating so that your team is operating at peak performance. “Don’t delegate just to get work off your plate,” Calvert says. “Delegate with the core purpose to develop people.” According to Calvert, most American workers spend most of their time in the “drone zone,” where they are bored, burned out and unmotivated.
A quick fix: Give people a challenge that is just a little bit greater than their current skill level. You want them challenged, but not in the panic zone.
Offer feedback for growth. Make feedback—whether it’s positive or negative—a part of your culture. Make it known that “feedback is a gift,” suggests Calvert. “It’s a gift that we give to people.”
She suggests 3-W feedback, delivered in a depersonalized, objective and matter-of-fact tone without discussion in between points.
Let’s say a receptionist is too late or absent too often. Here’s a sample script:
The What: (the problem)
“Last week you called out two days, Tuesday and Thursday. The week before that there were several days that you were not here on time: Monday you were 10 minutes late, Wednesday you were 20 minutes late, and Thursday you were almost an hour late. And we cannot have that situation continue.”
The Why: (the impact of the situation)
“The reason I am bringing this up to you is because we are really having a challenge at the front desk. Without you here, our patients are having to wait considerably longer than their appointment times, and that creates a backlog for the techs and the vets. And our customers are becoming increasingly more dissatisfied. This practice depends on you to help keep customers satisfied and to keep things flowing smoothly. What you do when you’re here really matters, and we miss you tremendously when you’re not here.”
The Way: (moving forward)
“What I need from you is for you to be on time each day, to have fewer call outs, and if you know you’re not going to be able to be here, give me some advance notice so that we can staff accordingly.”
Be matter-of-fact and don’t leave time for discussion, Calvert suggests. “This really, really works, and it helps people to learn and to grow.”
To dig deeper into Calvert’s burnout advice, set aside an hour and watch her webinar.