The Hidden Insights That Burnout Can Reveal About Our True Selves ft Jennifer Robb

Intro:

Jennifer Robb is an enthusiastic and strategic finance leader with over 15 years of experience in various public and private industries, including transportation, construction, and energy. A few years ago, Jennifer experienced burnout caused by what we would call “old school toxic management”.

Through recovery, Jennifer discovered hidden insights about herself and the workplace. She embraced mindfulness, ignited her passion for coaching, and developed innovative strategies to motivate teams in a positive way. Her story is a beautiful reminder that even our hardest moments can lead to valuable lessons and transformative change!

Stay in Touch with Jennifer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-robb-cpa-cma/

For more on Jennifer and her Services: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-robb-cpa-cma/

 

Welcome to weirdos in the workplace. The podcast that celebrates authenticity, transparency, passion, and purpose in our world of work.

And I'm here with the lovely Jennifer Rob. Say hello, Jennifer. Thank you. Hello everyone.  Awesome. Jennifer is an enthusiastic and strategic finance leader with over 15 years experience in various public and private sector roles, um, including in, uh, different industries, such as transportation, construction, and energy.

And a few years ago, Jennifer experienced a burnout caused by what we might call, uh, old school toxic management. We're going to talk about that and the process of recovery has led her to discover herself for mindfulness and coaching practice and win win ways of motivating teams. So welcome Jennifer to weirdos in the workplace.

Thank you. And thanks for having me. Yeah. My pleasure. Um, so let's share a little bit about yourself, please, so that everyone here can get to know you, get to know your background a little bit, and, you know, especially regarding this burnout, just if you can, if you can kind of lead us, um, on the journey a little bit.

Mm hmm.  So, I am a CPA. Um, I also have a  I studied and worked abroad in different capacities. I'm also a mom of two, which is important,  because, you know, everyone has a life outside of work. Everyone is a full and complete human being. And sometimes a lot of these worlds collide, uh, for better or worse.

And I went through this period of, um,  intense work where I was very capable of doing the work and unfortunately the work just get kept getting piled on. So through COVID there were some, you know, everyone had challenges, right? People were leaving the workplace. They were quitting through vaccine mandates.

There were so many changes that were going on and that led, um, me to a position of covering a number of jobs. And it went on for such an extended period of time.  It was really hard for me to let go because I loved what I was doing. And I love doing things like innovating and process improvements and making things better.

And I didn't see it  coming. I just eventually got to this place where  I was so burnt out and I was frustrated and cynical and I just didn't realize where I had backed myself into a corner.  And I really needed to make some personal changes, to take a break, to let myself heal.  When you are clinically diagnosed with burnout, which I was, it's, it's a tough situation.

You know, we, we overuse burnout. Um, you know, we say at the end of the week, oh, it's Friday, I'm burnt out. But when you are clinically burnt out, that that's just a different level of burnout. It's one where you need, um, like psychological support and it's one where you need even, um,  Rest and recovery, not just physically, but for your brain.

And that's really different place to be in. And I didn't realize what it meant until