May 7, 2025 • 28 mins
Imagine if we treated educator burnout with the same urgency as a fire alarm. When flames threaten, no one calls a meeting to discuss whether evacuation is necessary—they act immediately. Yet when burnout ravages our educational communities, we respond with inaction, delay, and empty platitudes.
This powerful episode breaks down how to create an effective burnout crisis management plan using established emergency response frameworks. Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson (PBJ) walks through the critical response phase that follows prevention and preparedness—what happens when burnout is identified and immediate action is required.
The cornerstone of effective burnout response is understanding that burnout exists on a spectrum with three distinct phases: surviving, overwhelm, and shutdown. Each phase requires different interventions. Someone in the surviving phase might benefit from schedule adjustments or a long weekend, while an educator in overwhelm needs substantial support like peer mentoring or workload reassignment. Those in full burnout require significant time off and comprehensive healing resources.
PBJ outlines four essential response elements every educational leader must implement: activating tiered support based on burnout severity, providing immediate relief measures to reduce workload pressure, connecting affected staff directly with support resources (not just sharing contact information), and managing communication to protect privacy while addressing practical implications of work redistribution.
The small, interconnected nature of educational communities means many educators suffer in silence rather than risk reputation damage. Having pre-established, confidential communication protocols allows you to protect struggling staff members while explaining necessary changes to stakeholders.
Don't wait until another valuable educator reaches their breaking point. Take action today to create your response plan.
Also, download PBJ's STOP Plan for incorporating micro-breaks as a sustainable rhythm of rest. Your educators—and the students who depend on them—deserve nothing less.
Upgrade to Premium Membership to access the Disrupting Burnout audiobook and other bonus content: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1213895/supporters/new
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If the alarm goes off , we're not going to call a
meeting and everybody go to theconference room to talk about is
this a real threat?
Can we stay in the room or dowe leave?
If the fire alarm goes off, ourplan is activated and people do
what they know they're supposedto do to keep themselves and
(00:23):
each other safe, know they'resupposed to do to keep
themselves and each other safe.
So, immediately when there's afire alarm, people begin to
leave the building and they goto designated areas.
And I don't know about you all,but in our plan we had not only
a designated area for our team,but we had a way to account for
where is everybody?
You know, do we have everybodyhere in our safe space, or were
(00:44):
they working across campus orare they off?
Today we had several things inplace to account for each other.
We understood that when thealarm sounded it was time for
immediate action, not discussion.
When it comes to burnout, whatI'm finding is not only are we
(01:08):
not taking immediate action, but, even worse, sometimes we're
taking no action at all.
It is the inactivity that is sodangerous to our educators
today.
Hey friend, I am Dr PatriceBuckner-Jackson, but you can
(01:29):
call me, pbj.
Welcome back to the DisruptingBurnout podcast, where we are
giving you the strategies forpouring out purpose without
burning out.
Friend, I am ready to jumpright back into our conversation
.
If you've been listening lately, you know that we are walking
(01:49):
through the steps of crisismanagement and creating a
burnout crisis management planfor you and your team, and we're
leaning on the tried and truephases of crisis management,
from the National IncidentManagement System here in
(02:10):
America through the Departmentof Homeland Security.
This is the language, this isthe plan that is used anytime
there's a catastrophic event inany of our cities or areas.
These are the phases that wewalk through and we are using
this framework to build out aburnout crisis plan for your
(02:37):
team, for your school, for yourworkplace.
So in the last couple of weeks,we've discussed two of the
phases.
First is prevention, andprevention is what you want to
do in order to minimize thelikelihood that burnout will
actually happen.
(02:57):
You want to stop burnout beforeit happens and you do
everything you can to preventburnout, like training programs,
like making sure folks areaware of what burnout looks like
and what they can do forthemselves to prevent burnout.
You want to empower your team,but you also want to create a
(03:19):
culture that does not fuelburnout.
So you begin to make somechanges in the way that you
approach your work so that youdon't put your folks at higher
risk of burnout.
So that's prevention right.
And next we discuss preparedness.
So no matter what you do toprevent, it is responsible and
(03:44):
wise to prepare or make sure youhave the capacity to respond to
burnout when it shows up.
So we will do everything thatwe can to prevent burnout and we
recognize, as educatorsespecially, that the risk of
burnout is very high.
(04:05):
So it is our responsibility toprepare ourselves to have the
capacity.
So we need a plan.
We need to have done sometabletop exercises, some drills,
to practice that plan.
We need to communicate to ourfolks that we have a plan.
We need to communicate to ourfolks that we have a plan.
(04:25):
We need to allocate someresources to support in case
burnout shows up.
So prevention is we're tryingto stop it before it happens
Preparedness we are increasingour capacity to deal with it
when it comes.
And today we are discussingresponse.
(04:47):
What are the immediate actionswhen burnout shows up?
What do we do when our folkshave shown, have said that they
are struggling with burnout.
I want to continue with thismetaphor of fire safety because
I think it helps to clarify whatwe need concerning our burnout
(05:12):
crisis plan.
So we're walking through thephases of crisis management
concerning a fire.
In prevention, we make somerules.
You can't have an open flame atwork, you know.
We put some things in placeright.
So in prevention, we're givingeverybody fire safety education
(05:34):
and we want them to understandwhat kinds of things can cause a
fire and to discourage thosethings that can cause a fire.
In preparedness, we equip ourenvironment.
So we have fire alarms, we havesmoke detectors, we have
sprinklers, but we also dodrills.
We do drills so people know howto escape.
(05:57):
I've noticed in hotels andother buildings there are
placards on the wall that showyou this is where you are and
this is where the neareststairwell is if you need to get
out of this building in case ofemergency.
So all of that is preparedness.
Right, we are increasing ourcapacity, but we're also
(06:18):
increasing the likelihood thatwe can be safe even in the midst
of the crisis.
So we're not pretending that afire cannot happen.
Just because you've done thefire safety does not mean you
are absolved from having thepreparedness measures, right
(06:40):
From having the alarms and thesprinklers and the automatic
communication to the firedepartment, and to do the drills
so that people know what to dowhen we are considering fire
safety.
If the alarm goes off, we'renot going to call a meeting and
everybody go to the conferenceroom to talk about is this a
(07:03):
real threat?
Can we stay in the room or dowe leave?
If the fire alarm goes off, ourplan is activated and people do
what they know they're supposedto do to keep themselves and
each other safe.
So, immediately when there's afire alarm, people begin to
leave the building and they goto designated areas.
(07:26):
And I don't know about you all,but in our plan we had not only
a designated area for our team,but we had a way to account for
where is everybody.
You know, do we have everybodyhere in our safe space, or were
they working across campus orare they off?
Today we had several things inplace to account for each other.
(07:47):
We understood that when thealarm sounded, it was time for
immediate action, not discussion.
When it comes to burnout, whatI'm finding is not only are we
not taking immediate action, but, even worse, sometimes we're
(08:08):
taking no action at all, it isthe inactivity that is so
dangerous to our educators today.
So I want you to put burnout inthe same category that you put
fire safety.
When the alarm sounds, we'renot talking about it, we're not
(08:32):
thinking about it, we're nothaving meetings about it, we're
not sending emails, messagesabout it.
We take immediate action toprotect ourselves and protect
the people around us, and thatis the same thing we need to do
in the response phase concerningburnout.
Response means immediate action, it means activation, it means
(08:57):
addressing the issue, and ourgoal is to minimize, first of
all, to halt the threat andminimize the long-term impacts
of the crisis of burnout, andthere are four steps that we
need to take when we get to theresponse phase.
(09:21):
So, pbj, I can't stop.
I don't have time to stop.
If I stop, all of this fallsapart.
We're short-staffed.
I don't have anybody that cantake my place at work.
I don't have support at home orat work to stop.
Friends, if any of thesethoughts come to mind when you
(09:42):
think about taking a break, youare the person who needs to stop
the most.
I want to offer you our stopplan Simple.
I want you to use the samestrategies and wisdom and skills
that you use at work, and I'mgoing to guide you to using
(10:02):
those strategies to plan microbreaks.
I'm not talking about a month'ssabbatical, but can you
incorporate micro breaks intoyour life as a regular rhythm of
rest so that while you areserving, while you are giving,
you can have moments of revival,so that you can live the life
(10:25):
you're living sustainably?
Friend, you need to grab thisstop plan.
Make sure to click the link inthe show notes or wherever
you're watching or listening tothis, so that you can get what
you need right now.
It can't wait.
I know you do a wonderful job,but people don't know what it
(10:46):
costs you to be you, and youknow what the cost has been.
It's time to stop.
Grab the plan today.
So, in prevention, you're tryingto stop burnout before it
happens.
In preparedness, you are awareof the high likelihood and you
(11:06):
want to be prepared just in caseit shows up.
And response is here.
In response, we are clearlyaware that there is burnout in
the team and you need to takesome immediate actions.
So the first action you need totake when burnout shows up is
(11:27):
activation of your tieredresponse.
Now let me tell you what I mean,if you've ever been in one of
my workshops, you know that Italk you through the phases of
burning out.
Right, because burnout is notan incident, it's a progression.
You may have an incident as aresult of burnout, but you've
(11:49):
probably been burning out foryears and one of the biggest
challenges is we don't stop andpay attention to the signs and
symptoms of the phases, right?
So we have three phases ofburning out.
The first phase is surviving.
You know the load is heavy, youknow you're exhausted, you know
(12:10):
there's a lot going on, but youdon't know what to do.
So you just keep going.
It's fine, I got it, it's fine.
It's fine, it's fine, right,you know that the impacts are
already happening, but you canhandle it.
You know things aren't fallingapart.
Next, necessarily, they may befalling off the plate, but
they're not falling apart.
So you just keep going.
(12:31):
And in this phase is when youmay notice that somebody's work
product is just a little bitdifferent, or you may notice
that the way that they presentin their personality and their
characteristics, in their mood,may be just a little bit
different, but they're gettingthe work done and there are no
major disruptions to the flow ofwork or to the outcome.
(12:52):
So we just keep going.
That's surviving.
If you don't do somethingdifferent in surviving, then you
move to overwhelm.
In overwhelm, the water levelof your life is rising and you
are fighting to keep your headabove water.
So we're in surviving.
Folks wear their professionalmask very well and overwhelm
starts to tell on them.
(13:13):
So maybe there's a high levelof absenteeism now because they
just don't know what else to do.
Or maybe there are majordeadlines that are missed or
major projects that are notexecuted well because they just
no longer have the capacity towork well, to teach well, to
(13:33):
show up as well as they normallywould, because they're feeling
overwhelmed.
For the individual in overwhelm, your nervous system is
starting to really respond andtry to get your attention and
let you know you've had enoughand it's not working.
For the workplace, you noticeoverwhelm because there's a
(13:55):
marked difference in the way thework and the product and the
outcomes of this person comparedto what they normally, what
they normally provide Right.
So you've got surviving, whichis that first phase of burning
out.
Then you move to overwhelm andsome people can stay in
overwhelm for a very long time,but you those the signs and
(14:18):
symptoms are more evident andoverwhelmed and then, finally,
you move to the phase I callburnout, and in burnout it is
the involuntary, automaticshutdown.
Something breaks.
It is the most critical level.
I review these levels with youbecause I need you to understand
that your activation shouldalign with the appropriate level
(14:40):
.
As I travel and I share theseideas, these strategies, and I
have an opportunity to talk tofolks what I'm hearing is there
are people in many differentphases of burning out.
In your workplace.
I talk to some people and say,man, I wish I had you 20 years
ago.
(15:00):
I'm good now, like I'm okay now, but I really wish I had heard
this 20 years ago.
Or I speak to some people whosay, oh, you got me on that
surviving.
I'm not overwhelmed yet, butI'm on the roller coaster, pbj,
I can feel it.
I know there's a lot ofpressure.
I don't know what to do with it, but I'm carrying a lot.
(15:21):
Other people are clearly inoverwhelm, where they feel like
they're drowning.
They feel like they're drowningand they're recognizing the
tales, the symptoms from theirnervous system.
And then there are others whoare in full blown burnout and
often all those folks can do iscry.
They can't even oftenarticulate to me.
(15:42):
They just come and say I'm justglad somebody can see me, I'm
glad somebody understands.
So I share that with you.
To let you know that all ofyour people are not in the same
place.
So your activation should beappropriate to what level they
are on.
A person who is in survivingdoes not need as much
(16:04):
intervention as a person who isin full-blown burnout.
A person who is in surviving,maybe they can use a little work
adjustment or maybe a longweekend or a little more time
off or an adjustment in theschedule, and they would be okay
.
A person who is in overwhelmwill need a little bit more
(16:25):
intervention.
Maybe they need a peer whounderstands the phases of
burning out.
Maybe that person has beentrained or certified in some way
and they can talk to them,support them, meet with them,
help them think through maybe acoach not just what their
workload is but what their lifeload is.
A person who's in full blownburnout probably needs some
(16:46):
significant time off and theyneed some significant healing.
But your people are not in thesame phases, so your activation
should be aligned with the levelof burnout that your folks are
experiencing, right.
So make sure that we are notusing the full fire hose to put
(17:09):
out a little candle fire when wehave the fire extinguisher
right beside us.
Ok, so we're going to stickwith this fire thing, because I
think we can get that when weneed to apply it to burnout.
So use an appropriateactivation according to the
level that the person is at.
Let's talk about some immediaterelief measures.
(17:32):
Response calls for immediaterelief measures, so I've already
identified some of those thatare appropriate to each level,
but the important thing is weneed to have these relief
measures in place.
That's what preparedness is for.
In the second phase, calledpreparedness, we should be
(17:54):
implementing, setting asideputting some relief measures in
place, so when it's time and webecome aware of the level of
burnout, we're ready to respond.
We need immediate reliefmeasures.
What can you take off of theplate?
What can you adjust, what canyou remove so that the person
(18:18):
can begin to experience relief?
When you think about immediaterelief measures, I want you to
think about what can you doright now to support Not next
semester, not.
Please.
Get through exams and thenwe'll help you.
But what are the immediate waysthat you can reduce the
(18:39):
workload?
What are the immediate waysthat you can do some temporary
reassignments.
What stress can you removeright away?
What can you change right awayto support the person who is
facing burnout and again,considering what level they're
(19:01):
at?
But there's always anopportunity to adjust or remove
some stress.
The next thing you need to dois activate support Now here,
friend, I'm not talking aboutgiving somebody a phone number
and say please give them a call.
I know when it comes to mystudents.
I wouldn't just say, friend,I'm not talking about giving
somebody a phone number and sayplease give them a call.
I know when it comes to mystudents I wouldn't just say,
(19:21):
hey, you should try counseling.
I would say, if you're open toit, I'll walk you over there
right now.
Can I walk you to counselingright now?
As a matter of fact, ourcounseling center at one
institution that I worked at,they had a person, a counselor,
that was assigned to walk-insall day long.
(19:42):
So and they rotated who wasassigned to walk-ins.
So every day there werecounselors who had set scheduled
meetings and there was at leastone that was open to walk-ins
all day long.
So when we were meeting withthat student who was food
insecure or struggling withhomelessness or whatever the
(20:05):
trauma may be.
If we could encourage thatstudent to go to counseling, we
wouldn't say here's their phonenumber, make an appointment.
We would say come on, let's go,I'll walk you over there, I'll
introduce you to the folks andwe'll get you started right,
because at the moment the personsays yes, it's the most
impactful time to get themsupport.
(20:26):
So when we talk about offeringsupport with response to burnout
, don't just hand somebody aphone number, don't just say,
hey, we have great resourcesthrough HR.
You should check them out.
But who is going to directlyconnect them to the community
resource?
The counselor in the community,or even the person, the peer on
(20:49):
your campus that has beentrained for burnout response?
This is one of the things thatI'm developing now and that I'm
so excited about.
I want to come to your campusesand train folks to be your
burnout response team and whensomeone, when the process is
(21:09):
activated, when the alarms aregoing off and we become aware
that someone is identified inthe phases of burnout,
particularly in overwhelmingburnout, we have a response team
of folks who have been trainedand prepared to connect with
that person, to support them, tohelp them get connected to
(21:30):
other resources, to walk themthrough processes that we have
available on our campuses.
So immediate support isnecessary and not a let's talk
about it next week in yourone-on-one or let's get through
this semester and then we'lladdress it.
But immediate means right now.
Response means right now.
(21:51):
So what support mechanisms doyou have in place that you can
directly connect someone to sothat they can get the help that
they need?
And finally, in response, youneed communication management.
Now, friend who listen, theworld of education is a small
world.
Everybody knows everybody andoften everybody knows
(22:17):
everybody's business and this isone of the primary reasons why
people don't raise their handand say I need help.
This is one of the primaryreasons why people hesitate to
identify themselves as someonewho needs support, because they
are worried and concerned aboutthe impact of everybody knowing
(22:40):
their business.
So, ahead of time, we need tohave communication protocols in
place and preparedness so, inresponse, we can implement those
communication protocols.
Because, as we are adjustingworkloads, as we are giving
(23:01):
folks some time off, as we'redoing whatever we need to do to
support the person who's burningout or burnt out, it also
impacts other people and theywill have questions and they
want to know why and it mightlook like somebody is getting
favoritism.
So get ahead of it.
Get ahead of it in ourcommunication.
Don't wait until the moment.
(23:22):
Get ahead of it in ourcommunication.
Don't wait until the moment.
Make sure we have somecommunication protocols in place
that says if you or somebodyyou know is dealing with burnout
, here are the steps that weneed you to take.
Here's who you communicate with, here's what you say to them,
and we want you to know thatwe're going to protect your
information.
(23:43):
You say to them and we want youto know that we're going to
protect your information.
People may have some awarenessof change because they may have
to take on some responsibilities, but we will never share your
personal information aboutwhat's going on with you, right?
So have some templates in placethat you use to let people know
that the workload is adjustingor that we're bringing in some
(24:04):
partners to help us have somethings ready to go.
Response is not the time to sitdown and figure out how do we
say this.
That's what you do inpreparedness.
Response is the time toactivate what you've already put
in place.
So this is why the preparednessphase is so important to have
(24:25):
your full crisis plan written,to have your template email
messages written to have yourtemplate responses to questions,
your frequently asked questions, written and ready to go.
So when it's time to forimmediate action, when it's time
for response, when burnoutshows up and it is in your face,
(24:47):
you're not guessing what to do.
Not only have you a writtenplan, not only do you have
written templates, but you havepracticed.
You have done the tabletopexercises, you have done the
drills.
So folks know what to do andhow to do it, friend.
So response means burnout ishere and it's time for immediate
(25:11):
action and we need to activate,based on the appropriate level
of burnout and what people need.
We need some immediate reliefmeasures.
So what are we going to do tomake the load lighter right now?
We need our support mechanismsin place.
What is your burnout responseteam?
(25:32):
Or your local counselor orcoach that will come in and
support someone?
And then you need to implementyour communication plan,
especially thinking about yourstudents.
If you're at college, thinkingabout parents also, no matter
what level of education you are.
Well, why did the professorchange mid-semester?
(25:53):
Or, you know, why is somebodyelse teaching this class?
Why is there a TA here whenthere was a teacher?
So you need to think about thequestions that people are going
to ask and you need tothoughtfully plan what you're
going to say while protectingthe privacy of the educator
who's walking through burnout.
It's one thing to try to goheal.
(26:14):
It's another thing to worryabout what people are going to
think when you get back.
So do your very best to supportand cover folks so that you can
welcome them back when they areready, when the time is
appropriate to come back,without the pressure of worrying
about what everybody thinks andthat they're aware of what I've
(26:35):
been through.
Yeah, friend, we're going tokeep walking through this.
We got two more phases right.
So we've already discussedprevention and what you need to
do.
We had a discussion aboutpreparedness and how important
it is to prepare, and today wediscussed response, immediate
action, immediate action.
(26:57):
Next week we're going to talkabout recovery and what recovery
looks like concerning burnout,and then, finally, we'll talk
about mitigation right, and howto use the lessons learned to
improve our processes andhopefully prevent even further.
Yeah, listen, friend, we don'thave to keep.
(27:18):
We don't have to keepstruggling concerning what to do
about burnout.
We don't have to keepstruggling concerning what to do
about burnout.
We don't have to keep guessing,we don't have to keep trying
the same things over and overand over that have never worked,
but it's time for us to make acomprehensive plan for how we're
going to take care of ourpeople, because we know burnout
(27:40):
is real and we know that it'samong us.
We know burnout is real and weknow that it's among us and
again, it's no time to have aconference call or an email
chain.
Response means take actionright now, and we need to be
ready to take that action.
All right, as always, you arepowerful, you are significant
(28:00):
and you are loved.
You can do this, you'reequipped for this, you do it all
the time.
We're just applying it to adifferent context.
I got your back, friend.
I'll keep sharing with you andyou're going to do the work.
All right, love always.
Ppj Bye, thank you.
If the alarm goes off , we're not going to call a
meeting and everybody go to theconference room to talk about is
this a real threat?
Can we stay in the room or dowe leave?
If the fire alarm goes off, ourplan is activated and people do
what they know they're supposedto do to keep themselves and
(00:23):
each other safe, know they'resupposed to do to keep
themselves and each other safe.
So, immediately when there's afire alarm, people begin to
leave the building and they goto designated areas.
And I don't know about you all,but in our plan we had not only
a designated area for our team,but we had a way to account for
where is everybody?
You know, do we have everybodyhere in our safe space, or were
(00:44):
they working across campus orare they off?
Today we had several things inplace to account for each other.
We understood that when thealarm sounded it was time for
immediate action, not discussion.
When it comes to burnout, whatI'm finding is not only are we
(01:08):
not taking immediate action, but, even worse, sometimes we're
taking no action at all.
It is the inactivity that is sodangerous to our educators
today.
Hey friend, I am Dr PatriceBuckner-Jackson, but you can
(01:29):
call me, pbj.
Welcome back to the DisruptingBurnout podcast, where we are
giving you the strategies forpouring out purpose without
burning out.
Friend, I am ready to jumpright back into our conversation
.
If you've been listening lately, you know that we are walking
(01:49):
through the steps of crisismanagement and creating a
burnout crisis management planfor you and your team, and we're
leaning on the tried and truephases of crisis management,
from the National IncidentManagement System here in
(02:10):
America through the Departmentof Homeland Security.
This is the language, this isthe plan that is used anytime
there's a catastrophic event inany of our cities or areas.
These are the phases that wewalk through and we are using
this framework to build out aburnout crisis plan for your
(02:37):
team, for your school, for yourworkplace.
So in the last couple of weeks,we've discussed two of the
phases.
First is prevention, andprevention is what you want to
do in order to minimize thelikelihood that burnout will
actually happen.
(02:57):
You want to stop burnout beforeit happens and you do
everything you can to preventburnout, like training programs,
like making sure folks areaware of what burnout looks like
and what they can do forthemselves to prevent burnout.
You want to empower your team,but you also want to create a
(03:19):
culture that does not fuelburnout.
So you begin to make somechanges in the way that you
approach your work so that youdon't put your folks at higher
risk of burnout.
So that's prevention right.
And next we discuss preparedness.
So no matter what you do toprevent, it is responsible and
(03:44):
wise to prepare or make sure youhave the capacity to respond to
burnout when it shows up.
So we will do everything thatwe can to prevent burnout and we
recognize, as educatorsespecially, that the risk of
burnout is very high.
(04:05):
So it is our responsibility toprepare ourselves to have the
capacity.
So we need a plan.
We need to have done sometabletop exercises, some drills,
to practice that plan.
We need to communicate to ourfolks that we have a plan.
We need to communicate to ourfolks that we have a plan.
(04:25):
We need to allocate someresources to support in case
burnout shows up.
So prevention is we're tryingto stop it before it happens
Preparedness we are increasingour capacity to deal with it
when it comes.
And today we are discussingresponse.
(04:47):
What are the immediate actionswhen burnout shows up?
What do we do when our folkshave shown, have said that they
are struggling with burnout.
I want to continue with thismetaphor of fire safety because
I think it helps to clarify whatwe need concerning our burnout
(05:12):
crisis plan.
So we're walking through thephases of crisis management
concerning a fire.
In prevention, we make somerules.
You can't have an open flame atwork, you know.
We put some things in placeright.
So in prevention, we're givingeverybody fire safety education
(05:34):
and we want them to understandwhat kinds of things can cause a
fire and to discourage thosethings that can cause a fire.
In preparedness, we equip ourenvironment.
So we have fire alarms, we havesmoke detectors, we have
sprinklers, but we also dodrills.
We do drills so people know howto escape.
(05:57):
I've noticed in hotels andother buildings there are
placards on the wall that showyou this is where you are and
this is where the neareststairwell is if you need to get
out of this building in case ofemergency.
So all of that is preparedness.
Right, we are increasing ourcapacity, but we're also
(06:18):
increasing the likelihood thatwe can be safe even in the midst
of the crisis.
So we're not pretending that afire cannot happen.
Just because you've done thefire safety does not mean you
are absolved from having thepreparedness measures, right
(06:40):
From having the alarms and thesprinklers and the automatic
communication to the firedepartment, and to do the drills
so that people know what to dowhen we are considering fire
safety.
If the alarm goes off, we'renot going to call a meeting and
everybody go to the conferenceroom to talk about is this a
(07:03):
real threat?
Can we stay in the room or dowe leave?
If the fire alarm goes off, ourplan is activated and people do
what they know they're supposedto do to keep themselves and
each other safe.
So, immediately when there's afire alarm, people begin to
leave the building and they goto designated areas.
(07:26):
And I don't know about you all,but in our plan we had not only
a designated area for our team,but we had a way to account for
where is everybody.
You know, do we have everybodyhere in our safe space, or were
they working across campus orare they off?
Today we had several things inplace to account for each other.
(07:47):
We understood that when thealarm sounded, it was time for
immediate action, not discussion.
When it comes to burnout, whatI'm finding is not only are we
not taking immediate action, but, even worse, sometimes we're
(08:08):
taking no action at all, it isthe inactivity that is so
dangerous to our educators today.
So I want you to put burnout inthe same category that you put
fire safety.
When the alarm sounds, we'renot talking about it, we're not
(08:32):
thinking about it, we're nothaving meetings about it, we're
not sending emails, messagesabout it.
We take immediate action toprotect ourselves and protect
the people around us, and thatis the same thing we need to do
in the response phase concerningburnout.
Response means immediate action, it means activation, it means
(08:57):
addressing the issue, and ourgoal is to minimize, first of
all, to halt the threat andminimize the long-term impacts
of the crisis of burnout, andthere are four steps that we
need to take when we get to theresponse phase.
(09:21):
So, pbj, I can't stop.
I don't have time to stop.
If I stop, all of this fallsapart.
We're short-staffed.
I don't have anybody that cantake my place at work.
I don't have support at home orat work to stop.
Friends, if any of thesethoughts come to mind when you
(09:42):
think about taking a break, youare the person who needs to stop
the most.
I want to offer you our stopplan Simple.
I want you to use the samestrategies and wisdom and skills
that you use at work, and I'mgoing to guide you to using
(10:02):
those strategies to plan microbreaks.
I'm not talking about a month'ssabbatical, but can you
incorporate micro breaks intoyour life as a regular rhythm of
rest so that while you areserving, while you are giving,
you can have moments of revival,so that you can live the life
(10:25):
you're living sustainably?
Friend, you need to grab thisstop plan.
Make sure to click the link inthe show notes or wherever
you're watching or listening tothis, so that you can get what
you need right now.
It can't wait.
I know you do a wonderful job,but people don't know what it
(10:46):
costs you to be you, and youknow what the cost has been.
It's time to stop.
Grab the plan today.
So, in prevention, you're tryingto stop burnout before it
happens.
In preparedness, you are awareof the high likelihood and you
(11:06):
want to be prepared just in caseit shows up.
And response is here.
In response, we are clearlyaware that there is burnout in
the team and you need to takesome immediate actions.
So the first action you need totake when burnout shows up is
(11:27):
activation of your tieredresponse.
Now let me tell you what I mean,if you've ever been in one of
my workshops, you know that Italk you through the phases of
burning out.
Right, because burnout is notan incident, it's a progression.
You may have an incident as aresult of burnout, but you've
(11:49):
probably been burning out foryears and one of the biggest
challenges is we don't stop andpay attention to the signs and
symptoms of the phases, right?
So we have three phases ofburning out.
The first phase is surviving.
You know the load is heavy, youknow you're exhausted, you know
(12:10):
there's a lot going on, but youdon't know what to do.
So you just keep going.
It's fine, I got it, it's fine.
It's fine, it's fine, right,you know that the impacts are
already happening, but you canhandle it.
You know things aren't fallingapart.
Next, necessarily, they may befalling off the plate, but
they're not falling apart.
So you just keep going.
(12:31):
And in this phase is when youmay notice that somebody's work
product is just a little bitdifferent, or you may notice
that the way that they presentin their personality and their
characteristics, in their mood,may be just a little bit
different, but they're gettingthe work done and there are no
major disruptions to the flow ofwork or to the outcome.
(12:52):
So we just keep going.
That's surviving.
If you don't do somethingdifferent in surviving, then you
move to overwhelm.
In overwhelm, the water levelof your life is rising and you
are fighting to keep your headabove water.
So we're in surviving.
Folks wear their professionalmask very well and overwhelm
starts to tell on them.
(13:13):
So maybe there's a high levelof absenteeism now because they
just don't know what else to do.
Or maybe there are majordeadlines that are missed or
major projects that are notexecuted well because they just
no longer have the capacity towork well, to teach well, to
(13:33):
show up as well as they normallywould, because they're feeling
overwhelmed.
For the individual in overwhelm, your nervous system is
starting to really respond andtry to get your attention and
let you know you've had enoughand it's not working.
For the workplace, you noticeoverwhelm because there's a
(13:55):
marked difference in the way thework and the product and the
outcomes of this person comparedto what they normally, what
they normally provide Right.
So you've got surviving, whichis that first phase of burning
out.
Then you move to overwhelm andsome people can stay in
overwhelm for a very long time,but you those the signs and
(14:18):
symptoms are more evident andoverwhelmed and then, finally,
you move to the phase I callburnout, and in burnout it is
the involuntary, automaticshutdown.
Something breaks.
It is the most critical level.
I review these levels with youbecause I need you to understand
that your activation shouldalign with the appropriate level
(14:40):
.
As I travel and I share theseideas, these strategies, and I
have an opportunity to talk tofolks what I'm hearing is there
are people in many differentphases of burning out.
In your workplace.
I talk to some people and say,man, I wish I had you 20 years
ago.
(15:00):
I'm good now, like I'm okay now, but I really wish I had heard
this 20 years ago.
Or I speak to some people whosay, oh, you got me on that
surviving.
I'm not overwhelmed yet, butI'm on the roller coaster, pbj,
I can feel it.
I know there's a lot ofpressure.
I don't know what to do with it, but I'm carrying a lot.
(15:21):
Other people are clearly inoverwhelm, where they feel like
they're drowning.
They feel like they're drowningand they're recognizing the
tales, the symptoms from theirnervous system.
And then there are others whoare in full blown burnout and
often all those folks can do iscry.
They can't even oftenarticulate to me.
(15:42):
They just come and say I'm justglad somebody can see me, I'm
glad somebody understands.
So I share that with you.
To let you know that all ofyour people are not in the same
place.
So your activation should beappropriate to what level they
are on.
A person who is in survivingdoes not need as much
(16:04):
intervention as a person who isin full-blown burnout.
A person who is in surviving,maybe they can use a little work
adjustment or maybe a longweekend or a little more time
off or an adjustment in theschedule, and they would be okay
.
A person who is in overwhelmwill need a little bit more
(16:25):
intervention.
Maybe they need a peer whounderstands the phases of
burning out.
Maybe that person has beentrained or certified in some way
and they can talk to them,support them, meet with them,
help them think through maybe acoach not just what their
workload is but what their lifeload is.
A person who's in full blownburnout probably needs some
(16:46):
significant time off and theyneed some significant healing.
But your people are not in thesame phases, so your activation
should be aligned with the levelof burnout that your folks are
experiencing, right.
So make sure that we are notusing the full fire hose to put
(17:09):
out a little candle fire when wehave the fire extinguisher
right beside us.
Ok, so we're going to stickwith this fire thing, because I
think we can get that when weneed to apply it to burnout.
So use an appropriateactivation according to the
level that the person is at.
Let's talk about some immediaterelief measures.
(17:32):
Response calls for immediaterelief measures, so I've already
identified some of those thatare appropriate to each level,
but the important thing is weneed to have these relief
measures in place.
That's what preparedness is for.
In the second phase, calledpreparedness, we should be
(17:54):
implementing, setting asideputting some relief measures in
place, so when it's time and webecome aware of the level of
burnout, we're ready to respond.
We need immediate reliefmeasures.
What can you take off of theplate?
What can you adjust, what canyou remove so that the person
(18:18):
can begin to experience relief?
When you think about immediaterelief measures, I want you to
think about what can you doright now to support Not next
semester, not.
Please.
Get through exams and thenwe'll help you.
But what are the immediate waysthat you can reduce the
(18:39):
workload?
What are the immediate waysthat you can do some temporary
reassignments.
What stress can you removeright away?
What can you change right awayto support the person who is
facing burnout and again,considering what level they're
(19:01):
at?
But there's always anopportunity to adjust or remove
some stress.
The next thing you need to dois activate support Now here,
friend, I'm not talking aboutgiving somebody a phone number
and say please give them a call.
I know when it comes to mystudents.
I wouldn't just say, friend,I'm not talking about giving
somebody a phone number and sayplease give them a call.
I know when it comes to mystudents I wouldn't just say,
(19:21):
hey, you should try counseling.
I would say, if you're open toit, I'll walk you over there
right now.
Can I walk you to counselingright now?
As a matter of fact, ourcounseling center at one
institution that I worked at,they had a person, a counselor,
that was assigned to walk-insall day long.
(19:42):
So and they rotated who wasassigned to walk-ins.
So every day there werecounselors who had set scheduled
meetings and there was at leastone that was open to walk-ins
all day long.
So when we were meeting withthat student who was food
insecure or struggling withhomelessness or whatever the
(20:05):
trauma may be.
If we could encourage thatstudent to go to counseling, we
wouldn't say here's their phonenumber, make an appointment.
We would say come on, let's go,I'll walk you over there, I'll
introduce you to the folks andwe'll get you started right,
because at the moment the personsays yes, it's the most
impactful time to get themsupport.
(20:26):
So when we talk about offeringsupport with response to burnout
, don't just hand somebody aphone number, don't just say,
hey, we have great resourcesthrough HR.
You should check them out.
But who is going to directlyconnect them to the community
resource?
The counselor in the community,or even the person, the peer on
(20:49):
your campus that has beentrained for burnout response?
This is one of the things thatI'm developing now and that I'm
so excited about.
I want to come to your campusesand train folks to be your
burnout response team and whensomeone, when the process is
(21:09):
activated, when the alarms aregoing off and we become aware
that someone is identified inthe phases of burnout,
particularly in overwhelmingburnout, we have a response team
of folks who have been trainedand prepared to connect with
that person, to support them, tohelp them get connected to
(21:30):
other resources, to walk themthrough processes that we have
available on our campuses.
So immediate support isnecessary and not a let's talk
about it next week in yourone-on-one or let's get through
this semester and then we'lladdress it.
But immediate means right now.
Response means right now.
(21:51):
So what support mechanisms doyou have in place that you can
directly connect someone to sothat they can get the help that
they need?
And finally, in response, youneed communication management.
Now, friend who listen, theworld of education is a small
world.
Everybody knows everybody andoften everybody knows
(22:17):
everybody's business and this isone of the primary reasons why
people don't raise their handand say I need help.
This is one of the primaryreasons why people hesitate to
identify themselves as someonewho needs support, because they
are worried and concerned aboutthe impact of everybody knowing
(22:40):
their business.
So, ahead of time, we need tohave communication protocols in
place and preparedness so, inresponse, we can implement those
communication protocols.
Because, as we are adjustingworkloads, as we are giving
(23:01):
folks some time off, as we'redoing whatever we need to do to
support the person who's burningout or burnt out, it also
impacts other people and theywill have questions and they
want to know why and it mightlook like somebody is getting
favoritism.
So get ahead of it.
Get ahead of it in ourcommunication.
Don't wait until the moment.
(23:22):
Get ahead of it in ourcommunication.
Don't wait until the moment.
Make sure we have somecommunication protocols in place
that says if you or somebodyyou know is dealing with burnout
, here are the steps that weneed you to take.
Here's who you communicate with, here's what you say to them,
and we want you to know thatwe're going to protect your
information.
(23:43):
You say to them and we want youto know that we're going to
protect your information.
People may have some awarenessof change because they may have
to take on some responsibilities, but we will never share your
personal information aboutwhat's going on with you, right?
So have some templates in placethat you use to let people know
that the workload is adjustingor that we're bringing in some
(24:04):
partners to help us have somethings ready to go.
Response is not the time to sitdown and figure out how do we
say this.
That's what you do inpreparedness.
Response is the time toactivate what you've already put
in place.
So this is why the preparednessphase is so important to have
(24:25):
your full crisis plan written,to have your template email
messages written to have yourtemplate responses to questions,
your frequently asked questions, written and ready to go.
So when it's time to forimmediate action, when it's time
for response, when burnoutshows up and it is in your face,
(24:47):
you're not guessing what to do.
Not only have you a writtenplan, not only do you have
written templates, but you havepracticed.
You have done the tabletopexercises, you have done the
drills.
So folks know what to do andhow to do it, friend.
So response means burnout ishere and it's time for immediate
(25:11):
action and we need to activate,based on the appropriate level
of burnout and what people need.
We need some immediate reliefmeasures.
So what are we going to do tomake the load lighter right now?
We need our support mechanismsin place.
What is your burnout responseteam?
(25:32):
Or your local counselor orcoach that will come in and
support someone?
And then you need to implementyour communication plan,
especially thinking about yourstudents.
If you're at college, thinkingabout parents also, no matter
what level of education you are.
Well, why did the professorchange mid-semester?
(25:53):
Or, you know, why is somebodyelse teaching this class?
Why is there a TA here whenthere was a teacher?
So you need to think about thequestions that people are going
to ask and you need tothoughtfully plan what you're
going to say while protectingthe privacy of the educator
who's walking through burnout.
It's one thing to try to goheal.
(26:14):
It's another thing to worryabout what people are going to
think when you get back.
So do your very best to supportand cover folks so that you can
welcome them back when they areready, when the time is
appropriate to come back,without the pressure of worrying
about what everybody thinks andthat they're aware of what I've
(26:35):
been through.
Yeah, friend, we're going tokeep walking through this.
We got two more phases right.
So we've already discussedprevention and what you need to
do.
We had a discussion aboutpreparedness and how important
it is to prepare, and today wediscussed response, immediate
action, immediate action.
(26:57):
Next week we're going to talkabout recovery and what recovery
looks like concerning burnout,and then, finally, we'll talk
about mitigation right, and howto use the lessons learned to
improve our processes andhopefully prevent even further.
Yeah, listen, friend, we don'thave to keep.
(27:18):
We don't have to keepstruggling concerning what to do
about burnout.
We don't have to keepstruggling concerning what to do
about burnout.
We don't have to keep guessing,we don't have to keep trying
the same things over and overand over that have never worked,
but it's time for us to make acomprehensive plan for how we're
going to take care of ourpeople, because we know burnout
(27:40):
is real and we know that it'samong us.
We know burnout is real and weknow that it's among us and
again, it's no time to have aconference call or an email
chain.
Response means take actionright now, and we need to be
ready to take that action.
All right, as always, you arepowerful, you are significant
(28:00):
and you are loved.
You can do this, you'reequipped for this, you do it all
the time.
We're just applying it to adifferent context.
I got your back, friend.
I'll keep sharing with you andyou're going to do the work.
All right, love always.
Ppj Bye, thank you.
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