In this episode Dr Mike Drayton looks at the area of “burn-out” and the risk to the mental health of those working in high-pressure industries such as the legal sector.  Mike begins to defining what “burn-out” is, and what the impact can be, both on individuals and their organisations.  How does one notice it, and when it is most likely to impact us?

Mike then goes on to discuss some strategies which individuals can employ to mitigate the risk of feeling “burn-out”, and also talks about the team environment which leaders of organisations need to create to minimise the risk of people working for them being impacted by “burn-out”, in particular the need for creating “psychological safety” in teams. 

With Mike, we discuss the obstacles and challenges to creating such safe working environments, in particular because of the pandemic and the shift to remote working, and with the likely future pattern of work being a “hybrid” model where we are often remote from colleagues.

Actions for listeners:

·      What strategies could you use from the podcast to reduce any symptoms of “burn-out” you are noticing, either in yourself or others? 

·      How could you set “boundaries” around your work?

·      Remember and note down your “purpose”: why did you embark on the career you did, and how can you reconnect with this sense of meaning in your daily activities?

Useful Resources: 

·      “Anti-Burnout” Drayton, M. (2021). Anti-burnout: How to Create a Psychologically Safe and High-performance Organisation: Routledge.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anti-burnout-Create-Psychologically-High-performance-Organisation-ebook/dp/B08PKNC9K9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1645534139&sr=8-1

·      Burnout and remote working: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/burnout-and-remote-working.    

·      Cal Newport’s “Deep work”: https://medium.com/@nina.semczuk/5-practices-from-deep-work-by-cal-newport-thatll-change-your-life-303847ec5f3c  

·      Healthy organisations post-Covid: Drayton, M., & Kuster, M. (2021). Healthy organizations post Covid 19 need a sense of coherence. Occupational Medicine . https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqab106

Leading under pressure: https://www.epcresilience.com/insight/documents-and-videos/blog/leading-under-pressure