Denial Can Be Deadly
I recently lost a good friend. Privileged on several fronts and super-smart, she had meaningful work, close friendships and warm collegial relationships.
But, like many of us, she risked her health by not managing chronic stress symptoms. Her doctors said that likely contributed to her sudden death. I’ve been asking what I might have done to help her. What could her employer have done to reduce her work-related stress?
I also wondered about the high rates of chronic stress in nonprofit workplaces, which leads to burnout.
The recent Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) report State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know, documents the nonprofit burnout epidemic: “Nearly all leaders surveyed — 95 percent — express some level of concern about burnout, and more than a third report that staff burnout has been ‘very much’ a concern to them in the last year.”
The report makes obvious that nonprofit leaders know about burnout -- their own AND their staff's. Yet the problem seems to be getting worse. What makes burnout intractable? And why is there so much apparent denial around it?
The answers to these questions are complex and involve multiple levels. I surely don’t understand it well.
The Roots of Burnout
The social roots of burnout can be traced to the Puritanical and capitalist value on doing vs. being, structural racism, misogyny and discrimination against marginalized groups. Tricia Hersey paints a comprehensive portrait of "grind culture" in Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto. (See a post about the book)
Individual challenges, such as my friend’s, include personal financial pressures, unrealistic job expectations and concerns about others' perceptions. These issues can feel more urgent than our health, so we may look away.
For nonprofit leaders, chronic stress is caused by a multitude of powerful forces --persistent funding pressures, staffing shortages, unruly boards and never-ending job demands are just a few. To put out daily fires, many nonprofit executives ignore signs that stress is building up in themselves and their employees. There’s no time or easy way to deal with it.
But the price of ignoring burnout is steep. It can cause serious health problems (see graphic). And it leads to costly turnover, which creates the staff shortages that perpetuate further burnout, as the CEP report noted.
Facing Burnout Denial
As any recovering addict knows, denial is formidable. James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Just as the causes of burnout -- and denial of it -- are found at the individual, organizational and societal levels, we must find solutions at every level.
Societally, we are each responsible for combatting the inequities that disproportionately harm marginalized groups, both individually and collectively.
Nonprofit leaders can address workplace burnout by first acknowledging their own chronic stress and take steps to reduce it. They must model healthy work habits so their employees know what's expected.
It's also important to ask and listen to how employees are really doing and what solutions they recommend. Then it's up to executives and their boards to marshal the will and resources to alleviate the factors within their control and stop the hemorrhage of burnout-linked turnover. That way, they can focus on their mission.
If we don't take care of our own stress, it may knock us off our feet – something too many of us have been forced to deal with. Next time, I'll share evidence-based strategies to cope with daily stress.