Personal empowerment, the opposite of burnout…
While burnout is reported everywhere—including the New York Times, The Lancet, JAMA, Academic Medicine, and numerous AMA modules—solutions to the burnout “epidemic” are harder to come by. Unfortunately, the most common approach sold to organizations and healthcare institutions by outside consultants has been shown to be the least effective (West et al., 2016). Externally-developed, individual-level interventions, e.g. “advocacy training” or “wellness coaching” sessions—may simply add greater burden to overburdened staff. While mindfulness skills are quite useful for many, the irony of “mandatory stress-relief” is rarely lost on any audience.
Instead, the most effective interventions are those in which your team is directly engaged in the process of identifying contributors to burnout and considering both structural and individual-level solutions. Mayo Clinic’s “Listen-Act-Develop” model refers to this as moving their physicians from carpenter to architect in their local work environment (Swensen, Kabcenell, & Shanafelt, 2016). Given that the heart of burnout is a high level of responsibility with limited control, it makes sense that those programs which empower employees throughout the process are the greatest burnout antidote.
Our approach to wellness consultation is always based on a full review of the current structure and experiences of your organization. We carefully involve and survey all relevant stakeholders and work with your team to offer solutions that are not imposed, but chosen. Any organizational change (i.e. modification of work process) or individual-level intervention (i.e. mindfulness sessions, internal mediation) will be uniquely suited to your needs.
If you are interested in learning more or scheduling a free initial consultation, please click the link below.