Beating job burnout

Managerial motivation can directly reduce employee burnout at work, according to a leadership expert at Lancaster University Management School. Professor Iain Densten, who was appointed director of the Lancaster Leadership Centre late last year after joining from the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, has explored the links between stress at work and what leaders can do to stamp it out. 

In a sample of 480 senior managers from an Australian law enforcement organisation Professor Densten found that leaders who emphasised standards, views and expectations reduced the central factor of burnout, namely emotional exhaustion or psychological strain. “During burnout, or prolonged stress, people cope by depersonalising those around them,” Professor Densten said. “Burnout tends to make individuals become anti-social and distance themselves from close colleagues who would normally provide support, which places their leader in a key position to assist them.”

This approach had a positive effect on personal accomplishment and reduced depersonalisation, said Professor Densten. “Communicating to staff exactly what is required of them can reduce follower frustration, give them an understanding about how their actions will make a difference, and increase their consciousness about being able to cope with the job demands,” he explained. “Leaders need to position themselves in the role of ‘sense maker or giver’ and effectively empower their staff by inspiring their imagination.”