Building an impactful presence in the office takes a lot of effort. Time, creativity, constant innovation, and research are the foundation for building professional excellence. On top of that, you cannot compromise your deliverables. You make sure things happen accordingly and share big ideas with your boss. After all, everything you do is to remain at the top of the game. The motivation that comes when you achieve your goal motivates you to excel further.
But, sometimes, the same work can become overwhelming and lead to burnout. However, you need to remember that feeling burnt out at work does not make you incapable of doing your job. It does, however, mean you need to talk to your employer about your mental health.
Regular workplace stress can be extremely disheartening and detrimental to your mental health. A healthy work-life balance motivates you to keep pushing forward and excel at your workplace. Feeling crushed, confused, lost, unable to find your way out, completely lost focus, and completely exhausted can signal that you need to take a break. Going further, we will discuss ways to have effective communication with your boss when you feel these emotions
Assess Your Condition Rather than Suffering in Silence
Burnout is a result of a continuous loop of monotony. And it generally happens after prolonged hours of working. When you feel utterly exhausted from work, it is easy to cultivate self-doubt within yourself. But first, think about the reason you work tirelessly at your workplace. Look for why you invest all your time and creativity in your work.
The answer is to feel like you are personally contributing, leveraging your creativity at its best, and connecting with others. You see your efforts transforming into outcomes. These are the reasons you do what you do. If nothing of this sort happens, you cannot sustain it for long.
Although feeling a sense of collapse at the workplace has become all too common, work. Facing exhaustion due to workload, constant tiredness, deteriorating health due to work pressure, blocked mind, and creativity can be detrimental to your mental health.
So, if you are the one who is feeling job burnout, energy depletion or exhaustion, negativism related to your job or increased mental distance from your job, and reduced professional efficacy, do not ignore the condition. Take a step back and observe what is affecting your productivity. Consider talking to someone, preferably a mental health professional. Chronic workplace stress can have severe adverse effects on your competence. You can not help but constantly feel that you are at fault. Therefore, opening up about your situation with your employer can benefit you. Share your concerns with your boss rather than suffer in silence. It is essential to bridge any communication gap to jump back into your rhythm seamlessly. Let’s take a look at how to start a conversation effectively and steer clear of any conflict.
Getting Started
The first step to overcoming your burnout is recognizing that your lack of motivation isn’t just simply feeling frazzled but a bigger problem. Your awareness is the key to accepting that you need help. Ask a trusted friend or colleague to lend you an ear. And if you feel that stress has been growing daily, consider talking to a mental health professional.
It is equally vital that you make your team members at your work aware of your situation to some degree. No one can and should assume a reason behind your distress, as it can be difficult for people to understand any change in your behavior. The most important aspect is to make your superior familiar with your dilemma.
First, you must provide context to help your boss understand your feelings. You must take the right approach and avoid using accusatory tones, words, or phrases. Your concerns can simply sound like complaints. It would help if you had a gentler tone to the conversation rather than diving head first and start listing your problems. They mustn’t feel that you are blaming them.
Make your boss aware of your situation and how it affects your productivity. Tell them how your workload is affecting your productivity. Or if you would like to invest your skills in any other projects. You can get to the root of the problem by addressing some questions and then start the conversation.
The topic of your conversation should include these factors:
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- Your top priorities.
- The most mentally draining aspect of your job
- What’s holding you back from focusing on big projects, and
- The contribution of existing management styles to burnout or personal stress.
Once you are ready to talk, inform your boss that you would want to have a conversation with them. And ask them what time works best for them. Try talking to them during a day when the workload is significantly lower. Convince them for an in-person conversation or a call and avoid communicating over emails or chat.
Think of a Solution
Before you approach your boss to discuss your problem, come up with reasonable solutions. It would be best if you could think of more than one way to resolve your issues beforehand. Prepare yourself for possible outcomes and how you can deal with them. Try coming up with some solutions and what changes in your daily tasks can ease your distress. If you are dealing with a heavy workload, consider what changes you would like to implement.
Do some brainstorming about “what better you want if not this right now?” It might be minimizing working hours, focusing on big-picture projects, or new resources to manage your workload.
Although it might sound like a lot of work, being prepared can help you and your employer to reach a common ground. It can be possible that your ideas and solutions bring a positive change to your company’s culture.
Follow Up
Do remember that you will not fix workplace burnout in a single conversation. So, be patient with yourself and your management. It might happen that it will take you longer to see any possible change in your productivity. The key is to be consistent and maintain healthy communication with your colleagues and your boss. It would help if you kept in mind that your work attitude can also impact your co-workers. So, it is essential to maintain a professional ethic around people. It is also possible that you can see a significant improvement in your efficiency. But burnouts don’t magically disappear overnight. If you are taking some out of work, ensure you are indulging in any work-related activity. Take advantage of that time and focus on healing.
Follow up with your superior to inform them if things are working well. But you don’t have to be eager to jump back into the same rut you wished to get out of. It is favorable for you to share your progress with your boss. They will want to know that you feel revitalized, productive, and supported.
Is your manager not supportive enough?
Well, this is the worst-case scenario. Generally, it matters to a boss if his employee feels crushed or overwhelmed at work. Still, if your boss doesn’t do anything to deal with the problem or doesn’t find it an issue, you should continue advocating for yourself rather than continuing to suffer. Try taking it to the authorities responsible for an employee’s well-being. If it helps, then talk to your HR representative. You must remember that suffering from mental distress doesn’t make you any less worthy of any opportunities.
Do whatever you find best, accessible, and comfortable – seek the help of team members. Tell your boss you cannot handle so much, or take a break from work. However, if you still find your boss least supportive, it is time to search for better opportunities.
Employee burnout is both a standard and a massive problem in various workplaces. There are chances that your manager is familiar with you or your team member managing burnout at the workplace and willing to give a more manageable workload to the team but waiting for someone to approach.
Summing up
Occupational burnout is pervasive. Restoring interest, speed, and balance in your work life might feel like a big no when you feel burnt out at work, but you are not alone in it. Communicating your feelings, mental health issues, stress levels, and emotional exhaustion to your boss are brave and the best way to rejuvenate.