Overcoming Burnout
MCBB4
Burnout is a debilitating condition that affects millions of people in a more or less severe way. In 2019, the WHO defined burnout as the great epidemic of the 21st century and added it to its ICD-11 list, i.e. its official list of diseases. The American Psychological Association estimates that over 500 billion dollars are drained from the US economy due to workplace stress and 550 million work days are lost each year because of it.
In the Netherlands, the cost of absenteeism associated with stress at work alone reached €3.1 billion per year (2018). In 2019, more than 1.5 billion euros were paid out by the Belgian state in long-term disability benefits due to depression or burn-out. Burn-out and depression account for a quarter (24.14%) of long-term incapacity for employees and 17.23% of long-term incapacity for the self-employed.
As a Harvard Business Review article stated “burnout is about your workplace, not your people”. Indeed, this condition of frailty that affects so many people and has such a negative impact on the productivity of organisations cannot be solved simply by helping the individuals who suffer from it in a more or less mild way, but by intervening in the environmental factors that are behind it.
That’s why the way we approach the problem of work-related stress doesn’t just focus on strategies to overcome it in individual terms: we look within the organisation for the problems that can cause it and put forward strategies to solve them.
Among the different topics in our programme we pay particular attention to the following:
The Facilitators
Noor van Oosterhout
Noor heeft Economie gestudeerd aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, waarna ze jaren in het corporate bedrijfsleven heeft gewerkt. Ze heeft verschillende rollen gehad, zowel als manager maar ook als expert op het gebied van leiderschap, teamdynamiek en persoonlijke ontwikkeling.
Caroline Schippers
Caroline volgde een opleiding voor de uitgeverij en werkte bij internationale uitgeverijen in verschillende functies.
Op haar 28ste volgde zij een professionele acteeropleiding waarna ze een carrièreswitch maakte; inmiddels heeft zij vele jaren ervaring als life en team coach op management en directieniveau.
Eleanor Abbot
Na haar opleiding tot verpleegster heeft Eleanor 20 jaar ervaring opgedaan in projectmanagement, voornamelijk in de banksector. Als gezondheidscoach en trainer is zij gespecialiseerd in burn-out. Eleanor vice-voorzitter van de Vlaamse Vereniging van Gezondheidscoaches.
This is the team in charge of developing the content of this programme. Caroline (NL) and Eleanor (BE) are the coordinators and will be your contact points for customising the modules, delivery format and setting the workload. Please press the button below for any questions you may have.
The way we work
Individuals in their context
We focus on organisations and people in the framework of their careers. We follow a holistic approach, bring together state-of-the-art management knowledge with behaviour, perceptions and emotions. No lasting result will be achieved otherwise.
Understand uniqueness
While there are common patterns in the way individuals and businesses operate, no change process can work without taking into account what sets them apart. That’s why we tailor our programmes to each client’s context beforehand.
No genies in the bottle
We don’t believe in the coach who has answers for everything. Our programmes are crafted by a team of people from different areas, experiences and sensibilities.
Full flexibility
Most of our programmes can be delivered in a variety of formats: online, on-site and hybrid. They are available for individuals or teams. Content and duration can also be adjusted as needed.
Immersive learning
We want to unleash the learner’s ability to 100% engage in challenges that put him in a world where things happen and have consequences. Gamification, real-time interactions, dynamic self-assessment are some of the tools we use.
Delivery
The way we deliver our programmes is tailored to each client’s request: individually, for a specific team or for those responsible for the organisation, covering different areas. A mixed scheme is also possible, where part is group-centred and part person-centred. The contents are adjusted accordingly.
About LfA
We are committed to ensuring that our assessment, training and consultancy services have a tangible and lasting effect on the transformation of people and organisations. We put the real-life interaction between these two parties at the centre of our work.
Acquiring new concepts and ideas or understanding personal context is only the beginning of the journey. The most important thing is that this first step can lead to an effective action for change, both individually and in the group. At the end of the whole process, automatisms should be created so that each individual is able to lead others, or at least bring into play a positive influence for their team.
Our method focuses on the most critical and energy-consuming part: applying what has been learned to everyday reality in a systematic way, avoiding a return to old practices. Our aim is to increase each individual’s performance and levels of achievement and satisfaction.
If people are not able to properly use on the shop floor or in the office the tools and procedures to effectively perform their role, they will not be able to avoid burnout and loss of focus. Everything they have learned will have been useless.
The three-step approach
In the most critical phase of Execution, together with the client’s team, we define goals to be achieved and monitor their execution. In case of deviations, we suggest corrective measures. Therefore, after the advisory and training phase, we do not leave our clients to their own devices: we try to support their progress and help them to establish the necessary procedures to evaluate their performance in an informed and critical manner.
Our commitment on achieving practical results from our work is reflected in this service that we provide free of charge to our business clients: a 6-month period in which we help them define and monitor their OKRs*.
- This offer is only available in selected programmes. Contact us for more information.
Topics overview
1 Timely signalling of stressors. Burnout can be prevented and even stopped if one understands the signs that generate it. Personal and environmental factors that can lead to its appearance.
2 Dealing with the Power. Raising motivation and engagement with the team as far as possible, without losing sight of one’s own limits. Management of personal emotions and beliefs. Assertive communication.
3 Building resilience. Developing a positive outlook. Increasing the ability to deal with change and the unexpected. Engage in supportive sharing with co-workers. The 4P method. The importance of the lifestyle factor.
4 Improving the workplace. Not all stressors that arise in the workplace depend only on your organisation or your team. There are things you can do for yourself to reduce the likelihood of creating burnout situations. We will look in this topic at some of the strategies and steps you can take.
5 The organisation. Burnout is an individual condition that is generated or at the very least amplified by the organisation in which the worker is embedded. Thus, in this topic we address what the company or service should do to prevent it from appearing or increasing. We focus among others on the topic of leadership, information access and management, planning, team building, fair and transparent evaluation of employees and the importance of MBWA.
6 Healing and preventing. In this section we will look in detail at measures that help treat and prevent burnout: the healthy habits to develop, interaction between work and personal life, relaxation techniques such as mindfulness and JPMR.
Target audience
The process*
- The above outline refers to the extended version of the programme. It does not apply to the compact version, if available.