Case Study:
Burnout Prevention for a Not-For-Profit Organization with 250 Member Companies
Problem
Background
This not-for-profit organization approached Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. regarding employee workplace burnout. The organization oversees over 250 satellite companies across Canada. Many of their leaders were experiencing burnout resulting in reduced productivity, increased leaves of absence and resignations.
Approach
Consultation
We met with the Executive Director during a free consultation to discuss the organization’s challenges, needs and desired outcomes. He wished to provide burnout prevention training during an annual conference with the following criterion:
Create a psychologically safe environment by opening the conversation about burnout with a high degree of emotional intelligence.
Help leaders understand the potential causes of increased burnout among their members.
Demystify what burnout is and how unmanaged chronic stress contributes to burnout.
Explain factors that create burnout in the workplace.
Clearly outline the stages of burnout so leaders can recognize their burnout risk.
Provide wellness strategies to prevent and overcome workplace burnout.
Facilitate discussion groups to process information and apply it to leaders’ lives.
Services
Workshops
Quarterly Training
Employee Onboarding
Consulting
Executive Coaching
Resources
Professional Assessments
Workbook
Interactive Exercises
Proprietary Resources
Proposal
We created an electronic proposal for the Executive Director to review, explaining the process and deliverables.
Agreement
Next, we sent an Agreement based on the approved proposal in a simple electronic format.
Solution | Stage 1
Customized Workshop
We custom-designed a two-hour workshop based upon the organization’s goals, criteria (noted above) and desired results.
Workshop Inclusions
High-quality, engaging training,
Breakout sessions designed for processing and concept implementation,
Professionally designed PowerPoint presentation,
Proprietary Burnout Assessment, with rights to use ongoing across the organization.
Workshop Components
An introduction to burnout.
Why increased burnout rates have emerged among the organization’s leaders based on conversations with the Executive Director and current research.
A personal story of burnout and recovery to model authenticity and create a psychologically safe environment.
Common myths and misconceptions of burnout.
Three components of stress, including circumstantial stressors, intrinsic responses to stressors, and perception of available resources.
Evidence-based factors that create an environment for workplace burnout.
The six stages of burnout, including key components and burnout symptoms associated with each stage.
Wellness strategies related to challenges that typically arise within organizational leaders’ contexts.
Facilitated small-group discussions to process the information and build greater community and collaboration among leaders.
Follow Up
Debrief
We met with the Executive Director two weeks after the workshop to debrief the workshop and evaluate critical outcomes. Due to the positive response to the conference training, we discussed options for continued support.
Solution | Stage 2
Quarterly Training
The Executive Director invited Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. to provide ongoing training modules on a quarterly basis during organizational meetings. Topics included:
Implementing effective rest strategies for work-life balance and rejuvenation.
Managing the stress of witnessing secondary trauma to prevent Compassion Fatigue.
Wellness strategies to prevent languishing and cultivate flourishing.
Solution | Stage 3
Member Workshops
We provided individualized training to several member companies within the organization per their unique challenges. An overview of topics:
Leader Care: Organizational factors that create a thriving culture vs. a burnout culture.
Organizational Development: Equipping leaders to connect the organization’s mission, vision and values to employees’ role descriptions and strategic objectives.
Stress Management: Developing an effective self-care routine and healthy work-life balance to contribute toward employee health.
Solution | Stage 4
Employee Onboarding Training
The Executive Director requested we create a custom-designed workshop for onboarding new employees with the following components:
Strategies to overcome specific challenges faced by leaders within their organizational contexts.
Healthy management strategies for round-the-clock on-call duties.
Stress management exercises to deal with stressful workplace scenarios.
Support systems to prevent workplace stress and reduce burnout.
Solution | Stage 5
Executive Coaching & Consulting
We continued working with individual leaders to address burnout and organizational culture challenges through one-on-one executive coaching and consulting.