Heavy workloads and deadline pressures are a fact of manager life that can cause burn-out.  

Who doesn’t feel overwhelmed or stretched thin sometimes?  

When relentless work stress pushes you into the sad state we call burn-out, it becomes a serious problem. This not only affects your own performance and well-being, both on the job and off, but also impacts your team and organisation.

Reasons why burn-out isn’t worth it

1. Overcommitting to your work may seem like the path to better job performance, but it’s counterintuitive. Despite your efforts to excel, taking on too much can lead to a decline in your performance. Full-fledged burnout renders you incapable of effective functioning, resulting in missed deadlines and subpar work. In essence, your boss will inevitably take notice.
3. Burnout brings forth anxiety, depression, and anger, making you an intolerable presence. Your friends and family will tire of your sombre attitude, while colleagues struggle to cope with your heightened irritability, likely exacerbated by insufficient sleep. Your dwindling tolerance levels may cause you to snap at others without reason, prompting them to keep their distance. Any remnants of a social life will come to an abrupt halt.

Here are a few tips to help the prevention of burn-out

• Try to get some physical activity each day 
• Wind down for a restful night’s sleep. 
• Eat healthy meals and drink plenty of water
• Try meditation, yoga, or other mindfulness practices for improved relaxation.  

It’s also important for managers to ward off burn-out on your team: 

• Set realistic work limits 
• Boost your team’s sense of control 
• Provide meaningful recognition 
• Insist on time for rest and renewal 

If you are just in need of a recharge with a quick mental break, have a look at Microsoft Viva Insights, available in Microsoft Teams.  

There are many meditation and mindfulness exercises powered by Headspace available that can help reduce stress and boost your focus. Headspace empowers people to balance the need to stay connected and informed with the need to disconnect and recharge.

Headspace meditations and mindfulness exercises

Weekly meeting time for Teams users has more than doubled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Back-to-back meetings increase stress and make it harder to stay engaged and focused. In just a few minutes a day, meditation and mindfulness with Headspace can help you reduce stress and improve focus. 

Starting later this month, Microsoft are bringing a curated set of guided meditations and mindfulness exercises from Headspace to the Viva Insights app to help you start your day grounded, relax your mind before a big presentation, or disconnect from work in the evening. 

For more information about how to prevent burn-out or applications like Viva Insights, contact the Huddler team to book a demo.