E11 Burnout Decoded: Strategies for Individuals and Organizations to Understand it, Prevent it, and Overcome It

Host: Christopher L. Camp, M.D., Creator & Guide | Mayo Clinic Human Optimization Project

Guest: Colin West, M.D, Ph.D., Medical Director of Employee Well-Being | Mayo Clinic – Rochester, MN

This week, we are focusing on a topic that many don’t like to discuss, but we all need to understand better. You may have experienced it firsthand, and it has major implications for all of us at home and in the workplace. The topic is Burnout. Even though we all hear about it regularly, there is still a lot of confusion about what it is, how to spot it, how to prevent it, and how to overcome it. To help us sort through these issues, we have one of the world’s foremost experts on burnout joining us this week, Dr. Colin West.

Dr. West is the Director of the Program on Physician Well-Being at Mayo Clinic, and here are the three big questions we have for him on this session:

1. What is burnout and how is it different from stress or general exhaustion?
2. What are the personal and organizational consequences of burnout?
3. What are the steps we can take to prevent it and recover from it?

 

How to start a Mayo Clinic Human Optimization Project “Pod-Club”:
Step 1: Find 2-30 friends who want to get better
Step 2: Choose your episodes (can be focused on specific themes or random)
Step 3: Listen to/watch the episodes
Step 4: Meet with your group to work through the provided discussion questions in the PDF for each episode, and feel free to add your own!
Step 5: Celebrate the fact that you are turning passive knowledge into action!

 

Discussion Questions for this Episode:

1. Dr. West discusses three components of burnout: 1) emotional exhaustion, 2) depersonalization, and 3) a reduced sense of personal accomplishment. Define these with your group. Then, discuss which of these three components resonates most with your own experiences or observations in the workplace? 
2. As discussed in this episode, burnout is a systemic problem, not an individual failing. Is this perspective different or similar to what you knew about burnout before listening? How much responsibility to you place on systemic issues vs. Individual responsibilities? 
3. Dr. West discusses early warning signs of burnout, such as feeling detached, treating colleagues or clients as objects, or losing sight of the meaning in your work. Have you noticed any of these subtle signs in yourself or others? How might you mitigate them? 
4. Burnout is not a medical diagnosis but a "normal human response to workplace stress." How might reframing burnout in this way reduce stigma and encourage more open discussion and proactive solutions on your team or in your department? 
5. Dr. West suggests that burnout, while negative, can lead to growth if processed adaptively, using the phrase "don't let it win twice." Can you recall a challenging work experience that, in retrospect, taught you valuable lessons or led to positive changes? 

6. The call to action asks listeners to assess six categories (workload, connection, control, rewards, values alignment, respect/fairness) and identify one worsening their stress. Which category would you choose? What is one small, actionable step you could take to positively impact it? 
7. Dr. West stresses the importance of connection and gratitude as individual solutions. How do you intentionally build community and express genuine appreciation? Share with your pod club and then identify an additional approach to try shared by someone else. 

 

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Email: optimize@mayo.edu