One way to survive burnout at your current job is to change yourself from within. This does not mean accepting an abusive job situation. It does not mean becoming a victim. It means finding as much good as you can in your job and career and having a personal goal that keeps you motivated during difficult times.
How can you do this? There are several strategies you can use. In this article, we discuss how to avoid burnout if you’re an employee at a mid- or large-sized organization with many workers. In such an environment, it’s your job to get along with those who have authority over you, including the board of directors and your colleagues, with whom you must have a smooth and frictionless working relationship.
In this article, we’ll examine how you can thrive by changing yourself from within, embracing the best parts of your role, setting limits, and staying healthy.
Become an “Organization Person”
To thrive and achieve work/life synergy, you first need to know yourself. This may seem to be a question that’s almost too simple, but have you ever thought deeply about whether you see yourself as a self-employed entrepreneur or as a person who works better in a large group? This is a valid question for nearly any industry. You can be a doctor and have your own practice, which brings its own burnout challenges, or you can work for a big hospital, which brings different burnout challenges. You could be a lawyer in private practice or practice with a big firm. You could be a writer and be self-employed or work for a national media company.
All these situations have the potential for burnout, but in different ways. If you work for an organization, the source of your burnout is likely to be your boss and, to some extent, your co-workers. If you’re self-employed, you’re your own boss, and if you’re burned out, you need only look in the mirror to see who’s responsible!
A key question you need to ask yourself is, “Do I feel happier and more productive in a group or on my own?”
In 1956, author William H. Whyte explored this question in his book The Organization Man, which became a bestseller and one of the most influential books ever written on management.
The book came about when Whyte, while employed by Fortune magazine, did a series of interviews with CEOs of major American corporations such as General Electric and Ford. A central theme of the book was that average Americans were shifting from the prevailing notion of rugged individualism to a collectivist ethic, that people believed that organizations and groups could make better decisions than individuals, and, thus, serving an organization was a better choice than trying to forge an individual path.
Whyte believed this to be incorrect and described how individual work and creativity had produced better outcomes than collectivist processes. This was the age of middle management, when conformity was prized, and the standard uniform of the businessman (women were not part of the equation) was the blue or grey suit, white button-down shirt, and necktie.
You may or may not agree with Whyte’s viewpoint, but his portrait of the Organization Man was interesting. Today, we talk about the Organization Person as someone who thrives within an organization and enjoys the collaboration and team focus that are hallmarks of an effective organization of any type. The Organization Person also enjoys, or at least tolerates, the tribal backstabbing and double-dealing that are a part of most profit-driven organizations. The successful Organization Person is also keenly aware of the most prominent liability of organizations: lack of innovation, embrace of the status quo, and criticism of those who are perceived as nonconformists.
Let’s return to our friend Mary Barra, who is clearly the quintessential Organization Person. She has obviously thrived within the vast beehive of General Motors, whose very name suggests bland conformity, and has found a way to exert her vision for the company across its 167,000 employees. In all of her interviews, she has never once suggested that she disliked working at GM or had considered employment elsewhere.
It helps that she’s a “car gal.” She loves cars, always has, and harbors a deep personal interest in the products made by her company. Her husband drives a Chevy Camaro, their son has a Pontiac Firebird, and the family owns a Hummer. As of 2022, Barra herself was driving a Chevy Bolt EV, which anyone could buy for less than $30,000.
You never know who might thrive within an organization. For example, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple and helped build it into a significant company until 1985, when an internal power struggle with then-CEO John Sculley led to his ouster. At that point, it would have been easy to conclude that the volatile, eccentric Jobs was not an Organization Person and could not function within a company that at that time had 5000 employees.
In 1997, however, Jobs returned to Apple as CEO. The company now had 8400 employees but was on the verge of bankruptcy. He is credited with reviving Apple, and by the time he left for health reasons in 2011, the company had grown to over 60,000 employees and had a market capitalization of $297 billion. Clearly, to accomplish what he did, this unpredictable and demanding innovator had significant strengths as an Organization Person.
He was succeeded by Tim Cook, who in many ways was seen as the opposite of Jobs: introverted, low-key, almost mousy. Most analysts predicted that without the fiery presence of Steve Jobs, the company had seen its best days. Tim Cook, they said, was too weak to take charge of such a cutting-edge technology firm.
Tim Cook proved them wrong and thrived as Apple’s CEO. By 2021, 10 years after the death of Steve Jobs, Apple had grown to 164,000 employees, with a market cap of nearly $3 trillion and $62 billion in free cash — the most of any company.(1)
If you’re burned out at work, it may mean that you don’t see yourself as an Organization Person, at least not with your current employer. But perhaps you could become one. If you do, the most important things to remember are the three rules, which apply to any job, but especially to a job with which you may not be totally in love:
Resist efforts by management to work you like a farm animal. Some companies have no regard for the welfare of their employees. Don’t feel guilty about asserting your rights.
Focus on what you’re doing that pleases you, such as making customers happy. The thing about customers is that they don’t care about the behind-the-scenes drama at your workplace. They pay their money, and they expect good service and quality products. Remember them as you work.
Fly above internal politics. Make no alliances and make no enemies. Commit to doing the job you’re hired to do and give no support to people who are negative or divisive. If you are the target of racist or sexist attacks, only you can decide if you can — or should — ignore them and keep marching forward. You can train yourself to become emotionally detached from practices that have offended you in the past and take an attitude of “I’m just going to float over it, keep a smile on my face, and get on with my life.”
In such a case, succeeding within the challenging environment at work becomes one of the missions of your life. It’s what will give you personal satisfaction in much the same way as shooting under par on the golf course or completing a marathon. Everyone has personal goals, whether it’s ensuring a child goes to college, paying off the mortgage, or bowling a perfect 300 game. Setting goals helps you develop new behaviors, sharpen your focus, and increase your momentum in life. Your goals should be value-based, meaning they’re tied to the overall health and well-being of you, your family, and your community. Goals that are shallow, such as “make more money,” are more difficult to sustain.
Your personal goal could be to navigate your way through the challenging job environment and come out on top. For some people, playing the game of corporate chutes and ladders is enjoyable.
Ask yourself: Do you enjoy working with a team where there’s a hierarchy? This is a situation in which you have a boss who can direct your work, colleagues with whom you must cooperate, and perhaps subordinates who report to you. If you enjoy that, or if you have no choice because of your job options, then you can develop skills that will help you succeed. You can focus on the good parts, rise above the bad parts, and look at your situation with an objective eye.
Reference
Hartmans A. Tim Cook’s rise to the head of Apple. Business Insider. January 13, 2024.
Excerpted from Working Happy! How to Survive Burnout and Find Your Work/Life Synergy in the Healthcare Industry, by Roger Kapoor, MD, MBA (American Association for Physician Leadership, 2024).