Sean Hall is no stranger to burnout. He has sizzled into a heap twice across his professional career. It is for this reason he founded Energx, an organisation that specialises in burnout risk identification and prevention.
‘It’s a very topical subject: burnout and wellness. This year it was officially recognised as a workplace syndrome,’ he told audiences at the recent Communicating the Arts Conference.
Tina Walsberger is also familiar with burnout, driven to work a festival timetable. She made the point that, ‘if you work 19 hours straight it is the same as having a 0.1 blood alcohol level – double the maximum – so effectively you are drunk.’
‘We need to learn how to move from time management to energy management, Walsberger continued.
Walsberger is the Marketing and Communications Director for Edinburgh International Festival.
Redefining Fuel, Fire, Feeling and Focus
Sean Hall’s philosophy to combat burnout rests in understanding the ‘four Fs’ – Fuel, Fire, Feeling and Focus.
Hall’s first career was in fitness, so he is well versed in the physical side of wellbeing. ‘We can be across fitness, but I didn’t know how the other decisions I was making were depleting me into burnout.’
‘The reason I call what happened to me an energy crisis – was because when I went looking for resources to help me, it was all geared towards men’s mental health that focused on the extremes – depression, anxiety, suicide, addiction. I didn’t have any of those things. I just had no gas left in my tank,’ said Hall.Walsberger noted that some of the tell-tale signs were not sleeping well, being hungrier or lacking an appetite, not looking as good, prone to catching a cold, and being less focused.
‘It is about learning how to recognise, and recharge,’ continued Hall.
Energx offers a free ROI (return on investment) calculator on its website. ‘If you need to make the point to your bosses, it offers a real financial application. You have to learn to talk like the CFO, and it is not always a natural thing,’ he added.
In the workplace, investment in resources is both physical and material, and each has a fiscal outcome at the end of the day. If your team is burnt out, it is not delivering to its potential.
‘So even just one week of only having six hours a night sleep, the impact suppresses your functionality. There is a huge correlation now between sleep deprivation and cancer, as well as cardiovascular disease and stress levels,’ said Hall.
While the traditional remedy has been to reach towards fitness and nutrition for an outlet, Hall says the solution really starts with sleep and water. ‘That is where wellbeing starts.’
Walsberger agreed. ‘When we talk about fuel and fatigue the most common talk is usually about what we eat, and how much we exercise. It is the stuff we know, but we don’t always do it.’
‘When I work a 90-hour festival week, the one thing I refuse to give up is exercise. I will even be checking my emails on a spin bike. These are the things we have most control over, so we hold on to them. But it is recognising that it so much more than that,’ she continued.
Alcohol can also be a contributing factor, and with many working in the arts required to attend evening events, this creates its own fuel for burnout.
‘We think alcohol will help us get to sleep but it will actually wakes you up because it dehydrating,’ said Hall.
‘The deep REM part of our sleep is also our most creative part. If we sleep properly, we wake up with solutions, because the brain actively connects the dots, but alcohol stops us going into that REM zone, so that learning wont be embedded.’
Walsberger said that screen time also contributes to burnout. ‘I downloaded a screen time app and discovered I picked up my phone 141 times in one day. Even notifications buzz on my watch.’
Hall cited recent research that found that we scroll the same height as Statue of Liberty each day, some 91 meters. ‘We need to be more mindful of where we are putting our energy – of that mindlessness – and actually being more present to what we are doing,’ he said.
While we can talk about fitness and fuel as contributors, it is also recognising that our own fire – or passion – can bring our burnout downfall.
When Walsberger moved to Edinburgh to take up her post with the Festival she imposed the impossible upon herself – to pack up, find a new place and get married within five weeks.
‘I arrived completely burnt out. Looking back I recognise that it was my fault – completely mine – no one expected that of me. There is a real point underlying the way that you struggle with your energy, and much of that is that you are the one contributing to your burnout,’ said Walsberger.
Read: Why we are burning out in the arts
She advised that we need to ask more regularly, how can I do this differently?
Hall describes it as starting a relationship with yourself. ‘You have to become your own cheerleader, not your critic. A big part is of easing up on yourself, is understanding that our brains are hardwired for the negative.’
One solution for Walsberger was to start a Friday lunch club, and start talking outside actionable points.
Hall reminded us that the dominant narrative around purpose is that we all have to be saving the world. ‘What I encourage people to think about is, what does my world need first? If I am successful in my world, then that allows me to make a conscious decision whether I want to make my world bigger.
The message is why rush it at our own expense. In the arts we are in for the long run.
He warned that while being passionate about what you do is great, it can also be possible to be love your job too much. That is how he burnt out the first time, embracing an opportunity was a ‘once in a lifetime’, something we know well in the arts when jobs and roles are highly competitive.
You lead with fire and you will burnt out. It is about sustaining yourself to sustain that passion for longer.
Sean Hall.
‘Being aware of your qualities and using them as strengths is a big part to self awareness – to help you lead in the areas you want to,’ continued Hall.
Advice for managing energy over time
Hall says that we need to start with that very small word: no. More often we carry assumptions that it is important to them, that we don’t want to disappoint.
‘These are small acts of courage – to say no. And the second way is by asking why? Is it really important that I am part of this? Why are we having this meeting? Can you show me an agenda so I can make an informed decision whether I need to attend. You can say no by being polite and honest.’
‘Often we are sending meeting invites with no agenda; we are asking for people’s valuable time and loyalty without telling them why we need that. Spend a few minutes to respect each other.’
Hall said that another way to avoid burn out is to delegate. He said that we also need to be aware of the ‘energy vampires’, the tasks and people who ‘suck the life out of us’.
Our usual strategy is to placate them, avoid them or even drag another person in there to share the pain. None of those things change that relationship. You can’t change the other person; you can only change yourself. You have to reframe and practice our creative superpower of empathy. If we do that we understand it is not about us. Try something different like getting the person out of the office into a new environment, or walking side-by-side rather than face-to-face can help shift the energy dynamic’ advised Hall.
Hall concluded: ‘Our perspective matters, when we are stressed and depleted even the little things feel a lot bigger than when your tank is full.’
ArtsHub was a media partner with Communicating the Arts Conference.
