Dealing with burnout as a nonprofit leader
Coaching Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) nonprofit leaders will always be my first love.
Although Bonsai Leadership Group has grown to provide racially diverse executive recruitment and organizational culture change consulting, I have a deep passion for one-to-one coaching – especially coaching Black women. Time and time again, the women I coach express the signs of burnout, which I recognize, because I’ve experienced them myself.
Why burnout is becoming more common in all industries
Black women are constantly asked to overdeliver and be perfect while doing it. The scarcity, urgency, and power hoarding embedded in American work culture leads us to burnout and stagnation. The nonprofit sector is no exception.
Why burnout impacts nonprofit teams
We enter the nonprofit world to do good, feel fulfilled, and make an impact. A particular contributor to burnout in the nonprofit sector is that we receive messages to put “mission over everything.” These messages come from society, leadership, and even ourselves, pushing us to work longer, harder, faster. We equate our worth with how well we’re performing at work.
Combine those pressures with the nonprofit industrial complex, racism, microaggressions, family responsibilities, mental health challenges, and compounding collective traumas, and you can easily see how nonprofit burnout manifests.
The goal is to find success and fulfillment in our jobs while contributing to a larger mission, but not at the detriment of our personal health and well-being. What’s best for the leader is what’s also best for the organization.
And the thing is, it’s not doing the nonprofit organization any favors for an unhappy, burnt-out person to be there. One-to-one coaching won’t fix the entire system, but if I can deeply impact one woman at a time, then I’m here for it!
Seeing burnout in yourself
Let’s rewind to the end of 2021. I had recently resigned from my job as a C-Suite nonprofit executive. I was burned out.
I knew it was time to work hard for me, and those in the position I had once been in. I began building Bonsai Leadership Group to reimagine nonprofit workplaces that work for everyone. I had experienced nonprofit executive director burnout, which I now know was impacting my life in many different ways.
Burnout can manifest itself in many ways. If you’re experiencing burnout, you may be completely aware of it. In other cases, workers only identify their symptoms of burnout after a significant life event, like leaving a job.
Emotional exhaustion: Feeling drained, overwhelmed, and lacking energy or motivation
Depersonalization: Developing negative or cynical attitudes towards the population you serve, your team members, or the organization
Reduced effectiveness: Feeling ineffective in your work, struggling to meet goals and objectives, and experiencing a decrease in productivity
Physical symptoms: Experiencing fatigue, irritation, headaches, sleep disturbances, and changes in appetite
Decreased job satisfaction: Feeling unfulfilled and disengaged from your work and organizational mission
Decreased commitment: Feeling a decrease in loyalty to your team and dedication to the issues you once found meaningful
Loss of purpose: Feeling that the work you do is no longer meaningful or making a positive impact on your target community
Identifying nonprofit burnout in your team
Top talent is hard to find and retain. The turnover rate for nonprofit leaders is 19% according to SHRM.
I bet that number is significantly higher for Black women nonprofit leaders. Yet, the field keeps losing talented key executives from lack of advancement and burnout, particularly for those at the executive director level.
As a nonprofit leader, it’s important to establish trust and open communication so that your team members can come to you when they experience burnout, or feel comfortable expressing feelings of dissatisfaction when you approach them about burnout.
Recognizing burnout in a team member can be challenging, given American notions of productivity and professionalism, but here are some common signs.
Increased absenteeism: Taking more time off than usual or without clear communication
Decline in productivity: A stark decrease in work quality or output
Negative attitude: Displaying negative or cynical attitudes towards work, coworkers, or the organization
Decreased engagement: Being less engaged in work, less committed to the organization's mission, and less enthusiastic about their responsibilities that they once found engaging
Avoidance of work: Sidestepping work responsibilities, missing meetings, or delaying communications
Increased errors: Producing less accurate work in sharp comparison to their usual work quality
If you recognize these signs in a team member, it's important to approach the person with empathy and understanding. Encourage taking time off, seeking support, and prioritizing physical and mental health. By addressing burnout in your team, you can promote a healthier and more productive work environment, which ultimately leads to less turnover and higher satisfaction within your team.
How to prevent burnout in the future
As a nonprofit worker, you may experience burnout due to the demanding and emotionally taxing nature of your work. Even nonprofit CEO burnout happens, meaning it is pervasive across every level of organizations and does not discriminate.
Prioritize self-care: Schedule time for activities that bring you joy and help you relax, such as exercise, or spending time with loved ones.
Seek out professional development opportunities: Seek out ways to learn new skills and techniques that can help you address stagnation, like career coaching, conferences, affinity groups.
Set boundaries: Decline additional responsibilities and make a plan to clearly communicate your boundaries to your team.
Seek support: Reach out to trusted coworkers, friends, family, or a therapist for support and to talk about your experiences.
Take breaks: Regularly schedule time off, even if it's just for a few hours, to recharge.
Practice mindfulness: Listen meaningfully to your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations to help manage stress.
Find meaning in your work: Reframe your perspective and focus on the positive impact you are making in your community.
Delegate: Delegating tasks to others can help reduce your workload and promote a sense of teamwork.
Get enough sleep: Prioritize sleep and establish a consistent sleep schedule to promote well-being.
Consider a change: If burnout persists, consider seeking a new job or making a change in your work environment that better aligns with your values, goals, and desires.
Sometimes, it takes a leader leaving for the organization to begin looking inward. They start to ask themselves hard questions and start the hard work of cultivating an inclusive culture where everybody can belong.
That’s the work we all need to be doing. The old “hustle and grind” and “mission over everything” mentality is no longer sustainable for the new workforce and clearly leads to nonprofit burnout.
Don’t let burnout stop you from achieving the career goals you want to make happen. Let’s make a plan to move forward together.