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 Members Only > Group Members > Burnout
Burnout
"The best way to stop being burnt out is to get fired up."
-Grandma Beckwith
Your eyes are glazed, your back is stooped. Your temper is short. You forget to keep your promises like you used to. You're skipping meetings. You end most sentences with "What's the use?" You're getting burnt out.
More and more, those industry people sound like they make a lot more sense than your members. You feel like taking that invitation to join that "Roundtable" even though it's dominated by industry. It's a lot more fun to run around and go to others groups' meetings than your own. You're beginning to see "two sides to the issue." You're getting burnt out.
You scold and abuse people and talk behind people's backs. You criticize the people who come to meetings because of people who didn't ("Gee, this is a really terrible turn-out.") You're getting burnt out.
You ask people to do things and they don't respond. You get promises from people but they're not kept. The meetings you sit through are stupid, boring, and inconclusive. Is everyone else a moron? You're getting burnt out.
You're paralyzed. You cringe when the phone rings. You feel like screaming whenever you hear people talk about your issue. You're thinking about moving to Australia. You're getting burnt out.
Are you normal? Are you a bad person for feeling this way? Probably not. But you need to do something about it.
WHAT?
Nobody said organizing was easy. Industry and government opposition is tough. The facts are complicated. It's hard work getting a group consensus for action. All of this can build up.
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The leader's most important job is to help other people become leaders. That will never happen unless you give people a chance. When you start out, spread the work around the membership. It's an almost sure trip to a rubber room to take everything on yourself and not delegate. It's also lousy organizing.
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Talk to yourself, say: "What would happen if I DON'T do it all?" If the answer is, "Everything will fall apart," then anyway, or more likely, YOU, my friend, have an overly high opinion of yourself.
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Talk to others. Organizations should do more than just win on issues. They should build a sense of people power and they should build community. You have to talk about it - how you feel - and who better to do it with than your friends and neighbors in the struggle?
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Think Tasks and not Titles. Many leaders try to delegate to others by creating a job title and insisting that people take it. For example, "Will you be the Chairperson for our Permanent $100,000 Fundraising Committee?" Consider that most people in the organization have never been leaders before. Such a request is so intimidating that they might not just refuse, but feel so bad about themselves that they'll drop out of the organization. Instead, break the job down into digestible tasks: "Will you be sure these twelve people are contacted about Thursday's meeting?"
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Keep Your Eye On the Prize. Your organization came together for a reason and it wasn't to crown you king or queen. The members are not your subjects. If anything, your job as a leader is to serve and not be served.
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Keep Each Other Honest. Egomania is a key but less obvious sign of Burnout. The leader who gets "too big for his britches" can be even more dangerous than the leader who gets fried and just drops out. Watch for the danger signs: the overuse of "I," the hunger for media coverage, and unfair criticism of other leaders. Your opposition will often try to "buy off" leaders and split the group by offering seats on various pointless committees, commissions and study groups. When you jump at these chances, you may end up being duped into selling out your group. The other danger is "Coalitionitis." When a leader gets tired of his or her own group, or gets frustrated with the day-to-day tedium of fighting the local issue, making a "coalition" with somebody else can seem irresistible. Going to other people's meetings can be a lot more fun than struggling to make your own be successful.
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Let It Go. Most groups make mistakes, either by act or omission. Most survive. But it's hard on perfectionists or on leaders who would rather DO IT than let it go. Sometimes, the only thing to do is to let things slide, let the mistakes happen, so that others will understand that they, too, must take responsibility. "United we stand, divided we fall."
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Celebrate Your Victories. Just the plain fact that you organized is a victory in itself. And you do have victories, though sometimes you're too self-critical to accept them. Every time you do win SOMETHING, anything, you should acknowledge it and CELEBRATE it. And be sure you give each other credit. Give the strokes to all of the people who made it possible.
Burnout can hurt. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about it but treat the burnt-out case with kindness and understanding. But generally, let the group's actions serve as the cure. It's like falling off a bicycle. Get right back on.
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