How to deal with staff burnout. What is burnout at work and how to deal with it How to deal with burnout at work

Burnout syndrome sneaks up unnoticed. Most likely, he will lie in wait for you after a couple of years of work on the same project. It would seem that you know your job inside out and do an excellent job with it, and this is exactly what you dreamed of doing a few years ago. But why, then, you so do not want to get up at the alarm clock on weekdays and come to the service? Are you too tired at work? Fatigue is not equal to emotional exhaustion. You won't be able to rest and come back in a week fresh. If this is your case, try to make your life brighter and more fulfilling, increase the emphasis on time outside of service - and try to find new meaning and pleasure in what you do.

Why are you so tired at work?

Do you greet Monday morning with a feeling of deadly tiredness and melancholy? At a meeting, fantasizing about how a falling meteorite will rid you of your colleagues forever? You seem to be a victim of burnout. What it is and how to deal with it - we will tell you together with expert psychologists.

Emotional burnout (or burn-out) is by no means a whim of office bums, but a serious syndrome discovered 40 years ago by the American psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberg: this is how he defined the growing emotional exhaustion in the process of work. For a long time it was believed that the disease affects only those whose profession is associated with close communication - teachers, doctors, social workers. But lately, psychologists are sounding the alarm: burnout syndrome has turned into a real epidemic and has spread to almost all specialties. “Huge amounts of information, fast pace of life, fierce competition and cultivation of success in society - all these factors impose ever higher demands on our work and quality of life, which causes severe mental stress and, as a result, emotional burnout,” comments clinical psychologist Alice Galati.

Do not confuse it with fatigue, stress or depression, burnout differs from them in some signs:
1.you feel emotional exhaustion (work no longer pleases, there is a feeling of loss of energy) and devastation (nothing brings pleasure), you become more cynical (communication with colleagues and clients is annoying and makes you want to sarcastic);
2. it starts to seem to you that your work does not make any sense, and all the efforts to improve it will never be appreciated by the bosses;
3. Unlike fatigue, burnout syndrome cannot be cured by rest - returning after the weekend, the “burned out” person will still be burdened by work, and the “tired” one will feel cheerful and energized;
4. Depression is always based on guilt or fear, and burnout is based on feelings of anger or irritability.

For all its external "harmlessness" ("Just think, I don't want to go to work!"), This syndrome can lead to unpleasant consequences: depression, psychosomatic diseases, decreased concentration, memory impairment. And rest assured: gradually dissatisfaction will "creep" from the office into your home and relationships - and who wants to see a whiner next to him?

Why it happens?

Perhaps because you ... love your job too much. “The more a person has a passion for work, the more distorted he perceives reality, and the easier it is for him to be disappointed and lose his distance,” explains another clinical psychologist Olga Krasnova.

Sometimes external conditions are to blame for the fact that you "burned out": routine, limited personal responsibility and lack of creativity. Krasnova adds: “In any job there must be a balance of financial rewards, emotional returns, and work effort. And a bias to one side leads to burnout. "

You can also "burn out" when you have lost your reference in professional activity. “If a person does not really see the point in what he is doing, then no high salary or social prestige of the job will save him from emotional burnout,” Galati explains.

What to do?

So, if you feel that soon only ashes will remain of your professionalism, experts recommend that you urgently take the following measures:
Learn to switch completely - from work to personal time. For this, visual techniques will help. “Imagine that the office door is closing and all the problems that worried you during the day are left behind,” Olga Krasnova recommends.
Make your leisure time on weekdays as rich and enjoyable as possible. Go shopping after work, meet friends and family, play sports or a hobby - the anticipation of what you love will fuel your interest in work.
Set boundaries in everything - in responsibilities, in communication with colleagues. Separate the area of ​​your personal responsibility and uncontrollable external circumstances, what you can do and what you can delegate. Limit communication with colleagues if it is unpleasant or time-consuming to you.
Fight the routine. It could be a new way of arranging papers on a desk, a regular five-minute warm-up, or an uncommon route to the office. It is important to keep your brain in good shape at all times.
Surround yourself with bright things. Buy funny desktop stickers, colorful pens, pencils, notebook. Agree, when at a meeting you are sitting with a pen in your hand in the form of a large bear, it will be more difficult for you to get bored.
Let yourself be wrong. Perfectionists are prone to burnout, and therefore, by allowing yourself to make mistakes in your work, you will notice that your work will become much more comfortable.
Record successes. Make a list of what you can do and what you have achieved in the process. Refill it regularly - for example, write down your next achievement once a week.
Improve your qualifications or learn a foreign language. The learning process gives a burst of energy, creativity and a new look at familiar things.
Think about motivation more often. Ask yourself: "Why am I doing this?", "What does my job give me?" It is important to formulate exactly the motivation that will be meaningful for you, and not for your parents or boss.
Set new goals. Think about what you are making money for? Convert just "must" into something more tangible and enjoyable - buying new boots, relaxing in the Maldives, and more. Then every small step on the way to them will be filled with new meaning.
Learn to relax. Our nervous system has only two states - excitement and inhibition. If we stay in the former for too long, our resources are depleted. Therefore, it is so important to at least artificially transfer your brain to the second mode, the "tumbler" for it is meditation. Learning to slow down the flow of thoughts outside the office will eventually become a natural way for you to emotionally relax.
Review your diet. Fatigue and depressed mood can also occur with a lack of vitamins. Add to your menu foods rich in magnesium (prunes, seeds, seaweed), B vitamins (cereals, vegetables, nuts) and iron (liver, buckwheat) - these substances are responsible for good brain function and our energy.

And yet, despite all the destructive mechanism of emotional burnout, experts are sure: we, like the Phoenix bird, can burn ourselves many times and be reborn again. And every time we overcome burnout, we grow up - both personally and professionally.

People in creative and technical fields are interested in the topic of burnout. Is it possible to defend yourself in the modern world, where there are strict management rules and a constant race to make your dreams come true? Is it possible to find means of prevention and protect yourself from the state when work ceases to bring real pleasure, and everyday duties seem meaningless and insipid?

Signs of burnout

Back in 1974, social psychologists began to study the emotional component of people in "helping" professions. These include missionaries, benefactors, psychologists, rescuers. It was then, having paid close attention to what is happening to professionals in the affairs of the noble, that scientists found three signs that indicate that emotional burnout is "in full swing." These three signs apply to all people without exception: it does not matter whether you are writing an essay or proving a theorem.

Fatigue

Fatigue is different. In one case, it can be pleasant: when you want to take a breath, relax, go on vacation. Such fatigue is accompanied by a victorious feeling that you have done a great job and coped with all the obstacles with a bang.

The second type of fatigue is accompanied by the feeling that you have been “de-energized”: lack of strength and desires, lethargy, depression. Burnout symptoms include this type of fatigue, which worsens when you approach work. A call from the office, an extra letter in the mail, the end of the weekend - all this negatively affects the general condition and revives the feeling of fatigue again.

Discontent and annoyance

Burnout dissatisfaction is directly related to any facet of one's own work. Burnout people are annoyed by clients, responsibilities, getting up early, overworking - in short, any stress associated with their type of activity.

Guilt

At some point, an employee with emotional burnout becomes devastated and no longer able to cope with their duties. He feels that he is not in his own business, does not get pleasure from work. As a result, a feeling of guilt and dissatisfaction with oneself is formed, which blocks the desire to look for a new job: there is simply no strength left for it.

How to deal with burnout?

If you want to protect yourself or change the situation that has already developed in your work, heed the recommendations of professionals. You can deal with burnout in the following way.

Seek work where your efforts will be noticed

Getting feedback is the most important human need. If you work in a company where the results of your work are treated exclusively formally, after a while you will feel unnecessary, accompanied by a feeling of emptiness. All people want to be liked, feedback is important to them. Even if it is criticism. The only caveat is that criticism should be objective, constructive and inspiring.

If you have already taken a job where you are not being paid attention to, ask for feedback, ask how you can improve your results. Silence in response? Then there are two options: change jobs or find an additional area where you will receive constructive feedback and real feedback.

Avoid working with maximum control or connivance

Both strict control and complete ignorance of what is happening are two serious management mistakes that will lead to emotional burnout. In the first case, you will be a chronically dissatisfied person: it is difficult to work in a situation where you are constantly pointed out and disregarded with your needs. In the second case, you will start to get bored. This boredom will be caused by a lack of attention to your professionalism.

Make your skill unique

In order not to get tired of yourself and of work, learn to do what is not given to others. If you are a doctor, psychologist, marketer, designer, writer - measuring your professionalism is not difficult. It is determined by the position, stock of skills, regalia, awards, bonuses, earnings, the number of your clients, your personal inventions in your field (even small ones). In this situation, it is important not to stop: you can always improve what you can do: take advanced training courses, find new information, do something original.

If you have not decided on your vocation and work in a boring administrative position that does not imply the presence of unique knowledge, do not despair: do your job better than others, and you will see the result. Even if you work as an administrator at a sports club, you can treat your work in different ways. In the first case, silently give out the key to the personal locker room and check the subscription, and in the second, communicate, wish a successful training, conduct customer surveys, and offer additional services. It is with this approach to work that a career and burnout treatment begins.

Replenish the stock of "childish" emotions

You need to be able to take care of the state of your soul. Emotional burnout occurs when your inner warmth is zero. This stock is made up of children's emotions: immediate surprise, joy, delight, expectation of something good. How long have you felt these emotions? How long have you fallen in love with the project you are doing? Remember the impressions of the last week, last month or six months that you had at work. It is not the status of the company or the salary that matters here. What matters here is what you really like about your work. Are you fascinated by the topic or material you are working with? This is the antidote to combustion. Do you have it? Can you fall in love with what you do?

Listen to "like" and "dislike" signals

These signals are quiet. XXI century - the century of exploits and workaholics. In pursuit of success, we can become cold to our inner voice. We feel uncomfortable and ignore it, suppress our disagreements, put up with inappropriate attitudes. Don't run the situation. Strive to correct the situation immediately. Fill your professional and personal life with warm moments while staying efficient and hardworking.

In professional language, burnout syndrome is called "demotivation" - an employee develops a cynical attitude towards work, and emotional exhaustion sets in. The return on such a worker is usually small. In addition, he can infect the entire team with a decadent mood. Burnout syndrome can be defeated. But you need to fight not with the consequences of demotivation, but with its causes.

Why does staff have less motivation?

Usually, at the initial stage of the relationship with the employee, the organization takes an extremely advantageous position for itself. When an employee is just starting a new job, most often his intrinsic motivation is strong and can be the main factor determining behavior in the workplace. For many specialists, this is a challenge: new tasks, obstacles, an opportunity to learn something. Even an employee with solid experience will have to delve into unfamiliar problems, build relationships with colleagues and clients, and learn to take advantage of the benefits. In this situation, the main task of the leader is not to lose an advantageous position.

Burnout is not an employee's personal problem. The responsibility is also borne by the company that has not minimized the risk of burnout. First of all, the syndrome appears among employees in communicative positions - managers of negotiation processes, employees of personnel services, specialists in external communication relations of the company. Also, employees who experience constant stress in the workplace are susceptible to burnout syndrome. In any case, the likelihood of "burnout" does not depend on the personal characteristics of a particular employee, but on the moral and psychological climate in the company, employment conditions and the management system as a whole. That is why it is necessary to fight not with the consequences - exhaustion, demoralization, fatigue and other signs, but with the causes. If the first signs of "burnout" in the employee do appear, he needs moral support in the form of positive optimistic attitudes from the management. This will allow the subordinate not to be left alone with his oppressed state. The active involvement of the employee in the work will also help, not only on his site, but also on adjacent ones. For some people, the opportunity to learn new things is more beneficial than, for example, material incentives.

How to deal with burnout

It is quite possible to prevent the development of staff burnout syndrome. To do this, you should know the reasons for demotivation.

• Breach of gentlemen's agreements

Motivation may decrease already some time after the employee arrives at work. Hopes often do not come true, since many important questions remain behind the scenes in the process of negotiations with the employer.

The interview usually discusses the nature and mode of work, time of rest and remuneration, but practically does not stipulate the issues of the corporate climate. Often the employer only talks about the pros of a future job.

The candidate's expectations are at odds with the actual state of affairs in the company, and soon after starting work, the employee discovers that he has drawn the wrong card: training is formal, there are no prospects for growth, the team is a closed group of employees. As a result, there is no trace of the candidate's energy and enthusiasm.

Recommendations. In the selection process, HR professionals should provide the candidate with as much information about the company as possible. Candidates who are not intimidated by possible complications will have realistic expectations.

• Unclaimed talents

Overqualification is often worse than underqualification. Experienced managers know that it is dangerous to hire someone who is too qualified for the position being offered. It is highly likely that in a few months he will get bored and will try to realize his unclaimed talents. Until the employee finds a worthy application for himself, colleagues will have to watch his attempts to "hook" not so qualified bosses or poke their noses everywhere with their advice. There are no perfect matches. A candidate may not have absolutely all the skills you need, but this can be easily remedied with internal training and internships. It is more difficult with the skills that he has and that will not be useful to him in a new place. Carelessly discarding such skills over time is fraught with serious demotivation.

Recommendations. It is necessary to try to apply unclaimed skills and knowledge of employees to solve new problems. Even short-term projects will let the subordinate understand that the company values ​​all his knowledge and skills. For example, an employee who speaks a foreign language can be instructed to find the information you need on foreign sites or to review the foreign special press. The employee will be grateful to you for the opportunity not to forget the best of what he knows.

• Ignoring ideas and initiatives

When starting a new job, employees usually "gush" with new ideas - from improving working methods to rearranging office furniture. Most often, the management simply brushes off these ideas - because of distrust of newcomers, unwillingness to part with the usual work environment, etc.

Recommendations. All employees of the company should be able to express ideas and suggestions. Even if they are not genius enough to bring them to life, they deserve to be considered. The development department or HR department can organize this activity. It is useful to create a section "Questions and suggestions for the management" on the internal Internet portal. Employees must necessarily receive a response, an explanation of why this or that idea is premature or not suitable for implementation in the company.

• Low involvement

This demotivator is most relevant for employees working outside the company office, or for support staff. An employee who does not feel like a part of the company will carry out his duties carelessly. This problem can affect not only field employees, but also staff members, and sometimes entire departments.

Recommendations. A sense of community and team spirit are strong motivators. Employees with such a motive are ready to sacrifice their personal interests and time, working to achieve the goals of the company. That is why we need general corporate events, regular information about what is happening.

• Lack of visible achievements

Quite often, due to the specifics of the work, employees cannot immediately see the result of their activities. Work “without result” turns into a routine and after a certain time it neutralizes internal motivation. People of creative professions experience the absence of interesting work especially painfully.

Recommendations. For employees of the "routine" sphere, create from time to time projects - short-term tasks, including in areas related to their specialization. This will dilute the routine and allow them to learn something. Divide long-term projects into visible stages, actively discuss intermediate results and, of course, encourage participants.

• Lack of recognition

Not so long ago, the Boards of Fame were a strong motivator in work. Ambitious workers (and there are most of them) went out of their way to be able to show their portrait to others. Recognition was more important than a prize: bonuses are spent alone, and many will recognize the best employee by sight. And today, opinion polls show that workers suffer if colleagues do not notice their achievements.

• No change in status

If all the bosses start carrying logs, then there will not be enough logs for everyone. If all the bearers of the logs become bosses, the result will be the same. In other words, structural constraints are the most common cause of career slowdowns (stalls). For years, employees have not been able to achieve a change in their status, that is, to receive broader powers, the ability to solve new problems and grow. The situation is typical for large companies with a rigid hierarchy. To cope with it, instead of raising the status, the leadership of the organization offers a decent compensation package and many other opportunities. But, as a rule, such companies cannot boast of a high level of employee motivation and loyalty.

Not the least important demotivator is the subjectivism of the bosses when making decisions about the relocation of employees. Imagine what an employee feels, who has stayed in his position and clearly grew out of it, at the moment when another person is appointed to the vacant position.

Stages of decreased motivation

In management psychology, the following stages of motivation decrease are traditionally distinguished:

Stage 1. Confusion. The first symptoms of a stressful state begin to appear. They are a consequence of the confusion of an employee who ceases to understand what he needs to do and why his work is not going well. This is not yet particularly affecting labor productivity, but the load on the nervous system is increasing.

Stage 2. Irritation. If the employee feels that the situation is not improving, he begins to experience irritation associated with a feeling of powerlessness. His behavior is somewhat demonstrative. He is inclined to deliberately withdraw into himself or take an emphatically defensive position. At the same time, the productivity of his labor increases. The employee is making more and more efforts, hoping that he will be able to cope with the stressful situation.

Stage 3. Dual role. Noticing that the immediate supervisor does not make any attempts to remedy the situation, the employee ceases to doubt who is to blame for the difficulties and changes tactics. He can disrupt the work process in the hope of drawing the attention of others to the problem, begins to avoid the boss. This stage can be noticed by insufficient contacts between the manager and the subordinate.

Stage 4. Disappointment. From this stage onwards, it is much more difficult to restore a shattered interest in work. Labor productivity is reduced to the minimum acceptable level. The duration of this phase can fluctuate depending on the employee's self-confidence, energy and moral values. Personal contact between the boss and the subordinate with an open discussion of the problem can restore interest in work.

Stage 5. Loss of willingness to cooperate. The most obvious symptom of this stage is the employee's attempt to emphasize in words or deeds that "this and this is not my business." The employee crosses the boundaries of his duties, trying to narrow them down as much as possible. Some begin to behave defiantly, neglecting work. At this stage, relationships with colleagues also deteriorate.

In the early seventies of the twentieth century, scientists drew attention to the fact that many people after several years of work experience a state close to stress and seek psychological help. They feel constant fatigue, sometimes headaches, insomnia, and a general deterioration in health. Work ceases to bring them satisfaction, but on the contrary, it irritates, arouses hostility. A person has a feeling of his own incompetence, helplessness, and indeed - specific professional achievements, as well as endurance and attention in general, decrease. However, the methods of psychotherapy are ineffective here.

This phenomenon is aptly called "burnout". Unlike depression, burnout is not accompanied by feelings of guilt and depression, but, on the contrary, can be accompanied by excitement, aggression, irritability. It turned out that professional burnout brings serious losses to society - both economic and psycho-emotional. In particular, very experienced pilots suddenly begin to feel fear of flying, uncertainty about the correctness of their actions (they say they were "flying out"), which can lead to both personal drama and disaster. But those people who, according to their duty, must "give" people the energy and warmth of their souls, are especially susceptible to burnout: teachers, managers, doctors, artists.

With prolonged exposure to burnout, real stress develops, with its characteristic symptoms (among them cardiovascular disorders, neuroses, ulcers of the digestive tract, weakening of the immune system). Indifference, "professional cynicism", negativism towards clients and their work is growing. Sometimes there is aversion to everything in the world, unmotivated resentment against others, fate, the government. Life seems empty and meaningless, and work seems like a boring and hated routine. People with whom you have to work - clients, students, visitors, colleagues - are especially disliked. This type of burnout is even called "human poisoning." By the way, pupils, schoolchildren, students, are no less susceptible to "burnout".

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF BURN OUT?

According to the psychologist V.V. Boyko, emotional burnout is a personality-developed mechanism of psychological defense in the form of complete or partial exclusion of emotions in response to traumatic influences. Emotional burnout is a stereotype of emotional, most often professional, conduct. Burnout is partly a functional stereotype, since it allows a person to dose and economically use energy resources. At the same time, dysfunctional consequences can also arise, when “burnout” negatively affects the performance of professional activities and relationships with partners (the term “partner” is understood as a subject of professional activity, in pedagogical activity these are students).

Let's start with the fact that our nervous system has a certain "communication limit", that is, a person can pay full attention only to a limited number of people per day. If their number is greater, exhaustion inevitably sets in, and eventually burnout. The same limit exists for other mental processes (perception, problem solving, attention). This limit is very flexible and depends on the tone of the nervous system, which reduces bad mood when the colors of the day fade, as well as unresolved problems, lack of sleep and many other reasons.

In addition, we are accustomed to the fact that the process of communication with people is reciprocal, and every positive message is followed by a response: gratitude, increased attention, respect. However, clients and students are not always capable of such a return. It happens that efforts are "rewarded" only by indifferent silence, inattention, hostility, ingratitude, or even the desire to benefit at the expense of the one who "gives himself up." And when the sum of such failures accumulates, a crisis of self-esteem and professional motivation develops.

Another reason is the lack of a full-fledged result. Working with people often means that it is impossible to "touch", to evaluate correctly. You can cheat or try, but the result is the same: children still come to school, get grades, return home. And it is difficult to prove that these concrete efforts lead to higher results, and indifference leads to a decrease. After all, the indicators of success in school life are usually temporary, transient, they change from a quarter to a quarter, and after graduation they completely lose their intrinsic value.

You can find many more reasons for the development of burnout. But even without them, it is clear that boring, albeit habitual work can exhaust you more than an emergency solution to a difficult and interesting problem.

Individual characteristics play an important role in the development of burnout. There are people who find it easier to perform routine work for a long time (stayers). However, you cannot count on them if you need to mobilize forces and urgently make a large project. The other type (sprinters) at first act actively and enthusiastically, amaze with their efficiency, but quickly "fizzle out". They are usually very sensitive to the judgments of their actions. There are workers with low creativity, but good performance, who need direct instructions and guidance. Their opposite is creative workers who prefer freedom of choice to be successful. It is obvious that if the tasks assigned to a person do not correspond to his personality makeup, burnout develops faster and deeper.

Now more and more people are involved in the sphere of social and semantic labor, they have to work not with mechanisms and physical phenomena, but with people and information about them. Therefore, there is a whole "epidemic" of burnout in society. Who of us has never encountered "evil", "callous" leaders, officials, teachers, medical workers? Usually this "callousness" is not fully realized and does not bring pleasure and satisfaction. This is essentially an automatic defense reaction of the psyche.

Burnout can also be viewed as a consequence of improperly organized work, irrational management, and staff unpreparedness.

NEGATIVISM AS PROTECTION

Is there a way out? There are many ways to reduce the burnout effect. There are whole technologies that are developed on the basis of industrial organizational psychology. They allow you to increase labor productivity, increase income, improve the psychological climate and social indicators in the organization.

I must say that people are trying to fight burnout even without any science. But these methods are often "barbaric", negative. For example, professional cynicism (even expressed in special expressions, terms). Listen to what you call your students? This noisy gang, which - you won't have time to catch your breath after the next lesson - is already running into the office and strives to turn everything upside down?

Another negative method is physical and emotional alienation, the desire to keep children at a distance, not to allow touching, not to notice their physical shell, life problems, mental states. Professional cynicism is developed that helps avoid disappointment. Although this seems unfair to many: how can you work with students without feeling any emotional attachment to them?

Another way to avoid “wasting yourself” is ritualization. When communicating with clients or students, always adhere to the ritual, routine, demand unquestioning following instructions. Then the work goes on as if on rails: we met, worked, and fled.

Energy "vampirism" also helps individual workers. There is no mysticism here, just a person uses the moment of someone else's embarrassment, suffering, humiliation, failure to rise, to assert himself. Then the suppression of others becomes a strong and productive motivation. Although not entirely constructive and comfortable.

It happens that a person copes with burnout, emphasizing his own value, necessity, and the irreplaceability of his person and work. In many collectives there is such an employee, maybe a caretaker, storekeeper, secretary or responsible for completing documents, without whose highest permission nothing can be done. It is absolutely irreplaceable. However, the day comes, another worker replaces it, and everything goes on as before, the organization does not crumble to dust.

A special way to deal with stress (and burnout in particular) is the use of psychoactive substances. In the West, all kinds of stimulants that psychopharmacology offers are in use. However, sometimes ordinary alcoholic drinks and cigarettes are used.

Teachers can be understood: their work is hard on the psycho-emotional level. It is not surprising that in teaching collectives there are often both people suffering from "burnout" and those who use "barbaric" methods of avoiding it.

CONSTRUCTIVE METHODS OF COMBATING BURNOUT

There are also positive methods that allow you to smooth out or avoid burnout altogether - without alienation and conflict.

First of all, you can use the rich arsenal of psychotherapy and all kinds of psycho-trainings, which are owned by professional psychologists and game technicians. Large enterprises regularly hold similar events, essentially "games for adults", which sharpen attention, increase efficiency, and promote the rapprochement of employees (in our country, however, for rapprochement and raising the corporate spirit, they are more often limited to the tradition of a noisy feast). Role-playing games, business games, tolerance training (tolerance to irritating factors), situational training are most often used.

Learning remains perhaps the most effective way to avoid burnout. A person is stimulated and aimed at success in work not so much by acquiring new knowledge and mastering technologies as by “overcoming oneself”. Therefore, it is very important to feel this transition to a new level, mastering the intermediate steps, especially if some symbol remains in the memory of “overcoming”: a certificate, diploma, award, souvenir. Usually, participation in trainings, field seminars, refresher courses becomes a strong incentive to overcome routine and burnout. In addition, these measures smooth out the so-called "professional deformation of the personality" (when a lawyer in every interlocutor, against his will, sees a potential offender, a psychiatrist - a hidden psychopath, and a teacher - a negligent student).

Another incentive is constructive assessment. Adults, like children, need someone to appreciate their work. For this purpose, enterprises use a whole technology of "assessment" of personnel. It takes into account personal potential, opportunities for a particular activity, attests the objective results of work and subjective feedback from colleagues, management, and most importantly - clients and students.

In schools, it is not uncommon for management to ignore student feedback on teacher performance. I observed such a situation even in paid correspondence universities, where adults with extensive life experience study. They do not try to influence the choice of teachers, so that they present the program more clearly, engage in education and training, and not just certification. Despite the fact that students themselves pay for the work of these teachers, as well as for the work of managers of the educational process.

In many educational institutions around the world, taking into account the opinion of students is in the order of things: this is an important component of the rating of teachers. Of course, it also takes into account the fact that a demanding teacher may gain less popularity. Therefore, in the ranking, first of all, justice, respect for students, a creative approach, the ability to interest the audience, the desire for cooperation, and not confrontation with students are noted.

It's not that simple here. Evaluation of personnel can become a means to improve the work and psychological state of people, but it can also turn into an end in itself, when a lot of effort is spent on beautiful reports and "show off", as well as provide ground for intrigue and personal grievances. The reward can stimulate a person not to improve their performance, but to “rest on their laurels”. And yet, feedback, evaluation of work results by clients and colleagues, is considered a prerequisite for fruitful and harmonious work.

Another way to avoid burnout is novelty. Changing activities, introducing technical innovations, updating programs, changing places of residence and work can be very productive. In large organizations, there is a tradition of "personnel rotation", which is especially relevant for managers. They regularly transfer to the leadership of other departments, often to branches of other cities. This avoids stagnation.

The amalgamation of training, assessment and renewal is achieved at field events. And a short trip to the conference, the publication of a printed work can be very effective in the fight against burnout.

Enriching work and creating a super task helps to reduce monotony. What a super task is, is well illustrated by the parable of three builders, one of whom "dragged the damned wheelbarrow," the other "earned bread for the family," and the third "built a beautiful temple."

High-quality organization management is impossible without assignment of tasks, taking into account the individual inclinations of employees. Some need strict control, others require a lot of freedom and do not tolerate supervision. Some people prefer varied jobs, others are intimidated by unfamiliar tasks.

Personal resentment, conflict, frustration (psychological suffering), mobbing (collective “bullying”) inflict a serious blow on performance. Mobbing can be done by colleagues, managers and students. Usually this is done by some kind of "initiative" group. It is enough to neutralize it: by persuasion, positive or negative reinforcement, sometimes simply by punitive measures, and sometimes by unexpected encouragement, and the conflict will dissolve.

In general, methods of conflict psychology are required to get out of such situations. Obviously, such situations are easier to prevent than to correct their consequences. Therefore, compliance with mental hygiene and psychological safety is of great importance for the prevention of burnout among teachers.

When communicating with Western experts, they are surprised by their deliberate benevolence, the desire to avoid conflicts, the formalization of results and assessments. "Interesting job! Facts were selected and analyzed. To our great regret, the validity of the conclusions is somewhat incomplete, and the deadlines for the delivery of the project have not been met. We hope that the author will have undoubted success in his future activities. All the best!" - Such a "laudatory" review, oddly enough, may mean an irrevocable refusal, a "two".

On the one hand, this is insincerity, on the other, mental hygiene. Even when rejected, you don't feel hurt and you don't want to protest. And here is the opposite example: “Surprisingly, the essay was written without errors and to the point. I probably wrote it off. However, there are a lot of unnecessary words, blots, the notebook is kind of wrinkled. And you still don’t wait for a good grade! So I give three points. "

It is useful to avoid scandals, conflicts, undefined obligations (especially those outside the scope of official duties), unnecessary responsibility. An element of psychohygiene is a positive attitude, the ability to pay attention to 95% of the pluses, and not to 5% of minuses, failures and mistakes. Unfortunately, the teacher develops just such a "professional personality deformation" - the desire to look for flaws, errors in the body of the correct text. This harms both the soul of the teacher and the student. Let's take an everyday example: when we glue the wallpaper, we grab the heart from a small scratch or pattern mismatch. However, a month passes, and we can no longer remember where this defect was - no one notices it. All that is visible is the fact: there is new wallpaper in the room. It also happens, you take a boy's thickly written notebook: he did a great job! But mistakes, blots, omissions accumulate, and in the end the result is a "three"! After a month, the essence of specific mistakes is forgotten, but the feeling of chronic failure remains.

It is better to evaluate students not for the accuracy of their performance, but for the amount of merit. A person can make a lot of mistakes, wander in the labyrinths of his forgetfulness and ignorance, but he did a great job - to the detriment of other matters, overcame his busyness, so he “worked out” a positive assessment. If a student, without answering the question posed, gets a three, he will never acquire knowledge and confidence. Better to give him a variety of questions, from simple to complex. So that he found a "fulcrum", his level of competence, from which he can build on and grow. And evaluate it for the amount of correct answers. This method is especially good for solving problems of general education, enlightenment, upbringing, and not teaching special skills.

Without compliance with professional hygiene and safety, it is impossible to create comfortable conditions for fruitful work. These conditions include both psychological parameters (including a sense of safety and comfort, visual and acoustic comfort) and physical parameters (air, comfortable equipment and clothing, healthy food). Feeling unwell, fatigue can be caused by such factors as tight-fitting clothes and shoes that disturb blood circulation, or stale office air saturated with toxins from heated plastic and tobacco smoke, flashing and buzzing fluorescent lamps, as well as the usual office "snack" - tea with sweets. Many office workers in the West are ditching cakes and coffee in favor of fruits and vegetables, muesli and herbal teas.

Respiratory hygiene and positive visual stimuli are of particular importance to the teacher. In our country, few people think that the cause of asthmatic cough is often chalk and cellulose dust, where microscopic mites, fungal spores and other allergens accumulate. And that a dirty board, where chalk inscriptions are smeared with a semi-dry cloth, reduce perception by ten percent. Therefore, many schools generally abandon chalk, using felt-tip pens.

Finally, to avoid the "burnout" effect, it is very important to dose your work and be able to complete it on time. Many of us, starting some kind of life project, create a "huge number of plans" and strive to make it endless. However, the normal “lifespan” of successful projects is about five years. We are upset if a magazine, musical or other creative collective ceases to exist, without thinking that this is a “project” - a temporary unification of people. Those who work for a limited time, striving to get the result, correctly formulate it and evaluate it. And then - a new project, possibly continuing the idea of ​​the old one, but with a different result.

Teaching is also a kind of "temporary project" for both the student and the teacher. Therefore, it is necessary from the very beginning to know how to complete the activity, what the parting will be like.

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