High Self-Efficacy Reduces Burnout Amongst Managers
In the first of this three-part series on burnout amongst managers, I clarified what burnout actually is. Burnout is a combination of three factors: exhaustion/depletion, feeling negative or cynical towards ones’ job and feeling less effective in ones’ job.
Secondly, I discussed the assumption that organisations wrongly make: that burnout is something about the individual. Burnout is not a medical condition. It is a syndrome characterised by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. In other words, poor workplace conditions have led to the experience of burnout. You can read the first burnout blog here.
Control and choice are critical in alleviating burnout amongst managers and leaders. This is because it taps into our basic biological need as human beings for control.
In this blog I talk about one facet of control: self-efficacy.
self-efficacy: feeling in control over ones’ tasks
In their 2021 study into burnout amongst managers, Korman, Quaquebeke and Troster explain why it is critical for organisations to attend to self-efficacy to mitigate burnout.
Self-efficacy: Feeling in control over your task mitigates burnout.
First of all, what is self-efficacy? When you feel capable of reacting with confidence to a challenging situation, you are experiencing self-efficacy. People who feel self-efficacious meet their occupational challenges directly and confidently. The results they achieve because of this belief in turn powerfully confirm their belief. They cope and adapt to their environment by positively influencing it and by actively recruiting the support of others.
Self-efficacy is the feeling that you are in control over your task and the belief that you can do it well. It mitigates negative states such as depression, anxiety and self-doubting.
When you are, however, repeatedly faced with tasks that you have no control over and are unable to skilfully execute, you are more than likely to experience burnout. The emphasis is on the word repeatedly. Burnout does not happen in a day. It is a pattern and COVID-19 has created new situations that perpetuate these patterns. You may be experiencing reduced self-efficacy for any number of reasons.
It may be that you do not have access to the resources you require to do your job, which inhibits your ability to do your job well. You may not have had the right onboarding or training to carry out your role. Perhaps you do not have access to the right people or support network at work who can act as role models and positively help you develop your belief in your capability. In other words, the workplace conditions make it difficult for you to do your job well. These are all real reasons for a reduced sense of self-efficacy.
In my previous blog, I urged organisations to resist the temptation of “quick fixes”. The solution addressing all three dimensions of burnout is employee engagement.
Model illustrating how to reverse burnout.
How employees can enhance their sense of self-efficacy.
Remember a time in your life when you looked up to someone – and aspired to be like that person. You would have – often unconsciously – imitated that person. That person was your “role model”. As human beings, role modelling is built into our nature. We observe others do a task and carefully imitate them, and in the process, we master the task ourselves. This habit of mirroring others profoundly shapes our brains. But why do we role model? Biologists call role modelling “behavioural social learning,” and even animals engage in it. Through role modelling, we can eliminate the costly process of trial and error. We no longer have to depend so much on our mental powers to achieve the desired outcome.
Organisations can use this process to great positive effect – if used carefully and consciously.
By crafting role models for managers within their ranks, organisations can send a powerful message to them: everyone can achieve the same success.
Managers will notice the positive effects of success in their role models and try to emulate their reward-seeking behaviour. Finally, role models can demonstrate how challenging situations can be used to master their skills and acquire new skills.
How organisations can design more effective ways to build engagement.
1. Let this mantra be your guide: “focus on fixing the workplace rather than focusing on fixing the employee”.
2. Managers with a strong belief in their self-efficacy will act in ways that lead to great positive outcomes for the organisation. These include speaking-up as well as task-oriented, problem-solving behaviours. Organisations should create situations which foster mastery experience. Mastery experience, which are moments when a person feels that he or she has mastered a skill, are well-known to improve people’s feeling of self-efficacy. Managers should also be encouraged to share and exchange their successful managerial experiences. They should also be offered relevant training programmes to improve their sense of self-efficacy.
Next Time…
In the next blog, I talk about the second critical facet of control: power. I explain why organisations need to understand the link between power and burnout, actionable tips managers can utilise and steps that organisations can take to build employee engagement.
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