By Carli Uys – Head of Marketing, Research and Development (MCom Industrial Psychology and MCom Communication studies)
As the year is coming to an end, some of us are experiencing tiredness, irritability, low motivation, insomnia, poor concentration, anxiety and even depression. These feelings can be due to work-related stress, personal thoughts or holiday-commitments. These feelings are all understandable, as the end of the “race” is usually the hardest. Fatigue usually sets in closer to the end of the year, as you will start experiencing having a lack of energy, as you spent most of your year focusing on work. There is a difference between normal tiredness and fatigue. Normal tiredness can be resolved by taking a nap or taking a break from your usual routine, but fatigue requires more attention.
Experiencing these different symptoms, can negatively impact how you execute your duties, your performance at work and how you experience and cope with your day-to-day life. These symptoms can lead to workplace and car accidents as your ability to concentrate is reduced.
There are various factors that cause fatigue:
- Lifestyle factors – Lack of regular sleep, lack of physical activity, emotional stress, over consumption of alcohol.
- Mental health issues: Generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and depression.
- Physical health conditions
- Workplace related causes: Anxiety, trouble sleeping, decreased work performance, and depression.
On a personal level, you can focus on the following to reduce or even beat your end-of-year burnout (fatigue):
Plan your day
When you plan out your day, you can easily reduce work-related anxiety, and improve your productivity.
Prioritise your mental well-being
By ensuring that your mind is at optimal levels, it can increase your overall health.
Improve your quality of sleep
By ensuring that you keep up a healthy sleep cycle of at least 7 hours per night, it can help keep your bodily processes and help you to feel more energised and healthier.
Watch what you consume
What you eat and drink can affect your overall health, thus a healthy body and mind requires that you have a balanced diet.
Include physical activity in your daily routine
Physical activity, such as exercising, can help reduce feelings of exhaustion, which can help you have more energy spikes which can improve your overall health.
As a leader, it is important that you learn how to manage and motivate your team members, especially when they are experiencing year-end fatigue. For you to be able to manage year-end fatigue in your team and yourself, you need to follow these tips:
- Manage your own stress: As a leader it is important that you set a good example for your team, and not overexert yourself, especially when you are stressed. Your team will behave the way you do, as they look at you for guidance. To be able to set a good example on how to alleviate stress, you need to take regular breaks and encourage your team to do the same, and make sure that you set time aside to exercise and to get enough sleep. To be able to deal with stress and anxiety, start meditating and focus on becoming more mindful when you complete your work.
- Deal with stress as a team: Take regular breaks with your team, and recommend doing meditation and relaxation techniques together. Slot sessions into your diary, so everyone knows when to take these breaks, and make sure that they actually take the break.
- Create a psychologically safe environment for your team: Show your team that you support them and that they can come to you when they need support. Also continuously build good relationships with your team members so you know that you can ask them for help when you need it. If a team member is facing personal struggles, refer them to the company counsellor or psychologist and make sure that they understand that it is fine to talk to someone about their problems, and that you support them through these difficult times. Share information about stress, anxiety and depression with your team so they understand what they are experiencing and how to best address it.
- Set clear expectations for your team: Make sure that each team member knows what is expected from them, and what resources they can use to support them. Also create a clear sense of purpose as this will help your team to better understand what they are working towards.
- Prioritise and learn to delegate: Make sure that each team member knows what their priorities are, and that they have the option to delegate work to another team member who can complete a task faster and more efficient. This will leave more time for task the team member is good at and knows how to do.
- Allow flexibility: Allow flexible work schedules, as this will reduce a lot of personal stress as the person can then focus on their personal problems and resolve them without stressing about it while at the office. This can lead to a team culture that values getting work done and values each member as a person.
If you as a leader, don’t follow the above tips, you can experience compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is a physical and emotional exhaustion which leads to you to have a diminished ability to empathise or feel compassion for others. It is caused by repeatedly focusing on others’ challenges and neglecting your own. Your level of engagement and energy has an outsized impact on your team. You set the tone, and if you are frustrated, angry, annoyed or on autopilot, you team will be impacted. It is important that as a team leader, you know how to manage your energy to avoid burnout.