Social media, especially LinkedIn, is saturated with hundreds of posts about how to avoid burnout. Yet, when you’re working in a crisis environment, sometimes saying ‘no’ to extra work or pushing back just doesn’t feel like an option.
The charity sector is struggling – mass redundancies, reduced budgets, and zero capacity, all while the world plunges deeper and deeper into what is being called a ‘polycrisis’ (the simultaneous occurrence of several catastrophic events).
So how can we implement realistic ways to manage burnout and maintain hope in our work? These are a few small steps that have helped me over the past few years in the industry.
Keep track of what you do – and make sure everyone knows about it
As social media managers, we all know that our responsibilities go far beyond managing the day-to-day calendar. It involves keeping up with constant algorithmic changes, planning, creating content, scheduling, community management and so much more, all on top of having to constantly prove the value of our role to other teams.
Without tracking your daily tasks, it can be hard to communicate your workload struggles to management. People see the tip of the iceberg – the posts you put out or the planning meetings you’re in. They don’t see the stakeholder management, the back-and-forth on style guidelines and community interactions.
Communicating this is the best way to get more understanding from the rest of the team. However, when I felt overwhelmed, people would very kindly offer to help, but I was so overwhelmed I found it difficult to even articulate what was draining me.
That’s why I started making notes of every plate I was spinning – whether through a to-do list or time blocking. Keeping track of your tasks, from focus time to meetings, helps you stay accountable and communicate your workload.
Identify what tasks give you energy
By tracking your work, you can identify which tasks give you energy and which drain it. It helps your manager to know where to support you and for you to hone in on what is causing your exhaustion. Most importantly, it allows you to set boundaries for yourself, prioritise what tasks are urgent, and what can wait.
I class energy draining tasks as those you usually put off, feel anxious about, or simply don’t enjoy.
Of course, most of us will have to do tasks we don’t enjoy as much as others, but in times of burnout these can feel extra hard to get done. This is where it’s really important to communicate with your line manager and let them know where you feel your time would be best used.
It’s really important to nurture the tasks that motivate you. Think about what you love about your role – it may be content creation, reporting or community management – and channel your energy into that work.
It can be really motivating to do what you enjoy – it gives you a feeling of accomplishment and makes the day a little easier. Keeping a list of these tasks is a great way to not only identify your strengths, but also be aware of where you’d like to focus your time.
Communicate your capacity with others
Sometimes it can be really difficult to explain how you’re feeling to others on a one-on-one basis. However, letting others know about your current capacity can prevent stress and help create realistic expectations – it also makes it easier for your team to manage and change plans if necessary. For example, if you’re overwhelmed by emails building up in your inbox and feeling slower than usual, set up an automatic reply asking people to be patient while waiting for a response or ask people to add URGENT to the headline if it needs immediate attention
You’d be surprised how understanding people can be when they’re given a heads-up. After all, we’re all in the same boat – working in an incredibly difficult industry where resources are stretched thin.
Recognise the signs of burnout
The signs of burnout often appear earlier than we assume – disruptive sleep, lack of concentration and more. It’s really important to recognise when we are flagging and communicate that as early as possible.
Identify your own personal signs of exhaustion by asking yourself:
- Are you participating less in meetings?
- Do you experience sudden feelings of tiredness and lethargy?
- Do you feel like you care too much and not at all at the same time?
It will be different from person to person. One morning you may wake up and find it hard to get out of bed but be full of energy by the afternoon. For others, it can be the opposite way around.
A personal signifier for me is when I don’t have the energy to turn my camera on in meetings. This won’t be the same for everyone, but I know that I concentrate better with my camera on, and on the days when I don’t have enough energy, I know burnout might be coming.
Everyone has ‘bad days’, but if you begin to notice a pattern, it’s a good time to flag it with your support system.
Shared responsibility
My other frustration with many posts on burnout is that they put the onus solely on individuals to prevent it – telling them to push back or make sure to say ‘no’.
While the tips above focus on personal prevention and recognition, it’s crucial to have internal support. This is how you begin to build a culture of empathy and understanding.
We are in a unique position in this sector – many of us are working on issues that we are emotionally tied to, which means we’re passionate and committed to the work. But sometimes this can lead to feeling guilty when it comes to burnout.
I know my peers have felt they have no right to be experiencing burnout when the people we work with are often living in conflict zones or experiencing personal stress. But you can’t do your best work when you’re burned out – no one is exempt and it’s important we all recognise that.
Constantly engaging with difficult content and conversations can take an emotional toll. Vicarious trauma (a type of indirect trauma experienced by individuals who work with or are exposed to the trauma of others) is very common in the social media industry and isn’t talked about nearly enough.
When there is a lack of empathy from teams, that emotional connection to the work becomes less of a positive superpower and more of a burden, often resulting in working longer hours, impossible capacity stretching, and the inability to ‘just say no’.
Further reading and support
If you think you are burning out, talk to someone. It doesn’t have to be your line manager – just someone you trust at work, a friend or family member.
Consider talking to a health professional, sometimes taking time off to rest is the best, and only, way to come back refreshed.
Resources you might find useful:
- The CharityComms wellbeing guide – https://www.charitycomms.org.uk/wellbeing-guide
- Burnout report from Mental Health UK- https://mentalhealth-uk.org/burnout/
- A blog on how charities can address the issue of burnout – https://www.charitycomms.org.uk/how-charities-can-address-the-issue-of-burnout
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