The Great Coaches: On Burnout

Avoiding Burnout with Dr Weeks and Dr Meany

Last week, we released a special lesson episode looking at the topic of ‘Burnout’ — something that many leaders experience during their career. For the discussion, we were joined by two fantastic guests who really know their stuff:

• Dr Gavin Weeks — a Doctor of Psychology, an Associate Fellow at Oxford Sayyid Business School, and the Director of Innovation and Development at the Thompson Harrison Consultancy

• Dr Brendan Meany — a certified Mental Performance Consultant (focusing on implementing high-performance skills to optimise human potential in both sports and corporate spaces) and Chief Performance Officer at LiveFirstAI.com 

During the episode, we took a closer look at burnout — what it is, how it occurs — and then discussed ways that it can be managed and avoided through the use of psychological principles and particular leadership practices. It was a very insightful and interesting discussion, and highlighted a number of skills and ideas that would be valuable to any leader’s toolbox, such as:

• Identifying the factors that can lead to burnout, and its signs, in other leaders, team members, and ourselves

• The importance of delegating and understanding that you can’t be present at all times

• How to self-reflect and assess the sustainability of your current practices

Make sure to catch the full lesson now!

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

The key questions raised from today’s episode:

• Are there any people in my organisation who may be needing support or experiencing burnout?

• Am I putting too much pressure on myself to be perfect and present?

• Are the practices integrated in my leadership and my organisation sustainable?

Find all of our past interviews with some of sport’s most successful coaches and leaders on our website.

A Library of Insights

Usually, in this part of the newsletter, we focus on one particular leadership topic or insight related to the week’s podcast episode and share additional thoughts and resources to help you fully integrate it into your leadership.

This week, however, we’re letting you know that our podcast archive is now available FREE in video form for you on our Youtube channel.

We’ve been working to turn our insightful and popular podcast episodes into easily-sharable Youtube videos, and there are plenty more to come. On our channel, you can now episodes and lessons focusing on a number of the topics that matter to you and your leadership, including people skills, club culture, and more.

Each video is titled so that you can clearly see who the interview is with and what skill or insight they address. It’s easy to search the collection and then share them with colleagues and friends who may not use traditional podcast platforms, or to embed them in emails or social media posts.

Make sure to head over to our channel now to explore our library of videos today!

We combine videos of the Great Coaches that we have interviewed with our experience as corporate and sporting leaders in order to bring insight, energy, and ideas to your teams.

On Losing the Dressing Room

Have you ever heard the phrase “losing the dressing room”? It’s being used more and more in the world of football/soccer, and refers to managers and coaches who might be ‘on the way out’.

In this article from the BBC, writer Phil McNulty looks at the phrase and its meanings, as well as some of the problems occurring behind-the-scenes that may lead to managers losing their positions in the world of football. He also explores the influence that players have in the world of modern football and asks: “can a manager recover a ‘lost’ dressing room?”.

A very interesting article that has relevance far outside the world of football.

Elevated Leadership

If you’re looking to improve your own leadership skills, get in touch with us at elevatedleadership.com.au 

Our team of executive coaches — including The Great Coaches host, Paul Barnett — bring a wealth of experience as international CEOs who have faced the challenge of stepping forward in uncertain moments.