Disrupting Burnout
Disrupting Burnout with Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson is dedicated to overworked, undervalued high-achieving servant leaders who give all to serve others and leave very little for yourself. You are an accomplished woman with many responsibilities and you often find yourself overwhelmed, exhausted, and burned out. I’ve been there. As a matter of fact, burnout almost cost me everything. Compassionate work can carry a high price tag: your mind, body, spirit and relationships may be in distress as you serve the needs of others. I am here to equip your hands and refresh your heart so you can serve in purpose and fulfillment and permanently break cycles of burnout.
Disrupting Burnout
120. Addressing Professional Misbehavior to Prevent Burnout
Hey Friend,
Ever wondered if the key to preventing educator burnout might lie in addressing workplace misbehavior and disengagement directly? In this episode of "Disrupting Burnout," I, Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson, dive deep into this crucial topic. Drawing on my extensive experience and insights from listening tours, we explore the significant impact that negative attitudes, lack of effort, and visible frustration among educators can have on the learning environment.
Together, we will uncover the importance of recognizing these behaviors and the essential role of proactive leadership in fostering a positive and effective work culture. Our discussion navigates the complex terrain of managing disengaged employees in caring professions like education, social work, and healthcare. We'll discuss the critical balance between courage and care needed to address these issues effectively, as well as the importance of due process and fair evaluations.
This episode underscores the necessity of accountability and support in cultivating a thriving educational community driven by love and a commitment to continuous improvement. Tune in to discover how confronting misbehavior and disengagement can fundamentally transform the workplace and prevent burnout.
Join me as we delve into strategies and insights that can help create a more engaged, productive, and positive environment in educational settings and beyond.
Love Always,
PBJ
Upgrade to Premium Membership to access the Disrupting Burnout audiobook and other bonus content: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1213895/supporters/new
All right, friend, it is time for us to address the elephant in the room. We must start addressing bad behavior, misbehavior in education and, friend, I'm not talking about the students. So, listen, we need to have this conversation. I'm Dr Patrice Buckner-Jackson, but you can call me PBJ. Come on, friend. Welcome to Disrupting Burnout. Let's talk.
Speaker 1:Listen, before we get into our conversation this week, I just have to let you know that by the time you are listening to this podcast episode, your, your girl, pbj, your friend, is laid on the beach somewhere. White sand, blue water yeah, I am soaking it up right now, so I'm recording this episode early so that I do not leave you out while I am away. But your girl is away, okay, and I got to admit that I think I waited too long for vacation, because when I tell you I need this time, I mean need this time. So, yeah, I just had to tell y'all, I just had to tell you that while I am having this discussion with you, I am starting to hear the waves, I can see the blue, green glass water, I can feel my toes in the sand and the sun on my melanin skin. All right, we done. Okay. All right, let done. Okay. All right, let's get everybody stay focused. Let's get to the topic at hand.
Speaker 1:Today. I want to share something that came up in our webinar conversation that I really didn't plan to talk about too much, but I found myself getting on my soapbox a little bit and I said you know what? I think we need to share this with all of our friends, because this is a subject that we're not talking about in education and it is impacting us to the point that we are losing people. It is impacting us to the point that our folks are burnt out and overwhelmed. It is impacting us to the point where our students, in some spaces, are not receiving the best care, the best support, the best education that we can give them because of this problem, problem we must start addressing directly addressing misbehavior, bad behavior in the workplace in education. Now, friend, before we start this conversation, I want to admit to you that there may be a better term for this. Maybe it's not misbehavior, maybe it's not bad behavior, but in this moment, I don't know how else to classify it except by misbehavior. What am I talking about?
Speaker 1:So last week, in our episode, I shared with you three categories of employees that Gallup shares with us. So they talk about engaged folks, not engaged folks and disengaged folks. Today I want to talk to you about disengaged employees and the behavior that impacts everybody. So, according to Gallup, disengaged folks are folks that they say are loudly quitting not quiet quitting, but loudly quitting. Everyone is aware of their frustration, everyone is aware of their disdain, Everyone is aware of their disconnection to the work. They're not just disconnected in heart, but they're disconnected in actual effort and everyone sees that lack of effort. And in addition to lack of effort, there is the complaining, there is the griping, there is the negative impact that these folks have on the work environment and on the work itself. Now, before we go judging, blaming, I want to talk about how we care for these people. Right, I want to talk about how we care for these people. So we're going to get there.
Speaker 1:But I also need to call out the elephant in the room to say we've got to stop ignoring disengagement in the workplace. We've got to stop ignoring misbehavior, professional bad behavior in the workplace. It doesn't just impact that person or that department, but it impacts the greater vision and mission. It impacts everyone who has to work with them and around them. It impacts the desire to even come to work when you know you have to work with someone who clearly does not want to be there.
Speaker 1:Can we talk? Oh, my goodness, friend, I am just popping in real quick to let you know that we are 90% toward our goal of 25,000 downloads. Oh yeah, friend, listen, the drive to 25 is not over and we are less than 1,500 downloads. Oh yeah, friend, listen, the drive to 25 is not over and we are less than 1,500 downloads, 90% towards our goal of 25,000 downloads. I am so grateful to all of you who continue to listen and share this episode. It means so much that you find value here. Listen, I need your help. Share this episode with people who need it. Tell them to catch up on the old episodes. Before we know it, we're going to be at 25 and we're going to celebrate. Friend, let's go. Friend, I can recall a few times, more than once in my career, where I entered a new position, a new leadership position, and I always start by listening, right, I call it my listening tour.
Speaker 1:So I spend time, of course, with my supervisors and their supervisor, if that's appropriate. I spend time with all of my direct reports, as well as people who report to them. I always, always spend time with my students to hear their voices. The listening tour is not an opportunity for me to shine or talk about who I am or my leadership style. It's the time for me to truly hear and learn of the culture and what is needed. This is a time for me to truly hear and learn of the culture and what is needed, and there has been more than one time during my listening tour where folks most of the time leaders, but even sometimes colleagues, and though my new supervisees who would say this person is a problem. They would say this person is going to be somebody you will have to address. This person is a problem. They would say this person is going to be somebody you will have to address. This person. I've even had you need to fire this one. I'm talking first or second day in the door. You need to help this person find their next, their happy. You need to help them find their next level. This one needs to go.
Speaker 1:That's happened more than once and what I find is when I start digging so what has been documented? What has this person been told? Is there a professional improvement plan in place, like? What do we have that shows me? That's documented evidence of the behavior that is unacceptable. And is this person aware? Is this person aware of what is unacceptable or the impact that they're having on the organization?
Speaker 1:And, overwhelmingly, what I find is one, there's no documentation, so there's no evidence of what has happened. Two, that person hasn't been addressed directly. Maybe in staff meetings there has been comments of don't do this or don't do that, but if you know that it's a specific person that you're talking to, why not talk to that person? Why not learn how to have the hard conversation to address the problem, the misbehavior, the decision-making, the disengagement? The person often has not been addressed at all. So there's no documentation, the person hasn't been told, there's nothing that equips me to immediately address this behavior. And let's just also say that it's unfair to the person being accused and to the new leader that a new leader is expected to handle a problem that has existed before they got there. That's unfair. I don't even know this person, they don't know me, we haven't had an opportunity to work with each other yet and immediately I am or the leader is expected to address an issue that has been ongoing but no one has had the courage to address.
Speaker 1:So I want to talk to you today about the impact of ignoring disengaged employees the impact on that employee, the impact on the manager like you as the manager, maybe the new manager or ongoing manager and the impact on the entire team when we ignore disengaged behavior. I can speak for education because this is where I have spent my career. I have seen over and over, in different systems, in different schools, in different spaces, that we protect bad behavior. So everyone in the institution agrees and knows that this person, their decision-making, their actions, their approaches have a negative impact on our work, on our mission, on individual people. Even while I'm having this conversation, there are people who are in your mind right now. There are people that you are thinking about from your school or from your school system or from your institution that you can think, yeah, this is them. They are definitely disengaged PBJ, and all of us are worn out by their behavior. We all know it. We all know it.
Speaker 1:So when I say, when I do my listening tour and people are telling me this person is the problem, this person needs to be addressed, often they're right. They're not making it up. I quickly learned oh, I see what you're talking about. Yeah, okay, I got it. I see what you're talking about, right, so it's not a false accusation. Often there is evidence, especially when you hear it over and over and over. There is evidence and a disengaged employee can't hide it. Can I say that, like a disengaged employee is not going to be perfect with you, the new supervisor, and then just wreak havoc on everybody else. Oh, you're going to see it. They may be able to hold it together a day or two, but it won't be long. You will be in a meeting or you'll receive a complaint. Like something is going to come up and you will be able to see and experience what people have been trying to tell you. So they can't hide it. So it's not a false accusation, right. But who should have addressed this behavior? Who was responsible for connecting with this person and making an attempt to learn why they are the way they are? So let's talk about the disengaged person, let's talk about the employee.
Speaker 1:I don't know that many folks get into our career field, specifically education, but any of the caring career fields, right. Any of the nurturing career fields social work, health care, counseling I don't see where people get into our kind of career field for the money or for any other reason other than to serve, because the benefits often come from the results of that serving. Right Like we need to be paid a living wage. You know people need to hear thank you every now and then. They need to be recognized. All that's true, but many times the people, people who get into caring professions are there because of the impact that they have on other people. So I say that to say I don't know that anyone comes into our career field desiring to wreak havoc.
Speaker 1:I don't think people show up with an intention to tear a team apart or to be disgruntled or to be disengaged. So my first question is what happened? How did you get to this place of being disengaged? How did you? What brought you to this place where you have decided, either intentionally or unintentionally, that even though you are physically here, you are done, you're done. What? That you won't and cannot show up for work anymore? You are physically here, but not only have you quiet quit, but you are loudly quitting, like your frustration, your angst, your disdain is so loud that no one can ignore it. What brought you to this space? And I think that it takes courage and caring. It takes courage to decide to have the hard conversation to address the behavior and not in a blanket way.
Speaker 1:Hey, I heard people say, or someone told me no, I have experienced your impact on the team is divisive. I have experienced, and even more specifically than that, in the staff meeting last Wednesday, when you said, quote, blah, blah, blah. I experienced a dividing of the team, a shutting down of a specific person, a interruption of the flow, whatever happened, but to specifically address to the person what a specific behavior was. So not just this general, this is the impact that you have on people. But when you did this, I experienced so not putting it on the colleagues or the students or even my boss, but I experienced this impact. Can you tell me about that and opening up with some open-ended questions that will allow you to understand this person's path and how they got to the place where they are in their heart right now?
Speaker 1:Disengaged employees are not necessarily ill-equipped to do the job. Disengaged employees are not necessarily lacking in skills. Disengaged employees have a broken heart. What happened, friend? How did you get here? What has caused you to get to this point and what I have experienced in several different cases. When you open the door to listen, people will tell you. They will tell you what they've been through. They will tell you what they've experienced. They will tell you what has gotten them to the place where they are in defensive mode. Now. I have to protect myself, no matter what. I have to protect myself.
Speaker 1:Right, and I'm not um, I am not ignoring the behavior or even excusing the behavior, but the why is important, because we cannot resolve the issue if we don't know the why. So it's a both and we have to hold folks accountable for expected professional behavior and we have to care enough to support them and help them through the why. So you need care and you need courage. You need care and you need courage as a leader to address a disengaged employee. When we do not address a disengaged employee, the impact on the leader, the specific leader, the direct supervisor, the impact on the leader is you may have pressure coming down on you from supervisors, leaders and others that expect you to do something quickly concerning this person, when no paper trail and nothing has been done before you.
Speaker 1:So you have to understand, maybe partner with HR to get an advocate to say we are not at the space that we can make an immediate decision or immediate reprimand of this person because these due process steps have not been honored. It reminds me of when I worked in student conduct and we would have a student who someone just wanted out. Just suspend them, just kick them out of school. That's not how this works, friend. There are required due process steps that a person has a right to before they get to an ultimate punishment, until they get to an ultimate place that you're making such a big decision and we have to honor due process legally, but we also need to honor the person. It's not fair to be held to a standard that you're not aware of. It's not fair to be judged in a way that you're not aware of. How is it that this person has been identified as a problem but all of their annual reviews are stellar? Make it make sense. How is it that this person receives, excels or meets expectations when everybody says they are the problem? It's not fair, it's not right, it's not right.
Speaker 1:And what I've experienced over and over is even the courage to care for the person allows them to consider if they're willing to open their heart again. The courage to care establishes trust, and I'm not saying the conversation, the first conversation you need to have with them about their behavior, that they're going to agree and say, oh my gosh, you're so right, I'm sorry. I really want to change this, friend. If that happens, listen, you hit the jackpot, because that's not normal. That conversation will be tough. Human nature is they will want to protect themselves. They will feel threatened. They probably already feel threatened because even though no one's talking to them, they can feel it. So they walk into that situation feeling threatened.
Speaker 1:So a leader needs to be equipped with how to approach that conversation so that you can even make a true connection and establish some trust with that person and hopefully you have some time to even establish trust before you have to address the behavior. But we don't always have that luxury. We don't always have that benefit Right, have that benefit right. So we've got to care enough about the individual, the courage and the care to address directly what the problems are. But we also need to consider the impact on the leader who is carrying the stress and the demand to do something about it. We have to equip our leaders. As we talked about last week in episode 119, middle managers need to be trained in how to have difficult conversations. They need to be trained in how to address these conversations in a way that produces trust and produces good outcomes.
Speaker 1:Just because you're telling a person something that they don't want to hear doesn't mean it has to have a negative outcome. I'm coming from the perspective of someone who worked in student conduct for many years. It was my job to suspend people, put them on probation, even to expel people, but I learned how to do that. In a way, just because I'm telling you something you don't want to hear doesn't mean I don't care and I can't support you in a way to help you understand what your next steps are. I'm not throwing you away, friend. Regardless of the news that I need to tell you today, regardless of the steps that we need to take, I'm, I'm here, I'm with you, we're in this together. I'm going to walk you through this. You are not alone, right?
Speaker 1:So the manager needs training and support, and when I say support, maybe the support of human resources, maybe the support of their direct supervisor. The manager needs support and understanding that if nothing has been done before me, it's not going to change overnight. The manager needs support and knowing that they have time to address this appropriately with that employee and not put in a position that they have to make a knee-jerk decision. That's not fair. It's not fair to the employee and it is not fair to the manager that has to sit in the hot seat and give that news. So the manager needs support.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the impact on the entire team. When we have a disengaged employee that is not addressed, no one wants to work with them, no one wants to be on the committee with them, no one wants to connect genuinely with them. People want space away from that person and if they don't have space, they are impacted by the moods of that person. They are impacted by the emotions and the words of that person. Now, all of a sudden, I may have been doing okay, but now, after working with you, I'm not okay and I'm starting to see things a little differently about this company. Because even though I don't agree with you with everything, I may not agree with your approach, but what you're complaining about is real. Agree with your approach, but what you're complaining about is real. I may not agree with your behavior, but the things that have caused you to get to this point, those things are actually happening. So now, instead of having one disengaged employee, now you have others who are moving from engaged to not engaged and possibly disengaged themselves. It becomes viral, it is contagious.
Speaker 1:When you have a disengaged employee that is not addressed. Not to mention the frustration that is fueled in an engaged employee. When you are showing up, doing your best, pouring out your heart, and you're watching behavior that is not being addressed, when you are doing your best to keep what you feel are the standards of the organization and you're watching as someone else does whatever they want to do, says whatever they want to say and it is never addressed. And I'm not saying that you have to share how you have addressed the behavior. Those things are private and protected, but people know. I can tell if you are freely being disgruntled. I can tell if you are freely mistreating people and doing whatever you want to do versus if you've been addressed, because if you've been addressed then there is some change in behavior. I can tell that you are restraining yourself. I can tell that there's been a change. I can tell that something has happened. I may not know what happened, but I can tell something has happened. And I can also tell when nothing has happened. So if you want a one-way ticket to allowing burnout, disengagement and division to run rampant through your organization, allow unaddressed misbehavior to continue and watch what happens to your team.
Speaker 1:I'll close with this. I've watched over and over leaders who rise in leadership with misbehavior and I've questioned who in their path was supposed to sit them down and talk to them. And it's not even undercover. Everybody clearly sees and hears your impact. Everybody clearly knows that it's negative. Everybody clearly knows that you are spreading disengagement and impacting not just the mission but the other people, and it's allowed to happen for years, sometimes in education.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we move the problem without really resolving it. Sometimes we leave the problem and promote it. Y'all come on, can we talk? Sometimes we promote the problem right, but I've seen where it doesn't last forever. I've seen where, eventually, that person impacts the wrong person or the wrong parent or the wrong student or the wrong leader, and a swift decision is made. A swift decision is made and it's almost like they got to a high level just to tumble down. And in my heart I just wonder who was supposed to help them. And maybe somebody tried, you know. Maybe there were people along the way who tried to address them but they just didn't listen. Or, more likely, maybe everybody just ran away from the problem and hid and didn't have the courage to address them and even promoted them until the point where they hit the right trigger and it was over for them.
Speaker 1:We've got to do better. We have to have the care and the courage to address misbehavior in education, not just our students. We cannot hold our students to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. Everybody knows, everybody's aware of this behavior, knows Everybody's aware of this behavior, everybody's impacted and everybody's waiting for some leader to have the care and the courage enough to do something about it. All right, I had to get that off my heart. I know that it is driving our teams into burnout and overwhelm and I know, in order to have thriving teams, we have to address the problems that continue to reoccur. Friend, as always, you know you are powerful, you are significant, you are brilliant and you are loved. Love always. You know this is coming from love. I wouldn't have the courage to say it if I didn't love you. Love always, pbj.
