Causes of stress and burn-out

Stress and burn-out are not recent developments, rather they have been a well-known problem for employees, managers and private individuals for years.

The difference is that we now openly discuss them and recognise them as conditions with serious symptoms and consequences. These include (as recognised by scientists and doctors in a range of examinations): increased risk of heart attack, memory loss, depression and many more. In symptoms such as depression, a possible change to the DNA has even been diagnosed, whereby depression can even be passed onto children.

Burn-out and stress do not attack at random, and they are not exclusively caused by external influences such as our environment or society.

Rather, possible triggers relate to the fact that our expectations are linked to others and our environment. Resulting mistakes in our careers, direction or relationships are major contributing factors. What criteria do we use to make decisions? Have we chosen our career mindfully and followed our hearts?

Burn-out within a company

What do burn-out and stress mean for a company?

Stress or burn-out within a department, project or team can spread like a virus and are not (as often presumed) the fate of an individual. All too often, people affected by burn-out are in management positions or executive management. Symptoms such as anxiety, depression and anger relating from fear are passed onto the team and spread into the environment. This creates pressure. It’s like the spark that causes a fire.

It’s not the right approach to simply attribute it to individuals or individual situations, rather the company and/or management should be aware that the only way is to introduce company-wide and department-wide prevention measures. It is not an isolated case, it is not a weakness and it is an investment in your company’s ethical, humane, compassionate and valuable future to compact the costs of wrong decisions, fear and uncompassionate management. Improve your company in the long term, and support your employees in establishing their own potential and limits.

What measures are possible?

I would be happy to help you in this matter and in this change process with concrete direction, ideas and solutions from an experienced trainer/speaker. My experience as a change manager in complex organisations really shines here.

For example, I offer:

• Training and talks on prevention within your company
• Support and advice when setting up a department for the long-term integration of methods, and practices for training the mind, body and soul
• Training for individual department groups with individual content
• Clarification and solution-orientated collaboration with you and your departments