Work Smart Series Explores the Systemic Change Necessary to Battle Burnout and Looks Ahead to an All-Star Session in June

SIOP’s Work Smart Series, an initiative designed to bring members and non-members together to connect via evidence-based experiences focused on the most pressing work issues of our time, continues to gain momentum after kicking off in November 2021.

The February 17 Work Smart Session—Battling Burnout in 2022: What Can Organizations Do Beyond Encouraging Self-Care—was well received by an audience of SIOP members and non-members eager to discuss the individual, team, and organizational factors that contribute to burnout and to explore practices that instill resilience to reduce the experience of burnout.

Dr. Jacinta Jiménez, a clinical psychologist and certified coach who leads coach innovation at BetterUp and was recently named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in San Francisco, recounted themes from her 2021 book The Burnout Fix during a virtual fireside chat with I-O psychologist Ali O’Malley.

Jiménez focused on the concept of a “burnout shield” constructed from three elements: agency, benevolence, and community. Attendees then collaborated within breakout rooms to surface “shining examples” of organizational practices that foster autonomy, promote positive relationships, and ensure we do no harm. Attendees left prepared with dozens of ways to battle burnout in their organizations, and many shared that they intended to lead their own teams through the breakout exercise.

The Work Smart Series seeks to provide relevant, robust content and opportunities for participants to connect and interact in meaningful ways.

The next Work Smart session, The “Great R”: Reality, Response, and Reset in a Post-Pandemic Workplace will occur June 7 at 11 a.m. EDT and will feature an all-star cast of researchers, consultants, and internal practitioners. This program will be submitted for CE credit.

We thank Dr. Jiménez for joining our February session and the series sponsors Jeff Quinn, Leadership Insights and Development, LLC and Echospan. For more information about sponsoring the Work Smart Series, please contact Susan Rogers at srogers@siop.org. If you have questions or ideas for the Work Smart Series team, please email WorkSmart@siop.org.

We invite readers interested in learning more about burnout to get started with these resources:

Self-Care is Not the Solution for Burnout
Burnout From an Organizational Perspective