The Worst Stage of Burnout: “Brownout”
According to a report from the American Psychological Association, 65% of employees report that work is a significant source of stress in their lives and 41% say that they typically feel tense or stressed out during the workday.
While we might be able to successfully recognize the symptoms of burnout, we’re often oblivious to the alternative: a more deeper, obscured type of fatigue that afflicts successful, high-performing creatives. Over time, we can lose our passion for work and our commitment to our organizations, despite appearing composed.
Michael E Kibler, CEO of Corporate Balance Concepts, Inc., calls this burnout’s slower, and more sinister cousin: brownout.
Brownout, a term also used to describe part of the life cycle of a star, is different from burnout because knowledge workers afflicted by it are not in obvious crisis. They seem to be performing fine: putting in massive hours in meetings and calls across time zones, grinding out work while leading or contributing to global teams, and saying all the right things in meetings (though not in side-bar conversations). However, these executives are often operating in a silent state of continual overwhelm, and the predictable consequence is disengagement.
Kibler notes that high performers experiencing burnout exhibit the following signs:
Feeling drained from continuous, 24/7 obligations.
Physical deterioration due to years of sub-optimal sleep and self-care.
Tenuous relationships with immediate family members.
Distant relationships with old friends.
The atrophy of personal interests.
A diminishing ability to concentrate in non-business conversations.
Burnout is temporary, but brownout can have long-term, lasting effects.
