Recognising Burnout
Burnout is often mistaken for chronic stress or simple exhaustion. However, it is a complex experience shaped by the interaction between personal, relational and workplace factors.
Although people may experience burnout in other areas of life, this article focuses specifically on occupational burnout within organisational workplaces.
For coaches, recognising burnout is important, particularly when clients present with challenges relating to confidence, motivation, performance or disengagement from work.
But recognising burnout is only part of the picture. Coaches also need to understand what may be contributing to it and how this understanding informs their coaching practice.
The World Health Organization (2019) identifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterised by three dimensions:
- Energy depletion or exhaustion.
- Increased mental distance from work, including cynicism or negativity.
- Reduced personal efficacy.
Burnout can manifest through a range of physical, emotional and cognitive experiences. Some people may experience persistent fatigue, disrupted sleep, headaches or difficulty concentrating, while others may notice increasing anxiety, low mood, irritability, declining confidence or self-criticism.
In the workplace, burnout may become apparent through declining effectiveness, disorganisation, withdrawal from colleagues or increasing cynicism. Some people may work longer hours to compensate for reduced productivity, while others begin questioning their competence, contribution or professional identity. Work that previously felt enjoyable and meaningful may become overwhelming or lose its sense of purpose.
Burnout often develops gradually, as ongoing demands begin to exceed a person's capacity to cope in healthy and sustainable ways. Strategies that previously worked may become less effective, while confidence, motivation and engagement slowly decline (Parker et al., 2021).
Coaches need to remain attuned to their clients, noticing subtle or more obvious changes in how they think, feel and respond. A client who previously approached challenges with confidence may begin questioning their abilities, struggling with decisions or expressing increasing frustration or exhaustion.
These changes do not necessarily indicate burnout, but they provide an opportunity to explore what may be happening.
Bringing Burnout Into the Coaching Conversation
When a coach notices possible signs of burnout, an important next step is to share their observations with the client and explore what may be happening.
Rather than immediately introducing burnout as a possible explanation, the coach can begin by reflecting what they have noticed and inviting the client to consider their own experience.
For example:
"I've noticed you've mentioned feeling exhausted, finding it difficult to concentrate and feeling less connected to your work. What do you make of these changes?"
This allows the client to explore their experience without the coach imposing an interpretation.
Together, the coach and client can explore what has changed, how long these difficulties have been present and what may be contributing to them.
When the conversation suggests that burnout may be a possibility, the coach can gently introduce this for the client to consider.
For example:
"From what we've discussed, I'm wondering whether burnout might be something worth considering. What are your thoughts about that?"
The intention is not to diagnose burnout or lead the client towards a particular conclusion, but to support their awareness and understanding of what they are experiencing.
Burnout Is Not Simply an Individual Problem
Burnout develops through the interaction of multiple factors, including workplace demands, organisational culture, relationships and individual circumstances.
Maslach and Leiter (2016) identify six important areas of workplace experience: workload, control, reward, community, fairness and values. When these are compromised, particularly over prolonged periods, the risk of burnout increases.
Self-determination theory also identifies autonomy, relatedness and competence as fundamental psychological needs. When these are undermined within high-pressure work environments, the risk of burnout can increase (Deci et al., 2017).
The relational environment matters too. Emotional labour, particularly where people are expected to display emotions that do not reflect their actual feelings, has been associated with emotional exhaustion (Kariou et al., 2021).
Wider social circumstances can also influence a person's wellbeing and capacity to respond to workplace pressures. Family responsibilities, financial pressures, social expectations and access to support may all affect the resources available to someone experiencing burnout.
Consider someone experiencing excessive workloads, limited autonomy and inadequate organisational support.
They may be encouraged to improve their time management, develop resilience or establish better boundaries. Yet these strategies may have limited effect when the underlying conditions remain unchanged.
For coaches, it is important to recognise that while individuals may be able to influence how they respond to their circumstances, many of the conditions contributing to burnout may be outside their control. Coaching therefore needs to consider both the individual's experience and the wider environment in which they operate.
Resilience Has Its Limits
Burnout can affect anyone when ongoing demands exceed their capacity and the resources available to them. While resilience and emotional intelligence may help people manage workplace pressures, they cannot necessarily protect against prolonged exposure to unsustainable conditions (Parker et al., 2021).
As pressures build, coping strategies that previously worked may become less effective.
Coaches therefore need to be cautious about assuming that developing greater resilience is always the appropriate response.
We might instead ask ourselves:
Are we helping this person develop useful resources, or are we encouraging them to become better at tolerating unsustainable conditions?
What Does This Mean for Coaching Practice?
Understanding the complexity of burnout has important implications for how coaches work with clients.
1. Explore the wider context and social systems
Rather than focusing solely on the individual's responses, consider the workplace, relationships and wider social systems in which they operate. These may include organisational expectations, family responsibilities, social pressures and the support available to them.
For example:
"What is happening in your work and wider life that might be contributing to what you're experiencing?"
2. Understand what is realistically within the client's influence
Clients may have limited ability to change workloads, organisational expectations, workplace relationships or circumstances outside work.
Exploring these influences can help distinguish between the choices available to the client and the conditions they may have little ability to change.
For example:
"What do you feel you have control over in this situation?"
3. Avoid adding to the pressure
Clients experiencing burnout may already feel inadequate or believe they should be coping better.
Moving too quickly towards goals, performance improvements or action plans can unintentionally reinforce these pressures.
This is where coaching presence becomes particularly important. Being fully attentive, listening deeply and remaining open to the client's experience allows the coach to stay with what is emerging rather than moving too quickly towards solutions.
Often, creating space for clients to explore and make sense of their experience may be more useful than focusing on what they need to do next.
4. Work collaboratively
Rather than assuming what the client needs, explore what would be most helpful at this point.
For example:
"Given everything we've explored, what would be most useful for us to focus on in our coaching?"
This may involve considering available support, exploring realistic options or understanding the impact of their circumstances before deciding what to do next.
5. Explore whether additional support may be helpful
Burnout can significantly affect psychological and physical wellbeing. Where clients are experiencing substantial difficulties, coaches need to recognise when additional professional support may be appropriate.
This can be explored openly and collaboratively, rather than assuming what the client needs.
For example:
"We've talked about how much this is affecting you, both at work and outside it. I'm wondering what other support might be helpful for you at this point. Would you be open to exploring that together?"
Coaching can remain valuable alongside additional support, depending on the client's circumstances and needs.
Reflection for Coaches
Burnout is a multidimensional and evolving experience that cannot be attributed to a single cause or addressed through one approach.
Recognising the interaction between individual, relational and organisational factors allows coaches to respond with greater awareness and sensitivity to each client's circumstances.
Coaches have a responsibility to remain attuned to changes in their clients, share what they are noticing and invite open conversations about what clients may be experiencing. This includes remaining curious about the wider conditions affecting their wellbeing, rather than assuming the difficulties lie within the individual.
Perhaps this leaves us with an important question to consider in our own practice:
When we look beyond the individual to better understand their experience of burnout, how might this deepen our coaching conversations and support clients to make choices that positively influence their wellbeing?
Selected References
Deci, E. L., Olafsen, A. H., & Ryan, R. M. (2017). Self-determination theory in work organizations: The state of a science. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4, 19–43. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032516-113108
Kariou, A., Koutsimani, P., Montgomery, A., & Lainidi, O. (2021). Emotional labor and burnout among teachers: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(23), 12760. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312760
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 104–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311
Parker, G., Tavella, G., & Eyers, K. (2021). Burnout: A guide to identifying burnout and pathways to recovery. Allen & Unwin.
World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an occupational phenomenon. https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon
