We talk a lot in security about ‘burnout’. But we spend a lot less time talking about how to build resilient humans to minimise the risk of burnout…
This feels like we have fallen into the same trap with western medicine. Lots of treatment, often lots of expensive treatments. Little focus on making people into healthy, strong, active humans (physically and mentally).
We’ll leave a discussion on how the interests of pharmaceutical companies and their shareholders and people who benefit from them for another time. But remember their need to profit from treating illness really doesn’t align with your wellbeing and minimising your need for treatments!
Suffice to say prevention is way way better than cure.
Before we continue, let’s briefly define ‘burnout’, then we will look at some causes and signs, followed by what resilience is and how to build more resilient humans!
According to the WHO:
“Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
- feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
- increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
- reduced professional efficacy.
Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.”
What can this look like in the workplace? Look for signs that someone (including yourself here!) is;
- Less engaged,
- Less able to handle change, ambiguity or challenge,
- Takes more sick time,
- Appears more withdrawn
- Is more cynical or critical
- Less satisfied with role or successes
- Tired / less able to sleep well
- Eating more ‘comfort’ foods
- Exercising less
Notice I’ve used more / less a lot as all of these things are relative and will vary from person to person.
Many things can contribute to burnout;
- Feelings of a lack of control
- Too much work / pressure
- Constantly worrying about ‘what could happen – especially relevant in our field!
- Dysfunctional / unhealthy work environment
- Extra stress outside of work – don’t forget stress outside of work can reduce our capacity to deal with work stress
So how do we prevent burnout and be as resilient as possible?
Working on the assumption you can’t magically remove all the stress from your life and live on an idyllic island or whatever your perfect life is…
-
Live a healthy lifestyle!
This doesn’t mean you need to obsess, but the old adage ‘Healthy body, Healthy mind’ has a huge amount of truth to it.
Eat well, prepare food yourself where possible and maintain a healthy weight
Exercise – pick up heavy things, do high intensity and longer low intensity ‘cardio’
Get outside as much as possible, even in winter.
The healthier, stronger and fitter that you are, the better you are at handling stress and whatever life throws at you. Plus exercise is a great stress reliever!
-
Get enough sleep
As a parent, fighters coach and full time CISO I know how hard this can be, but trying to get a decent amount of sleep – ideally 7-8 hours a night really will help manage stress and keep you healthy.
It’s easy to cut back on sleep to fit everything in, but this is hugely counter productive. Lack of sleep will negatively affect your emotional state. I often find that I see the worst in everything and find it harder to believe people have good intentions when I am overtired. We all know how irritable we can get and how hard it is to think when we are not sleeping properly.
-
Build a support network
Find a team / family / gang / group – whatever you want to call it. People who are there for you, people you are there for. This seems to be an area that affects men more than women; a lot more men are reporting benign lonely and not having that close network around them. This can prove hugely problematic as who do you talk to about your problems or even just have some non work banter?
Speaking personally I have been here, had a period of being very low and just going through the motions which led to an absolutely disastrous marriage. I now have an extremely close group around me. We train together, break bread together and unquestionably have each others backs. This has genuinely made everything else in life better.
So please take my advice, dodge the terrible marriage and start working on finding your team. It’s often easiest to start this this through some sort of shared interest, which brings us to the next point!
-
Find a hobby
It doesn’t really matter what this is – anything you enjoy that will mean you are not thinking or worrying about work.
If it happens to be something you can share with others it helps with building your team from point 3!
-
Make time for your family
Be there for them. Be present. You and they will appreciate and benefit from this. Pick your kids up from school, tell your partner you love them, go for a walk together etc etc – doesn’t have to be complicated or costly.
-
Be open
Talk to people – your friends, family and colleagues if you are struggling!
People can’t help or support you if the don’t know you are struggling. Sometimes just getting things off your chest can be enough to help you start feeling better and formulating plans to improve things.
-
Finally…
If the workplace really is unhealthy, start working on getting to your next role. No organisation is worth your health and wellbeing. Don’t do anything rash here, as I’m sure you need your salary, but start planning, brush up your CV, look into training etc that will help you secure your next role. Just the act of planning and making moves will make you feel better as you will know you are working on a solution.
Finally (for real this time!) all of these things will help in all areas of your life. Being healthy and strong, getting sleep, having a support network and being present with your family will make everything better, not just work and your ability to handle work stress!
About Kevin Fielder:
Kevin Fielder, CISO, NatWest Boxed and Mettle by NatWest
Kevin is an innovative and dynamic security professional, with a passion for driving change by successfully engaging with all levels of the business. He is passionate about the benefits of cognitive diversity as a key ingredient of successful organisations.
He believes that security should be made a key differentiator to drive sales and customer retention, not just a cost centre.
Kevin has been a board advisor to multiple start-ups, such as The Cybermaniacs, TheClubCISO, and an advisory council member to ISC2 UK. He previously worked at FNZ Group and JustEat at a CISO. He’s currently the CISO at NatWest Boxed, a joint venture between NatWest and Vodeno, building the UK’s premier provider of banking-as-a-service, and Mettle, a small business bank account by NatWest.
Outside our industry Kevin is a strength and conditioning coach for multiple Muay Thai fighters as well as doing personal training and nutrition guidance as much as time permits.