If you’re working in the helping field, chances are you are seeing, or have seen, staff taking extended stress leave or sick leave. Often organizations in the helping field are short on resources and high on demand – basically there is too much to do for the amount of staff actively working (read: high caseloads and multiple demands). It seems as though in the past year I have heard about multiple long-term leaves due to stress or illness in various counseling agencies. As a compassion fatigue coach I help people learn how to assess their compassion fatigue on a regular basis and use strategies to prevent circumstances that could lead to compassion fatigue or worse – burnout. I also work my ass off to keep myself healthy while working as a counselor in a high-demand field.
Often I will ask people how they respond to organizational requests to take on more work. Usually someone takes a leave and their work had to be taken on by others in the organization. What do you do when this happens to you and management asks you to take on a new role or pick up an extra responsibility? Do you stop and assess your current load and reflect on the impact this new role or task will take on you? Do you think about the energy it takes for you to manage your current caseload/workload and how that would change? Or do you just say “Yep, sure can!” because you’re a helper and helpers always want to help when they can.
I invite you to think about your current workload and how you might start to protect yourself, and your energy, from additional responsibilities. Now what happens if you realize that taking on one more thing is really going to put your health at risk – do you feel okay saying, “no”, or negotiating a way to make it manageable for both parties? Does the thought of asserting your needs to management scare you? Do you just assume there will be no room for negotiation and accept what comes your way? Granted some organizations will have management that does not really care about your well being, so long as the work gets done…. but others really do care and need your feedback. By asserting your needs you may very well be preventing your own illness or stress leave, which would have an even greater impact on the organization.
Here is a strategy that you can try when you want to assert your concerns/needs. The EDC Model of Communication stands for Empathize, Describe and Clarify. I learned this strategy when I was in grad school and I have no idea who the original source is – but it is not me (if you know who, please let me know so I can credit them:). Now back to the EDC model. We start with empathizing because it allows us to let the other person know that we really understand where they are coming from. By letting them know right away that we understand their point of view, we are allowing them to actually listen to us instead of focusing on how to argue their point the moment we stop talking. Now this doesn’t mean that you have to agree with their point of view, but it does mean that you understand how they are experiencing it. Next is the Describe stage – here you describe the situation from your experience in an objective and rational manner. You describe the impact on you as you experience it. The final stage is to Clarify your needs or how you would like to see the situation progress.
Here is an example of how you might assert yourself to a manager asking you to take on additional work: ” EMPATHIZE I understand that we are short staffed and that there are additional responsibilities that need to be filled. DESCRIBE I am concerned that with my current workload of ——(state your current workload)—- that taking on additional tasks will be a bit much to manage and I may not be able to carry it all to the best of my ability. CLARIFY perhaps we could discuss this further to determine what has higher priority and how we could negotiate my workload to meet the needs of the organization as best I can.” In this example you are still showing that you are a team player, but you are letting it be known that additional work could result in negative impacts on yourself and the work being done.
Some organizations will be thankful that you are open and honest and will work with you to create an optimal situation for everyone, while others may not be so supportive and unfortunately this may require some reflection on your part as to whether you want to stay in that type of environment.
I would love to hear if you have experience in asserting your needs when asked to take on additional work. Please comment below and share any tips or strategies that have worked for you.
Cheers,
Charlene