Issue 26(1)
Banishing
Burnout: Six Strategies for Improving Your Relationship with Work.
(2005). Michael P. Leiter and Cristina Maslach. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass. 193 pp. Price $19.95 (hardcover). ISBN 0-7879-7608-3.
Review
by: Kris Rugsaken
Advising
Center Coordinator
Ball
State Universitry
Have
you lost excitement, energy, and enthusiasm in your work? Is getting
up in the morning difficult? Are you experiencing work as drudgery?
Is your job painfully empty? If so, you are not alone. Job burnout
is among the top expenses in the nation's economy.
Burnout
is a phenomenon that affects every type of work, academic advising
included. Like computer viruses, it is increasing exponentially
in modern work places. As a result, hundreds of books and thousands
of articles have been written to help workers overcome or prevent
job burnout. Among them is this text by Michael P. Leiter and
Christina Maslach, both leading experts on job burnout prevention.
As
the title suggests, the authors of this 193 page book lay down
ground rules for individuals interested in overcoming job burnout.
They detail how to rebuild a rewarding relationship with work.
The authors outline their revolutionary new program in chapters
that progress from identifying the causes of burnout, to understanding
job "mismatches," to customizing and applying action plans that
will help the reader to achieve career goals.
Although
all chapters are interrelated, to be successful the reader will
find it necessary to follow the strategies, step-by-step and in
recommended order. The reader seeking to win over burnout will
first need to pinpoint the areas of mismatches by completing a
self-assessment that leads to the creation of a unique personal
profile. The personal profile serves as the base to guide readers
to the relevant strategy for finding solutions. With personal
profile in hand, the reader can develop an individualized plan
of action. Each action plan includes four-steps: defining the
problem, setting objectives, taking action, and tracking progress.
This
book would be best used in a classroom situation with an instructor
who could check progress toward goals. Unfortunately, those of
us who lack the self-discipline needed to monitor our progress
from one step to the next would likely "drop out" before the ending
of the process. However, each chapter ends with an illustrative
case example that demonstrates the process for combating job depression.
Each case example demonstrates how an individual has used his
or her self profile to develop an action plan that made a dramatic
change in the workplace experience and advanced his or her career
development.
For
those serious about rebuilding a positive relationship with work
and who are dedicated to completing the suggested strategies,
this book can be a great tool. Those lacking self-discipline would
be better off looking for the solutions elsewhere.
