Advice for overworked directors and staff.

(photo by Ania Stypulkowski)

We spoke with a founder/ E.D. of an emerging community arts centre for youth that is just a few years old. I had founded and worked for 17 years at ArtHeart (former name: A Home for Creative Opportunity). She asked me how I dealt with staff burn-out, as she is experiencing that now—especially after founding a centre and doing all it takes to get it off the ground. I’m sure other people could weigh in here, but, on the spot, here’s what I thought of…

1)   Take a vacation/time out. Getting away from the art centre can restore energy, health, as well as perspective—one can come back with a whole new take on the same situation. So ultimately this can create greater efficiency. I remember in my first few years of A Home for Creative Opportunity, once in a blue moon, when I’d simply say, I had to get out, I’d go see a matinee.

2)   Delegate. (This was my grandmother’s favourite word!) Look at your job description and see what you could parcel out—ie: create another job out of a group of tasks, or assign parts to volunteers, interns, even participants. Expand the job description of another staff, by reassigning some of the parts of your job. Here you can create more part-time jobs and bring in people with specific skills/expertise.

3)   Hire a p/t fundraiser- even for a half-day or one day a week to start with, to share the load with you, and to help you feel that the art centre’s future and sustainability is not all on your shoulders.

4)   Allow for fallow time within programs, or studio time. If we are producing all the time, and doing so many projects, it becomes exhausting, and staff can start to feel over-worked, and even resentful. Allow for a month, or week of creativity/art making without there being a special project organized or an expectation of output. In fact, one could name this time with a project name ie: February is Create Your Own Thing Month/Week, or the No-Project Month/Week ie: open studio. This can take the pressure off of staff by reducing expectations from both participants and funders/stake-holders. In this kind of period, new ideas could naturally come to surface, as people aren’t focused on producing.

5)  Set up new projects, so that the work isn’t the same old program, a new idea and coming together to try something new, refreshes.

6)  Enroll in an art class or a class that is about enrichment or fun, to get your mind away from issues and the art centre.

7) Talk it out with friends/ or a therapist if need be, to not lose yourself. Write in a journal, paint… exercise, go for walks…get into nature, dance…sleep, have fun.

8)   Once we brought in an art-therapist to lead our staff through a group art therapy session called: “Dealing with Burn-Out” We made pictures about burn-out, talked about it and learned from each other. One thing I learned from another staff, was:  reframe. Look at the situation from a different angles.

9) Recognize when a staff is burnt-out, give them a day off, they can always make it up later.

10) Observe/set up allowable paid sick days (which include mental health days!) Work this out with your board/HR committee, so that if a staff really needs a break due to exhaustion or whatever, they can take a day without being worried that pay will be docked.

11) Leave of absence without pay.

12) Medical leave

13)  Look at reason for burn-out. Too many conflicts? -Bring in a conflict mediator! Or a facilitator to look at changing patterns, addressing issues, adding a staff. Funding short-fall? Look at temporarily reducing program time. Board/staff issues? Bring in a strategic planner, do a session, bring in a conflict mediator, or facilitator. Look at bringing in a professional or solving the problem. Constructive changes can lead to a better centre/program =lower burnout.

14) Give raises, bonuses, or an appreciation party for staff. Take staff out to dinner or give them tickets to movies.