Unraveling Faculty Burnout Chapter 5 Connection

Chapter 5 of Unraveling Faculty Burnout looks at connection, the topic of this mini-episode.

Transcript

Chapter 5 of Unraveling Faculty Burnout looks at connection, the topic of this mini-episode.

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Welcome to this special series of bite-sized agile academic episodes about my book, Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways for Reckoning and Renewal, available from Johns Hopkins University Press. I talk through what you’ll find in each chapter, read a short excerpts, and even share thoughts from women who contributed to the book. Unraveling Faculty Burnout ships September 20. Links are in the transcript. I’m your host, Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark. And now, on to the mini-episode.

In chapter 5 of Unraveling Faculty Burnout, I tackle a subject that is always a challenge for my inner introvert – connection. I think introversion is pretty common in academia, but there is no research that says introverts experience higher rates of burnout than our extroverted peers. I mention this because it can be easier to miss symptoms of burnout in introverts who may keep to themselves more. In this excerpt that draws from a few different places in the chapter, I explore why connection is one of the burnout resilience pillars and why it’s so important.

"I’ve included connection as one of the four pillars of burnout resilience because it’s (1) something I don’t think I’ve ever been good at, (2) the thing burnout took first from me, and (3) the action that was most important to overcoming my burnout. Burnout is a cultural signal that the patriarchal nature of higher ed, with its focus on achievement, productivity, and rugged individuality, is at odds with the best interests of academic women, faculty of color, non-tenure-track and adjunct faculty, and even graduate students. If I had not connected to others, I never would have realized how common my situation was or in what good company I was in feeling this fear of disconnection from what I had always seen as my safe community in higher education.

 In her book Hivemind (2019), Sarah Rose Cavanagh explores how the evolutionary importance of connection and belonging is at odds with the philosophy of American individualism, as well as the idea that belonging is a key to mental health. Flourishing requires belonging, community, and social support from others who “share a common understanding of how the world works and which values to uphold” (221). Like any community, academics crave to belong and be appreciated, and building community is an evolutionary imperative for our health and happiness (225), which was definitely true for me in higher ed.

Humans thrive in collaborative communities, where they feel a sense of belonging and meaningful contribution to shared goals and values. Healthy workplace cultures foster social support among community members by creating a climate of trusting relationships and amiable interactions between colleagues in the pursuit of shared goals (Esfahani Smith 2017, 49–50). Sabagh, Hall, and Saroyan (2018) found that the higher the level of social and administrative support in an academic culture, the less likely members are to report feelings of burnout (138). But that support is not necessarily or inherently created in the context of higher ed institutions.

Burnout is a social problem in workplace cultures, especially in higher education, where that sense of belonging, support, and mutual pursuits is absent or replaced by ongoing conflicts, active or under the surface. Jonathan Malesic (2016) maintains that “academic culture fosters burnout when it encourages overwork, promotes a model of professors as isolated entrepreneurs, and offers little recognition for good teaching or mentoring. The persistent financial stress on colleges and universities only exacerbates the problem.”

 The stresses associated with higher ed are real and pervasive. For me, burnout initially presented as depression and the heightening of my existing competitive instinct. I ramped up competition with everyone around me, which unfortunately led to conflict, conflict that I regret but that also showed me I needed another path. Departmental, institutional, or even disciplinary conflict and competition can be disenfranchising and make resilience challenging.

 I didn’t know until after my breakdown and having to ask my chair and dean for a medical leave that others had been worried about the pace at which I was forcing myself to run. Two senior colleagues in my office suite later told me they had been worried for some time, that I had always been sick and looked frustrated and exhausted all the time. And my chair would eventually tell me she had been concerned for my health every time she read my year-end self-evaluation document. I don’t know if I would have listened to them if they had told me these things before burnout, but because I had distanced myself, I had robbed myself of their perspective and compassion, which might have impacted my work and life earlier.

One primary place we look for connection is our institutions. In these sites of immediate community, faculty can “share praise, comfort, happiness, and humor with people they like and respect,” as well as assistance and other forms of support (Maslach, Schaufeli, and Leiter 2001, 415). In a study of faculty developers, Klodiana Kolomitro, Natasha Kenny, and Suzanne Le-May Sheffield (2020) found that “colleagues who were supportive, empathetic, respectful, caring, competent, appreciative, helpful, and enthusiastic had a positive impact” (4). Having colleagues who are supportive and also receive support is crucial to connection and community and therefore to warding off burnout."

Throughout the chapter I look at how higher ed’s competition mindset can lead to burnout, and look at groups of people and activities we can turn to for connection. By connection, I certainly mean relating to other people like family, friends, and colleagues, but also connecting to ourselves, our interests, our missions, things we might lose in the throes of burnout. I explore these connection more in the balance chapter, the last of the book and subject of the next episode.

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 Thanks for listening to this mini-episode of the agile academic podcast for women in higher ed based on my book Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways for Reckoning and Renewal. The book is available from Johns Hopkins University Press, and you’ll find a link to the page in the transcript. If you are interested in doing a book club on your campus and having me speak with your faculty, please email me at agilefaculty dot rpr at gmail dot com.