Coaching to prevent or overcome burnout:

WINGS, a coaching model by TRAJECTIVES

Burnout is an experience of professional exhaustion after a long-term period of stress. The burnout victim is burnt and destroyed little by little from the inside, while looking the same from the outside. Burnout is not a personality disorder; it is a process that drives someone to emotional and physical exhaustion.

The WINGS model has been designed as an acronym and a metaphor. In phases 1 and 2 we portray how the burnout candidates live and experience themselves in the upwards, and then downwards spiral in which they are trapped. In phase 3, we outline the risk zones, in phase 4 we quantify the coach’s interventions and the specific skills to apply, and in phase 5 we describe how transformation has been completed and its benefits.

Phase 1: Taking flight

To begin with, the acronym describes this ascending phase, like a bird taking flight.

Willing: the burnout candidates are passionate and ambitious. They are willing to obtain the means to make their dreams come true.

Through the coaching process, loyalty, the high desire to prove something, and singular accountability are often uncovered.

Intelligent: Be it cognitive or pragmatic, their intelligence is often revealed by their courage and first-rate work ethic, regardless of the situation. These qualities enable them to assess most situations and to act quickly and with fluidity, just as they have throughout their careers.

Noteworthy: These candidates are regarded with esteem and respected in their positions. They believe they have earned this recognition due to their intense work.

Get-up-and-go: They are very active with great energy that they can renew very quickly.
Self-confident: They are self-assured and show determination; their gut-feelings never let them down. They feel a gentle and creative euphoria.

After this initial phase, these candidates take off into an ascending spiral. They share their good spirits and enthusiasm with those around them. They inspire, attract, and create allies.

Phase 2: When burnout sets in

At one point the skywards spiral changes direction and burnout candidates make perceptible shifts. The acronym WINGS offers guidelines to identify these changes.

When Willing turns into addicted: Ambitious, the burnout candidates become addicted to their commitments. Their identity shifts from ‘our company’ to “my company, my project, my baby, my work.”
Visible consequences: Loss of life-work balance; discrepancy between events and their impacts that is either excessive or ignored.

When Intelligent turns into too narrowly focused: Intelligence is concentrated on a tightly focused expertise. The field of experience is no longer open and they become closed to new ideas. They are obsessed with the idea of refining their work.
Visible consequences: Impossible to step back and have a clear and unbiased view of the situation; loss of interest in other people and in social life in general.

When Noteworthy turns into over-invested: The sense of responsibility has shifted from legitimacy to over-investment. Recognition on a project moves from “I am a contributor” to “It all depends on me.”
Visible consequences: A search for perfection, and poor delegation. They feel guilty: “I’m not up to it any more” .

When Get-up-and-go turns into limitless: Energy, as an available resource is focused and channeled towards one single goal: to achieve performance. Burnout candidates assume that their energy is unlimited; they don’t allow themselves the means to recharge their batteries.
Visible consequences: It’s difficult for them to picture their limits since only the goal counts. Exhaustion sets in with all the consequences of project or work overindulgence.

When Self-confident turns into self-destructive: Self-confidence equals: “I can take any risk.” Risks are underestimated or ignored; what is important for them is to push their own limits to the end.
Visible consequences: Professional and relational mistakes; self-destructive behavior sets in.

Phase 3: Anticipating the shift before sliding into burnout

In this model we suggest guidelines to spot how far the client is engaged in the burnout process. The acronym WINGS enables us to name the risk zones and the warning signs of the downwards spiral.

Burnout is different from a lack of professional commitment. Burnout candidates are ambitious or passionate, and are fully engaged in their jobs, in their professions, or in their passions. They lapse into burnout when the flame lessens, and they fade away when everything is burnt.

Phase 4: Surfing on the positive spiral without sliding into burnout

Burnout clients pressure their coach; they want to go faster and to reproduce their spirals.
At this point in the coaching process, it is both a necessary and a very delicate step for the clients. Denying their need to speak about themselves and their priorities is what has driven them little by little towards burnout. However, this is precisely where the spiral can be transformed. In this path of self-development, clients will be able to look at their vulnerability, to acknowledge both their blind spots and their strengths, to get rid of their defensive shells and perceive their environment accurately.

The role of the coach in a burnout situation

The acronym WINGS here describes the coaching process and role in this supporting capacity:

Warn: The coach’s first duty is to warn the clients about potential risks to both their physical and emotional health and to name the process: “What I see”…”What I know...”

Internalize: The coach works in the “here and now,” describes their feelings and thus allows the clients to do the same. Through this process, within the coaching session, the clients get the opportunity to re-examine experiences and internalize them. This work requires time and experimentation in order for them to really feel their needs.

Normalize: Here, the coach guides the clients to move from a self-destructive pattern and to recognize what is going on in the present reality. Burnout generates feelings of guilt tinged with victimization, and the coach helps the clients to free themselves from those feelings.

Guide: The burnout candidates require a great deal of support, help, and above all guidance. The structure provided by the coach will reassure them and foster resilience. This structure will encourage the candidates to engage in new relational experiences with their environment.

Solidify: During the coaching process, the clients will bring together experiences and learn new behaviors revealed while interacting with the coach and the environment. This coaching process is a time to assimilate and integrate previously unused skills and competencies.

The coach provides support for new learning experiences, learning how to delegate, scheduling time off, and taking time off without feeling guilty.

Conclusion

This type of coaching enables the clients to “regain control” and at the same time to develop a new flexibility. They learn to integrate two polarities like two wings, regaining peace of wind without losing creative passion (Phase 5).

Preventing or coaching burnout enables clients to bounce back, to regain self-awareness and self-acceptance. With these new foundations, the clients’ creative passion serves their interests and their goals in life. This passion becomes more and more constructive and above all more present.