Article: Coping with Crisis After Burnout

This article was written for a website focused on supporting working mothers.

Too Close to the Rocks

If a 19-year-old man doesn’t show up to a Monday morning class, it’s typically no big deal.

Maybe he turned a Friday night out drinking with friends into a party weekend.

Maybe he met someone.

Maybe he just wanted to sleep in…

But this young man, Private Smith, was a Signaler in the Canadian Army.

He knew that when you missed a class, you could be charged.

I thought Private Smith was probably okay, that this would be a short disruption to my work as the local Base Public Affairs Officer.

But no one had seen or spoken to him in three days.

Three days turned into four.

I reached out to the community for help.

Water Coming In

A surge is what we call public affairs work in a crisis, as if I was endlessly piling sandbags to respond to the rising tide of media requests.

I fielded innumerable calls and attended meetings with the senior officers of the Base, with local and military police, and with Private Smith’s unit, among others. Base Operations organized search parties to sweep the areas in and around the private’s most likely route back to barracks Friday night, and I prepped his commanding officer for on camera interviews.

Faster than I could Bail Out the Boat

I wrote feverishly, trying to sate the hunger of the media and the public for information with progress reports that were not looking good.

My husband saw me negotiating media interviews while the first of the searchers were heading out. He told me I shone, like a bright white sail high on the water.

But I was Sinking

I’d been struggling for months to find the smart, capable self I’d lost after returning from maternity leave with my second child. The more I struggled, the more depression found room to grow in my heart, rising like another tide that threatened to drown me.

When Private Smith was found deep in the icy mouth of the Cataraquai River, the military and community were filled with sorrow for him and his grieving family. But my ability to cope had already been washed away.

You’re Not the Only Swimmer

According to a 2020 study by Maven, reported by CNBC, “roughly 9.8 million working mothers in the U.S. are suffering from workplace burnout.”

Catching a Life Buoy

Factorial HR has several recommendations for crisis management in the workplace:

Be Prepared

A good business should have plans available for its most likely crises. Familiarize yourself with these and see if your employer would agree to practice them.

Respond

Many businesses have crisis response teams (CRTs) that take over management in evolving situations.

If you’re part of the team or are on the front line, keep in mind the importance of:         

Establishing the facts – gathering information is important. You need to understand the situation to properly respond.

Check facts with the people involved, with your superiors, and with the CRT.

Collaboration – crises can affect many people within an organization.

Identify stakeholder groups (those affected) and make sure to keep them informed of the ongoing situation.

Communication – crisis response should be “consistent and authentic.”

The response should come from a single trustworthy source, knowledgeable of the situation and with the authority to speak.

This had been my job in the search for Private Smith.

Recover

The wind down of a crisis is a “time for reflection” and support.

Leaders should communicate to employees on how the business plans to respond if a similar crisis happens in future and should offer support to those who need it.

Call for Help

Throughout the search, I’d thought of the young man.

I was old enough to be his mother and – though my children were small – I easily imagined the pain of one of them going missing.

I told this to my colleagues, seeking shared empathy.

But my colleagues were mostly men and, though supportive, could not offer a mother’s perspective or compassion.

Rise Above

Because of the pandemic, we haven’t been able to see our friends or spend time with those who get us, but our social relationships have never been more important.

Reach out, even if it’s just a quick text.

Our friends and loved ones are there to support us as much as we’re there to support them.

I would not have survived the crisis without mine.