“England’s top players are expected to have their time in the IPL limited to best prepare for the Test series, according to a report in The Times”.
– The Times
This decision was taken ahead of Ashes ( series with Australia), the players were restricted to participate in the first two weeks of IPL. The reason given was that England wanted to improve their chances of winning the Ashes. The issue became controversial because last summer when some players participated in IPL, some of them had to be rested before a major series as they were not in peak form because of “fatigue & burnout” from IPL.
Burnout – this is a very common word in the corporate sector, the question is what causes this burnout? Why do employees fail to be in top form during or after burnout? What are the impacts on the company and employees?
According to a study conducted by “Gallup”, the major reasons for ‘Burnout” are :
Unmanageable workload – a very common word in sports psychology, coaches use is “mental quicksand”, this is used to describe how poor performance can cause players to feel overwhelmed. This causes a cascading effect on the performance and leads to further strings of poor performances. High-performing employees can quickly shift from optimistic to hopeless as they drown in an unmanageable workload. In such situations employees look forward to support from their managers and want help for finding others to help them.
Unfair treatment at work – When employees start feeling that they are getting unfair treatment at work, their performance is impacted. Unfair treatment can include everything from bias, favoritism, and mistreatment by a coworker to unfair compensation or corporate policies. The absence of trust leads to Burnout.
Role Clarity – I was reading an article in Economic Times about the India Cricket team, the extracts “The Indian cricket team seems to be suffering from a lack of role clarity, which appears to be hampering their performance. Quite clearly, when the coach and captain are at loggerheads when the two seniormost players in the team are contenders for captaincy when the place of the captain himself is under threat, and when the board is rife with internal politics, role clarity is bound to be a casualty”. When employees lack role clarity demotivation is bound to seep in.
Disempowerment – A lack of control over your work can be incredibly frustrating. Whether due to micromanagement or a simple lack of trust, if you’re not given the freedom or resources you need to get the job done, burnout is likely to occur before long.
Lack of Communication – I have personally seen managers (armchair managers) just bark orders. They are also good at taking credit for the work of the team and very poor at giving credit for their work. Teams under such managers have a greater tendency to burn out.
The list is long but the core issue is that whenever you find yourself in this situation either highlight the issues and speak out or if things still don’t work out then work on your skills and move out of such a toxic place. - Vikas Marwaha
