The Empathy Edge

Dr. Rebecca Eldredge: Helping Leaders Manage Burnout, Overwhelm, and Compassion Fatigue

Oct 31, 2023

43:16

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Dr. Rebecca Eldredge, a licensed psychologist dedicated to empowering socially conscious leaders, shares invaluable insights on managing burnout and compassion fatigue. She discusses the balance of empathetic leadership with high performance during challenging times. Eldredge highlights the financial consequences of neglecting mental health and the necessity of psychological safety for fostering emotional expression at work. She emphasizes that self-care for leaders is crucial and explores how personal backgrounds shape emotional dynamics in the workplace.

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Quick takeaways

Leaders must cultivate self-awareness of their emotional state to effectively identify and manage burnout and compassion fatigue.

Creating psychological safety allows employees to express emotions openly, enhancing communication, engagement, and overall workplace culture while maintaining performance standards.

Deep dives

The Empathy Dilemma and Leadership Balance

Empathy in leadership is increasingly vital, yet many leaders struggle to balance compassion with performance. This struggle is exacerbated by the pressures of modern business, where tough decisions often clash with the need to support employees emotionally. The podcast highlights the importance of self-care for leaders, emphasizing that neglecting one's own needs can compromise their ability to help others and make sound decisions. By acknowledging the high cost of consistently giving to others without self-care, leaders can better manage their responsibilities.

Intro

2min

Navigating Empathy and Performance in Leadership

3min

Empathetic Leadership in Challenging Times

21min

Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

7min

Emotional Expression and Leadership Care

8min

Harnessing Empathy for Effective Brand Storytelling

2min

Leaders are crunched right now. Many are valiantly trying to adopt empathetic and Compassionate Leadership models to adapt to what employees on the market demand new models of leadership that are more human, but some still struggle to balance that with making tough business decisions, setting boundaries, and achieving high-performance standards - serendipitously, the subject of my next book.

Today, Dr. Rebecca Eldredge, a licensed psychologist who supports socially conscious leaders, changemakers, and organizations shares how leaders can identify signs of overwhelm and burnout in their lives and respond to compassionate fatigue. We discussed the huge financial costs to your organization of ignoring mental health, or pushing through when others are counting on you. We also talked about why allowing emotions at work is key to psychological safety, and how leaders who might be reluctant can get more comfortable making space and time for emotions in the workplace to increase engagement, performance, and retention. Take a deep breath and take a listen.

To access the episode transcript, please click on the episode title at www.TheEmpathyEdge.com

Key Takeaways:

The more familiar you are with the state of relaxation in yourself, the easier you will recognize when burnout begins and you are not in that state of calm.
You don’t have to have days or weeks of calm to draw on, it can be even a moment of peace to recognize those calm, nervous system queues.
Being empathetic doesn’t mean you don’t do the hard things, it means you’re deliberate and thoughtful when communicating and making those hard decisions.
With the skyrocketing costs of healthcare (often as a direct result of stress and burnout), we cannot afford to not take care of our mental and emotional health.

"You're much more equipped to make solid decisions when you are connected and when you are in an empathetic and compassionate role with others - and also with yourself." — Dr. Rebecca Eldredge

About Dr. Rebecca Eldredge: For the past 20 years, Dr. Rebecca Eldredge has used her commitment to mental health, cultural competence, and social justice to support individuals and organizations to cultivate compassion for themselves as they bring compassion and justice to their organizations and communities. She has been honored to work with corporations, university departments, and refugee resettlement agencies as well as hundreds of diverse clients. Dr. Eldredge completed both her M.A. and her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and has taught adjunct in the University of Houston's and Our Lady of the Lake's graduate psychology programs. She is also a Step into Your Moxie® Certified Facilitator.

Connect with Dr. Rebecca Eldredge:

Website: https://rebeccaephd.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-a-eldredge-phd/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.rebecca_feel_deeply

Chrysalis: https://rebeccaephd.com/chrysalis-small-group

Speaking: https://rebeccaephd.com/speaking

Facilitations/Trainings: https://rebeccaephd.com/facilitation

Join the tribe, download your free guide! Discover what empathy can do for you: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy

Connect with Maria:

Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com

Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com

Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross