Beating Burnout at Work - by Paula Davis (Paperback)

About the Book

A first-of-its-kind, science-backed toolkit takes a holistic approach to burnout prevention by helping individuals, teams, and leaders build resilience and thrive at work. In Beating Burnout at Work, Paula Davis, founder of the Stress & Resilience Institute, provides a new framework to help organizations prevent employee burnout.

Book Synopsis

A first-of-its-kind, science-backed toolkit takes a holistic approach to burnout prevention by helping individuals, teams, and leaders build resilience and thrive at work.

Burnout has become one of the most talked about workplace topics, and its impact is far-reaching. The 24/7 pace of work, constant demands, and scant resources can easily put busy professionals on a path to burnout, a cycle that has only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Burnout affects the health and well-being of the entire organization, yet most attempts to help focus on quick-fix strategies aimed at individuals. Something is missing.

In Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience, Paula Davis, founder of the Stress & Resilience Institute, provides a new framework to help organizations prevent employee burnout.

Davis's research-driven, fast-reading, and actionable book is the first of its kind to explore a new solution to the burnout problem at work: a comprehensive approach focused on building the resilience of teams of all sizes. Davis argues that teams, and their leaders, are uniquely positioned to create the type of cultures that are needed to prevent burnout.

In Beating Burnout at Work, Davis shares stories from her work coaching, teaching, and training leaders and teams of all sizes, and she explores: How she navigated her own burnout as a lawyer, and how that led her to study burnout and launch a business with the aim of helping organizations and their employees become more resilient; How teams and leaders can utilize simple, science-backed strategies to create cultures that promote resilience and well-being and reduce burnout; How the Mayo Clinic, one of the most renowned medical centers in the world, has developed a powerful model to reduce burnout in its organization; How organizations dealing with high-stress challenges, including the US Army, work to increase resilience in a systemic way; andHow the German company trivago is piloting a new approach to work amid COVID-19 in order to increase team connection and resilience.Solving the burnout puzzle requires a systemic approach. In Beating Burnout at Work, Davis offers an actionable method to help leaders create cultures of well-being and resilience in their organizations.

Review Quotes

"Building resilience is a team sport, not an individual trait. In this groundbreaking book, Paula Davis gives us a roadmap for creating stronger teams and sustainable well-being. Beating Burnout at Work is loaded with practical strategies and steeped in great research."-- "Tom Rath, author of Life's Great Question and StrengthsFinder 2.0"

"I don't remember being a part of a team that enjoys getting together and talking through issues as much as the group I'm working with now, and I can credit much of that to the tools Paula gave us and shares in her book, Beating Burnout at Work."-- "Lauren A. Shure, Maj, USAF, Deputy Chief, Special Victims' Counsel"

"In Beating Burnout at Work, Paula Davis provides a critical field guide for explaining burnout in your organization as well as some practical steps that organizations and teams can use to avoid it. This book is a must for anyone who's feeling overwhelmed and looking to find ways to get back into balance."-- "Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology at Yale, Host of the Happiness Lab Podcast, and Creator of Yale's Most Popular Course, Psychology & the Good Life"

"Not only was Beating Burnout at Work informative, but reading it was delightful. Davis nailed the art of delivering complex, evidence-based information using accessible language, a smooth cadence and such a relatable voice. Best of all is the way she animated key points with anecdotes and storytelling. Here is how engaged I was: If the book were a person I would take it to lunch immediately just to swap stories with a smart friend."-- "Alyssa Brennan, Director, Strategic Projects, Global Security & Resilience Services at Google"

"The unique team and systems approach in Beating Burnout at Work is practical and goes beyond treating the symptoms of individual burnout to identifying and treating root causes that impact everyone in the work environment. This sets the stage for lasting change."-- "Beth Hammer, MSN, RN, ANP-BC"

"The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated a trend that has permeated throughout the workplace: We're all feeling more stretched, more exhausted, and more overwhelmed. Beating Burnout at Work highlights how we can diagnose burnout, and how leaders can change work practices to ensure their employees are able to bounce back stronger and more resilient than before."-- "Dr. Jon M. Jachimowicz, Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior Unit, Harvard Business School"

"Timely lessons, in mercifully compact form."-- "Financial Times"

"Paula is a thought leader in the application of the science of resilience to teams, and I'm excited that she has translated her incredible work into such a user-friendly guide for leaders and organizations. As questions about the future of work increase, her book opens the door for a much-needed conversation about burnout and how to create positive cultures at work."-- "Mary Shen O'Carroll, Director of Operations, Technology & Strategy, Google"

"Searching, empathetic, and timely . . . . Davis describes the burnout process as more complicated than simply being tired from working too hard; she views it as a manifestation of chronic workplace stress, and as a 'gateway process' to more serious health problems, such as depression and panic attacks. She asserts that the key to getting through burnout is to avoid trying to do so alone. The silver bullet, she says, is teamwork."-- "Kirkus"

"Understanding how to avoid burnout and build resilience in yourself and in your team is, more than ever, a foundational and essential skill. No one understands this topic more deeply than Paula Davis, and in Beating Burnout at Work she outlines a powerful data-driven and research-based framework for countering burnout."-- "Jack Newton, CEO and Founder, Clio, and author of The Client-Centered Law Firm"

About the Author

Paula Davis JD, MAPP, is the Founder and CEO of the Stress and Resilience Institute, a training and consulting firm that partners with organizations to help them reduce burnout and build resilience at the team, leader, and organizational level. Paula left her law practice after seven years and earned a master's degree in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. As part of her post-graduate training, Paula was selected to be part of the University of Pennsylvania faculty teaching and training resilience skills to soldiers as part of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program. The Penn team trained resilience skills to more than 40,000 soldiers and their family members. Paula is the author of Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience (Wharton School Press), which is about burnout prevention using a teams-based approach. Her expertise has been featured in The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, and many other publications. Paula is also a contributor to Forbes, Fast Company, and Psychology Today. Paula is a two-time recipient of the distinguished teaching award from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Paula's website is www.stressandresilience.com, and you can reach her directly at paula@stressandresilience.com.