Have you ever been burned out with leading your business? Or, do you have any leaders or staff on your team that might be feeling overloaded and are in the midst of burning out? With the end of the year fast approaching we thought this episode might be helpful for you or to share with someone on your team.
Our guest today is Laura Nguyen, and she shares with us how burn out does not have to lead to a breaking point and shows us how to conquer career breaks.
TODAY’S WIN-WIN:
Be proactive as an employer to provide resources to your team members and be proactive as an employee to have a plan and get ahead of the total burnout.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
- You can visit our guest’s website at:
- Get a copy of our guest’s book: CLICK HERE.
- Attend our Franchise Sales Training Workshop:
- https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/franchisesalestraining/
- If you are ready to franchise your business or take it to the next level: CLICK HERE.
- Connect with our guest on social:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauran546/
- https://www.instagram.com/lauranguyen.co
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Laura Nguyen is an experienced marketing executive and entrepreneur with an extensive background in data-driven marketing, digital marketing and communications for Fortune 500 companies. She is the founder of Solle Solutions, a marketing consultancy. Laura is also a certified executive coach, helping mid-career, high-achieving leaders go from burned out to balanced through her coaching program and online community. Laura received her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science at Truman State University, and her Master in Business Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology. She lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with her family.
ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or by calling Big Sky Franchise Team at: 855-824-4759.
If you are interested in being a guest on our podcast, please complete this request form or email podcast@bigskyfranchise.com and a team member will be in touch.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:01):
Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I’m your host, Tom DuFore, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. And as we open today, I’m wondering if you have ever burned out with leading your business, or do you have any leaders or staff on your team that might be feeling overloaded and are in the midst of burning out? Well, with the end of the year fast approaching, I thought this episode might be helpful for you or to share with someone on your team or maybe someone you know.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:37):
Our guest today is Laura Nguyen, and she shares with us how burnout does not have to lead to a breaking point and shows us how to conquer those career breaks. Now Laura is a certified executive coach helping mid-career, high-achieving leaders go from burned out to balanced, through her coaching program and online community. She’s the author of the book, Career Breaks Compass, and she’s the Founder of her own marketing consultancy. You’re going to love my interview with Laura, so let’s go ahead and jump right into it.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (01:08):
I’m Laura Nguyen, I own Solle Solutions, I’m a Founder and Executive Coach.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (01:13):
I’m excited to have you on to really be talking about this idea about career breaks. And it was one of the things that really stood out to me and it’s something I find interesting, largely because I think sometimes entrepreneurs, people who become entrepreneurs, maybe start a business because they were ready for a career break or had a passion for something. So, let’s just take a step back and talk about what a career break is and why is this an interest of yours?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (01:40):
Yeah, this is a great question. So a career break actually has different facets to it. So a career break could be where you resign from let’s say your corporate job, and you are looking to recharge and maybe pivot into something different, which for a lot of entrepreneurs that tends to be the path, right? It might’ve been a side hustle for them and then they switch and make it a full-time gig, but in between they take a little bit of a break.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (02:02):
The second is a sabbatical, which basically is, you’re taking an extended break from what you’re currently doing and you’re coming back to that specific role. So that typically is an organization-defined break, meaning that the organization has a sabbatical program.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (02:17):
The third is a leave of absence, and so these are typically voluntary leaves of absence and for some people it could be a mental health leave of absence, where the stress and the burnout are at a really high degree and they need to take a step away from work to be able to recharge and heal themselves for whatever is next. A lot of those folks that are on a leave of absence end up going back to their previous roles.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (02:42):
And then the last way that I think about a career break is if you were laid off. A lot of the times it’s an involuntary kind of leave in that way where a choice might be made for you, but you were laid off and now you have an opportunity to rest, recharge, get clear on what you want to do next, and also make sure that you’re being thoughtful and intentional about the next career path for you.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (03:02):
Great explanation. I really like how you’ve defined those four different pieces there. And I guess as a follow up to the second part of the question, why is this an interest of yours? What led you to it? I just think that’s interesting.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (03:14):
Yeah, Tom, it’s funny, I was really interested in it because I was in a corporate role, so I have led marketing teams for the last 20 years as an executive, and one of our challenges was you’ve got to drive high-performing teams as a leader, right? And you’ve got really aggressive business goals, and I found myself really burnt out, but not sure how to address it. And for me, I knew I wanted to open up my own consulting firm at some point in my career, but I needed to define when that made the most sense and what my energy level was to be able to truly execute it in the best way.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (03:53):
And so for me, I was curious about, how can I take a career break and how do I structure it in a way that allows me to not just rest and recharge, but also honestly, get my mojo back and get really refueled in a new creative lens that a corporate setting was so different for me. And so I did all of this research, I interviewed 180 people. I wanted to understand burnout, I wanted to understand career breaks, and I created a framework for myself, and then ultimately people were asking me about the framework and I ended up being able to share that framework with others and help them navigate their own career break.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (04:31):
Wonderful. Well, I think it’s great and I know as I understand, this is part of your book as well, this framework. So, since we’re talking about the framework, let’s just talk through that a little bit, if you can share a high level for us.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (04:44):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. So in my book, Career Break Compass, I talk about the four P’s. The first is play, the second is pause, the third is plan, and the fourth is pursue. And so the concept is, especially for most adults, we end up throwing away play. That’s the reason why play is the first thing that I have people do. How do we reinvigorate and re-energize you by having you do things that you really love? And so there’s different types of personalities around play that some people like to go see comedians, they might go see theater or art, some people might actually like to do Lego sets or painting, whatever it is that you’re interested in. I have them write down a list. So let’s say five things right now, and then we’re going to schedule those so that you actually do it. So we start with play as a way to kind of shake out the cobwebs and just re-energize you in a different way.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (05:37):
And then pause is all about being mindful and intentional. So that’s about taking the time and space away from the hustle and bustle on all of our to-do lists and being more thoughtful about, what is the work that you want to do? What are the things that you’re curious about and how do you go explore those? And we just start to allow ourselves to open up to, what are the possibilities? And in a lot of ways people might think of mindfulness as meditation. So I personally went on a meditation retreat and just kind of explore breath work and those types of things. You kind of get out of your head and into your body a little bit.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (06:16):
So there’s two more P’s. So once you do play and pause, now you’re ready to start thinking about what’s next. And so that’s why plan becomes the next stage. And so for a lot of entrepreneurs, I think one of the challenges is we have a ton of ideas and so many paths of where we could go. And so one of the things I really focus on is, let’s make a list of all of those ideas and then we need to start prioritizing whether it aligns with your core strengths, whether it aligns with your core values, meaning, is this something you want to do? What’s the revenue potential in the short and long term? What’s the startup costs? And also, what’s the overall sustainability model for you and whether or not you would be happy doing that work.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (06:59):
And so for some people that could mean going back to a corporate role, that could mean starting a business or franchising their business, and for other people it could mean, what is the next stage of a non-work life look like? Meaning, kind of a mini retirement kind of experience where they’re looking at ways, do you have a fulfilling and purposeful life, that their work has now taken where it was 80/20 before, maybe it’s now 20% of their day-to-day life versus the 80% that it currently takes.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (07:31):
And then pursue is just about doing the thing. I’m all about, how do we, now that we’ve done all the planning, let’s go test and experiment and see what works.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (07:40):
What I like about what you’re describing is it is proactive or having your own plan for whatever that step might be, versus in that last option of defining this career break as a fourth where it’s a layoff or where you’re forced into that, and now you have to kind of figure it out while you’re in the thick of it. So, I like your idea to plan ahead accordingly.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (08:05):
Yeah, I think it’s the type A personality in me for or for wrong. I think essentially when you go into a break, for me, because I was so burnt out, there was a point of desperation, like I have to get through this. Right? I still have a lot to be able to contribute to our working world, and I still want to be able to make an impact, but in order for me to do that, I need to make sure that I’m making the most of this time. So that was really important to me personally.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (08:33):
And also the other piece was in the interviews that I had with people, one of the key things that they told me was they weren’t purposeful about their break. Meaning, they took the time and relax and they hung out, and then they just went on to the next thing after about four to six weeks. And so I wanted to try to understand that a little bit more deeply so that I could use this time to make sure that I was kind of unlearning some habits for myself and then also creating space for what I was going to create next.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (09:02):
Well, interesting you say four to six weeks, and that’s one thing we haven’t talked about for this career break. So a career break, you say a sabbatical. My mother-in-law was a professor for many years and took a sabbatical, which was at that university a full semester. So if you couple in a winter break or a summer break, I mean, they were allowed a semester every however long, and that could be four months where it’s just some time away for a break. So, how long do you see this generally being and what does that typically look like?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (09:31):
Yeah, so I think about, when you think about the length of time, one of the key questions that I often get is, well, how much is enough time, right? And it depends, is the answer. So it depends on your state of… For people who are going into a career break because they’re burnt out, I’ve talked to people who told me that it took two years to recover from their burnout. And so I think the challenge becomes how can you create kind of a new learning experience for you that helps you navigate through burnout, and also just kind of reduce the chances of it happening again?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (10:02):
The next piece to think about around length of time is, what’s feasible for your life in the season of life that you’re in? And so for me, when I thought about a career break, I thought about it as, can I take a quarter off? Meaning, to your point, around a semester. So a business quarter, three months, I’ll do basically a three to four month break. It gives me the chance to kind of put every P as a month. So play was a month, pause was a month, plan was a month, and then pursue was more active. That’s how I thought about it in a more structured format. For other people, a break, for some of my clients, their break is basically they might have four to six weeks. And if it is a four to six week break that is employer paid, in that type of model, then what ends up happening is we kind of go through an accelerated path for those four P’s so that that way they can get through each of those and allow themselves to rest and recharge.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (10:57):
But I always say a career break is not a long weekend and it is not a week vacation, so it’s not a five-day vacation. I like to try to think about it as, can you infuse mini breaks throughout your year that allow you to rest and recharge, versus even just doing one big chunk, right? So what I mean by that is, can you do a seven to 10 day, maybe twice, maybe three times a year, that really allow you to rest and recharge? And I think the science actually talks about that it’s more about frequency versus the amount of time. So, take the break before you think you need it.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (11:37):
Great suggestion and advice there and as you’re describing this and taking time away, I think of our clients and franchising and how this plays in a little bit to both pieces. I think of actually in three different kind of categories this talks about. One is, most of our clients are franchising their business or they’re a franchisor. So someone who tunes in is thinking, oh, they’re recruiting franchisees to come on board. Well, most of franchisees that end up buying, they’re kind of around a 40, 50 years old timeframe and they’re kind of burned out from their corporate career and they’re at this kind of breaking point where they’re looking to do something different, which I find ties in perfectly with what we’re talking about here.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (12:20):
Yeah, for sure. I was actually just at a franchise gym this morning and talking to the owners of the franchise gym this morning, and we were talking specifically about marketing because my background’s really on marketing, but we were talking about that transition, right? Because to your point, they’re leaving a corporate experience and they’re moving into owning a franchise and owning a business for a franchise business is so different, and they’re in kind of that hustle and grind at the beginning of owning that franchise, which is different from the business that is opening up franchise stores.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (12:52):
And so some of that is, what are the tools and systems that you can provide to your franchisees to be able to ensure that they reduce burnout as they’re building their business, right? You give them tools for marketing and those types of things, but also some of it is, how do you create franchise stores that are sustainable on their own independently, at the same time of creating and building their business where maybe they have never done it before? They don’t understand staffing, they don’t understand marketing, right? They don’t understand, how do we drive profitability? These are the things that are really important.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (13:25):
Very well said, and I think it’s a great point that you make there for the franchise or to provide to a franchisee. And then certainly as for the leader of the organization, whether it’s the franchisor, that leader that is there, or as the franchisees start to mature as an organization, those franchisees, the owners there, the leadership might reach some kind of a breaking point or maybe some of their key staff, they’re at this breaking point. So, what might a policy or an internal structure might look like for someone that is trying to either take care of themselves or maybe a couple key employees that they want to make sure are not burned out or helping to help them get the rest and recuperation that they’re in need of?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (14:11):
Yeah, I think of a couple things to help with that piece. One of those is from a policy perspective. Right? I think a lot of businesses when you talk about a leave of absence program, to make sure that you have, whether you have an HR department or not, having a leave of absence program that’s clearly articulated is really good and important because most of the time employees don’t understand what that means. So what happens is they just quit their job and go somewhere else because they don’t understand, what are the benefits within the organization?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (14:39):
The second is a lot of people talk about, we talked about it before, which is a sabbatical program. And so what you could do is after a certain number of years of service, you could offer an employee, say two, four, six weeks of paid leave during that time period that allows them to rest and recharge. But here’s really where it’s really important, which is, most of the time companies will have a sabbatical program and they’ll allow their employee to take advantage of the program, but they don’t provide support to the employee through their leave. And that’s the most important thing, which is, how are you helping an employee go from burnt out to being able to be balanced and be ready to go again? The way that you do it is not to just let them be on their own devices and try to solve it on their own, but actually trying to give them a structure through that program. So that’s why I was focused on those four P’s as a way to help people navigate through that process. So that’s how I would think about it in that way.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (15:38):
This other way I would think about it as well is, you likely are doing conferences or some sort of conventions as a part of your franchisee and franchisor type of relationship, right? Now, how can you infuse at those conferences and meetings the ability to help them rest and recharge? And so that means that typically what I do and I think about for a lot of my clients is, how can I help them take a conference and extend the time and spend a day on play, a day on pause, a day on plan, and a day on pursue, right?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (16:10):
So you have a lot of your business acumen that you need to go through, updates, those types of things, but in addition to that, infusing these practices into your conferences that then the employees can take away and recognize, oh, my employer has a relationship with me. They care about me and my wellbeing, which helps with retention, but also now they have skills that allow them to be better at work with their employees and staffing and ultimately, with their family and lives, right? Because if they’re happy and they’re being able to take that home and into their communities, they’re going to stay with the organization longer.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (16:48):
That is very, very well said. And I guess one thing I was thinking of as you were talking through this, and this is really from the perspective of that employee that maybe takes a pause. So maybe not as relevant to someone who tunes in, sorry to our audience when they hear this, but I’m just curious about this. How does this impact someone that, let’s just say they’re a mid-level manager or senior director at a company and they go and they take one of these career breaks? Maybe they take a career break where they just need to leave, they quit their job because they didn’t know what else to do, they just knew they were at a breaking point. And now they’ve been out of work for maybe three months or four months, and they’re finally back in a better space and now they’re coming back to the workforce. How do you see that gap in their employment, because I’m sure someone’s thinking about that, or even as an employer hiring someone with that gap in their employment. How do you advise clients or talk with folks about this?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (17:52):
Yeah, this is a great question, and one of the fears in having a resume gap is, what will everyone else think of that piece of it? So there’s a few things I talk about, which is, talk about what are the gains, what are the learnings you got during that break? Because they’re both personal and professional. So in a lot of ways, like for me specifically, what clarity I got from my break was, I truly do love marketing. I love driving performance. I love helping organizations drive revenue. I just needed to do it in a different environment and recharge my batteries.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (18:25):
If you had asked me that six months prior to my break, I would’ve said, “I’m just going to go open a smoothie shop and move on.” I’m really not that interested in being able to go back to the space that I was working in before, or maybe I’d just own a farm and have goats at the end of the day, I don’t know. So I think at the moment of taking the break, most people are desperate for change, but what happens is, is that once they go through the break, there’s so much more clarity on, what am I good at and how can I bring that to the place of work, wherever that might be, and be able to have an impact? So I would say that’s really the key.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (19:01):
The next is when you’re having the interview conversation, make it brief, right? Talk about, yes, I have this break. This is what I learned during that time period and now I’m rested, recharged, and ready to go to be able to help you and your organization, full stop. Let’s not over explain things, let’s not go into all the details of everything. It doesn’t need to be the case. And so I think that tends to be really what ends up being the most successful for people is having them navigate through that conversation. Most of it is their nerves, not the other side.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (19:33):
Great point, and it made me think of the other side if you’re the employer recruiting this person and having that conversation, I could imagine someone kind of stammering around it a little bit, to being a little nervous or uncomfortable, maybe helping give them a little direction. Well, what’d you learn from this, or What was the takeaway, or how might what you took from that apply? What might you do differently here versus what you did? Then there could be some conversation around that.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (20:00):
Yes, yeah. Like, what are the transferable skills? A lot of the times people will do volunteer work during their break as well, and so if that’s the case, talk about what that was or if you traveled, for example, I have a lot of folks who travel for their career breaks or sabbaticals. Being able to experience different cultures and talking about, let’s say opening a business in a new country, right? Having that experience is transferable knowledge in a way, and being able to learn and adapt is really important.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (20:28):
Well, it’s interesting. One of our team members, this interview’s helped me kind of crystallize, had a break and taking a break intentionally, like what you had described. And so there was some gap in employment and what she explained when we had a conversation, I just asked her and she said, “Well, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for, but knew I needed a pause and took a break and I’ve had other opportunities, but I just didn’t want to take any job. It actually flipped around to say, “Wow, I’m honored you’re actually considering us.” Great resume and great background. I thought, okay, well, she’s being very selective and what she’s going back to and bringing her talents and skills to. I thought, okay, that’s a great perspective, and as an employer I was like, oh man, she’s really seen a lot. Then what can we do to create an environment that might be attractive for her to want to come to? So anyway, just I think she did a great job in using that as an asset.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (21:21):
Yeah, I love that. Tom. Yeah, it’s really important, right? Because when you have the clarity, what I talk about are anti-goals. You get really clear on, what is a type of work environment or the type of day-to-day things that aren’t going to really be able to deliver value for you or the organization? So you see things differently, which I think is really important for businesses. So you’re able to really double down on your strengths and then also understand, where are the areas that you’re going to say hey, I could have taken this job maybe a year or two years ago before my break, but it wouldn’t have been great for them, nor would it have been, meaning it wouldn’t have delivered the value and the results. And maybe it wasn’t going to deliver really the passion and the type of joy that I would want for my day-to-day work as well. So it has to be mutually beneficial.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (22:04):
So your ability to have the conversation, I love that you did that because you wanted to understand more, and by doing that, it gave her an opportunity to share, here’s what’s important to me, and her ability to now shine within your organization.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:20):
That’s exactly right. We had just a great, open conversation and she’s thriving and is an awesome team member, and it’s a win-win for both of us.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:28):
Well, Laura, before we make a transition, how can someone get a copy of your book or find out a little bit more about you?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (22:34):
Yeah, thanks for allowing the space for that. So yes, you can find my book, Career Break Compass, on Amazon. It’s available anywhere books are sold, but if you want to get it on Amazon, it’s the easiest place to go for obviously next day delivery. It is officially available November 12th, so if you’re listening to this beforehand, know that it’ll be a pre-order, but it’s going to be at your door on November 12th. And then if you want to connect with me and learn more about my work, you can find me at LauraNguyen.co.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:00):
Well, Laura, this is a great time in the show we make a transition and we ask every guest the same four questions before they go, and the first question we ask is, have you had a miss or two on your journey and something you learned from it?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (23:12):
Of course, right? I think all of us have a miss or two on the journey. I think my biggest miss was not taking the time to pause and take care of myself before it hit me too hard. I felt like I hit this brick wall, this invisible brick wall in my career, primarily because I had not been aware of what burnout really was, and I suffered for it, to be honest with you. And so my biggest miss was not listening to my body and not taking the time to rest earlier. I was one of the hustle and grind advocates for a very long time, and you learn the hard way sometimes.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:51):
Let’s look on the other side, a make or two.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (23:54):
For me, the biggest one has been when I started sharing my journey about burnout and really about the career breaks, I did not intend to go into coaching or helping people with this area of their life, but I felt like I was called to be able to try to help them navigate through this path because there weren’t a lot of resources for it. For me, creating the book and the resources around the book, and hopefully it helps people navigate their own breaks, their own burnout, and then also organizations understand how to navigate through wellness for their employees is really important as well.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (24:28):
Well, let’s talk about a multiplier. The name of the show is Multiply Your Success. Have you used a multiplier to grow yourself personally, professionally, or organizations you’ve been a part of?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (24:37):
Yes. So the multiplier for me is making sure that there are repeatable processes in my day. So meaning, creating the routines that take away the decision fatigue, right? So I know exactly, I time block everything, so that way I know what I’m doing throughout every 30 minutes of my day, and if I say don’t feel so inspired to do it, I do give myself the flexibility. But the multiplier for me is having that keen focus of, if I’m going to sit down and create content or create resources for people, then I have, let’s say an hour and a half to be able to do that. So I’m really being thoughtful about working on the business versus in the business, and then that also helps, in terms of creating all of this content. We’re going to go back to the make piece, is writing a book takes a lot of time, right? And taking it to market and being able to go through the publication process is really kind of a long period.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (25:34):
And so for example, blocking the time to be able to create those assets is so important, otherwise you just deprioritize it and it never gets done.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (25:44):
The final question we ask every guest is, what does success mean to you?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (25:48):
Yeah. Success to me means that I have the time and really the emotional space to be able to love what I’m doing and be where I’m at. And so that means that when I am at work and I am delivering for clients and helping them navigate their own businesses or their own personal lives, that I can be fully present and really be there. And then when I’m home and spending time with my family and my daughter, that I can actually go and be present and enjoy that time and space as well. So it’s really important for me to make sure that I can integrate the aspects of my life in a way that make me feel whole.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (26:26):
Wonderful. Well, as we bring this to a close, Laura, is there anything you were hoping to share or get across that you haven’t had a chance to yet?
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (26:33):
No, I think we covered so much. I think the biggest thing to talk about is navigating burnout and understanding, what are the signs, what are the symptoms? That it goes beyond just overwork is really important. And so if you’re leading a team and in your business and you might see someone who might feel like they’re under challenged, that they just need an opportunity to do something different and grow themselves, that that could potentially be an opportunity for you to address burnout more proactively because actually, that is a component actually of burnout when someone feels like they’re not growing.
Laura Nguyen, Solle Solutions (27:10):
And the second is, is are there other areas of opportunity where you can connect with your team and your employees? Neglect is the third type of burnout, and when someone doesn’t feel appreciated, seen, heard, that actually leads them to feeling isolated and burnt out as well. And so when you think about burnout, go beyond just overwork. It’s not about the number of hours. It could also mean under challenged or feeling neglected.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (27:39):
Laura, thank you so much for a fantastic interview and let’s go ahead and jump into today’s three key takeaways. Takeaway number one is when she broke down the four types of career breaks. She said number one is to resign from your job, number two is a sabbatical, number three is a leave of absence, and number four is a layoff, which is the only one of the four that is involuntary.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (28:03):
Takeaway number two are the four P’s when you’re in the midst of this career break or at the time when you are at this burnout and breaking point. And those four P’s are number one, play. And she said that is the one that’s most overlooked, but that’s where you should be doing something that you want to do. Number two is pause. Number three is plan. So figure out all the ideas you want to do, and what does that look like for you? And number four is pursue. Now, go out and do it, as she said.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (28:34):
Takeaway number three is when she talked about the various kinds of tools that you can provide to your team. So she said, for example, have a leave of absence program or a sabbatical program, or think about how you’re helping your employees that might be feeling burned out or might be trending in that direction. And I liked the example she gave for franchisors. If you’re in the franchising business, she said at your annual conference, have four days and have day one be play, day two, be pause, day three, be plan, and day four be pursue. I thought that was a great suggestion.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (29:10):
And now it’s time for today’s win-win. So today’s win-win is all about being proactive. So be proactive as an employer to provide resources to your team and to your team members. And if you are that employee or that person who’s feeling burned out, be proactive, take control of that burnout and follow the steps or the plan that Laura helped provide or come up with your own, but I really like Laura’s steps and plan that she provided or get a copy of her book. I think that’s going to be a win-win. It’s going to help you, it’s going to help your organization, and it’s going to also really help all of the interpersonal relationships, especially with those that are closest to you, your friends, your family, and your very close coworkers.
Dr. Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (30:03):
And so that’s the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone might be ready to franchise their business or take their company to the next level, please connect with us at bigskyfranchiseteam.com. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you back next week.
