Redemption Coaching - Life Skills Training

Christina Maslach, a researcher who has pioneered the topic of burnout and engagement for the past 40 years, developed a model with engagement and burnout as two poles on a continuum, defined by three qualities.

Burnout -----------Engagement
Exhausted--------- Energetic
Cynical-------- Involved
Perceive self as ineffective--- Perceive self as effective

In a 2003 study, Maslach and co-author Michael P. Leiter identified 6 areas of worklife that impact these 3 qualities. Their model outlines what can be done on the organizational level to create an environment that promotes engagement. The authors argue that engagement is not as simple as determining whether the right person is matched up with the right job at the time of initial employment. Nor is it simply a matter of matching appropriate job tasks to individual personality. Instead, Leiter and Maslach describe a “psychological environment in which people perceive and experience the world of work” (129).

The questions below highlight the 6 work areas and provide an initial way to assess how the environment might be impacting an individual’s engagement level.
Workload – Do you feel confident that you have the capacity to handle your workload?
Control – Do you feel that you can influence and participate in decisions related to shaping your work life?
Reward – Do you feel that you receive recognition, appreciation and rewards (financial, social, intrinsic) in proportion to your contributions?
Community – Do you feel that you have social support and positive interaction at work?
Fairness – Do you perceive that decisions are made in a fair way and people are treated with respect?
Values – Do you feel that your values align with the values of your organization?
Taken together, these 6 areas of worklife create an environment where we are likely to engage or disengage.

If we could create environments where all those lights could be reignited, imagine the impact on profit, performance and productivity, and above all, on the precious lives they represent.(http://innerwill.org)