How to Prevent Creative Burnout with Proper Workload Distribution
- Adilla
- May 16
- 5 min read
After three months of work on your team’s project, the work progress is slowing down, and delays keep happening. Especially if you are in a creative team, your creatives might be experiencing the brunt of the burnout. If this is happening to you and your creative team, then you might be experiencing creative burnout.
It’s called a creative burnout instead of a burnout, mainly because not only are these creatives experiencing physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, but they are also experiencing a loss of inspiration and passion. As a result, they become incapable of performing on their artistic side or coming up with fresh, imaginative ideas.
As a creative project manager, it’s important to be aware of whether you are executing a proper workload for your teams. However, knowing the telltale signs of creative burnout could help you kickstart preventing it from ‘possessing’ your creative team.
Table of Contents
Proper Workload Distribution: A Prevention of Creative Burnout
Signs Of Creative Burnout
Unfortunately, creative burnout isn’t obvious, and you’ll only notice it once it gets worse. It festers slowly and usually goes unnoticed until it shows in your work performance and well-being. Not only does it affect you mentally, but it also shows up physically with headaches, sleep disturbances and muscle tension. Check in with your creative team and see if they are showing these signs; it might be time to do an overhaul.
Struggling With Inspiration Leading to a Drop in Productivity and Collaboration
When you go into brainstorming or reviewing the work of your creatives, are they contributing as well as they did during the first few weeks of the project? You can also note if they are disengaged from work or their work quality has dropped. A decrease in their performance and progress could also be an indication that they are experiencing creative burnout.
Easily Irritated and Emotional Exhaustion
Keep an eye out for signs of a bad attitude or a tendency for your team to become easily irritated or frustrated. That, or they are dozing off, not expressing themselves at work, and becoming disinterested in whatever events the company hosts.
What Is Poor Workload Distribution
As the name indicates, it is work tasks that were not allocated fairly across the team, where one team member might be taking too many responsibilities while a few might not have much on their plate. There are multiple reasons why this could happen.
It might have been contributed to by a departmental restructuring, so parts of the team might become understaffed and overworked. Or, extra tasks are being distributed to higher-performing teams rather than being distributed fairly across the department.
If one of your struggles is trying to keep track of your team’s work tasks and progress, take a look at how our TESSR Woohoo feature, a creative project management software, does this easily with a quick visual overview of your team’s workload. Our Woohoo data helps you keep track of progress, plan and balance workload.
How to Have Proper Workload Distribution
If you need help in ensuring you are on the right track in distributing proper workload, here are some things you can look into before doing an overhaul:
Delegate According to Their Skills and Abilities
Your creative team members could be multitalented individuals, but that doesn’t mean you should put all the work tasks on them. Have a conversation with your team about what work they would prefer or what they are best at. This would create a more productive team, as they would be motivated to do work if they liked what they do.
But if you have done this, check in with them if the workload is difficult or if they are going through a creative block. Before the creative block festers into a creative burnout, it’s best to do a weekly check-in with your team to ensure they are not struggling with their tasks. If they are, consider partnering them with another team member to assist or reassign the task.
Take Advantage of Creative Project Management Software
Are some of your teams overwhelmed by administrative or housekeeping tasks they have to do that could affect their work productivity? Or is your current project management software causing confusion and miscommunication among the team? It might be time to change to a more fitting tool for you and your team.
If an easy-to-use and visually pleasing interface is essential to your team, consider our TESSR, a creative project management software, which caters to creative projects. We have modules that are made with creatives to ease any of the confusing bits when it comes to project management, so they can focus on doing what they do best. Curious? Book a demo with us! Our software is always free.
Slot In Extra Breaks
We are not meant to do continuous hours’ work without breaks. Our circadian rhythm would affect our work performance, whether we like it or not. Especially as a creative, being forced to work nonstop could impact their productivity and creativity. Foster an environment where they can take breaks when they need to or as often as they can to keep their productivity going.
Besides that, be sure to look into whether they are using their annual leave or not. Make it clear to your team that taking time off will not affect their responsibilities, as it is essential to prioritise their well-being, especially if their work performance is experiencing a dip.
Conclusion
Being a good listener and taking into account what your team has to say are crucial for leaders. This encourages teams to trust their project managers, promoting an environment where they feel safe and motivated to do work.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Could creative burnout stem from external factors beyond work?
Yes, it could. When it does, creative project managers should have a private conversation with them to determine if they need time off from work if they are experiencing any external stress that could affect their work performance.
Other than proper workload distribution, what else can individuals do to prevent creative burnout?
It’s important for creative individuals to do creative activities outside of their workspaces. So, it doesn’t bore them or see their work as something taxing, despite liking their creative work.
What else can team leaders do to prevent creative burnout among their team?
Putting variety in the tasks that you provide to your team could be a way to prevent your creative teams from feeling like work is mundane and repetitive. Other than that, implementing a fun activity at a certain time of the week could help them feel motivated and keep them going to do work.
Author Bio
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, including parodies of animated shows and plots for board games like Dungeons & Dragons. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. One day, she is eager to publish her book. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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