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A few weeks ago, I was coaching a nonprofit leader who works in environmental conservation and outdoor access. Like many leaders right now, she’s navigating funding cuts, while also trying to delicately dance around the use of DEI language. Towards the end of the session I asked her how she was feeling. She said this: “It feels like I just took off all the bubble wrap.”Subscriber First Name, I am a sucker for metaphors. This one has been sticking with me because it captures so much of what nonprofit leaders are experiencing right now. Metaphorically, bubblewrap can feel like: 💥 Walking on eggshells around colleagues or donors 💥 Wanting to tell your board the truth about the chaos you’re navigating, but feeling afraid of the consequences 💥 Wishing you could fall apart… even just a little bit… without worrying that things will completely shatter But the more I sat with this metaphor, the more I realized that bubble wrap can be a form of protection. And when it comes to preventing burnout and supporting recovery, people need protection: Protection from unreasonable workloads, protection of people’s voice and sense of autonomy, and protection in the form of supportive rest policies. The challenge, of course, is that not everyone needs the same kind of protection. What one person describes as protection could feel like fragility and exposure to someone else. That's one of the biggest lessons we've learned through our Who Burns Out, and Why? research. Burnout doesn't show up the same way for everyone. It impacts people differently depending on their role, identity, responsibilities, lived experiences, and the conditions in which they're working. This means there are no one-size-fits-all solutions for burnout. And as more institutions identify burnout as one of the most pressing challenges facing the nonprofit and social impact sector, we need to be having more conversations about custom and equitable solutions. This starts with asking better questions…
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