Before you can discuss a subject like this you have to define the basic premise your working from. So then what is "burnout" as it applies to user groups? I will try to define my understanding of what I think it to be. Each reader could have from a slight disagreement, to a total disagreement and we could all be right.

Before it can even be defined we need to look at the type of people who become involved in user group leadership and why they do it. I don't think I can label the types but I think I understand most of the basic types.

I believe almost all types have one thing in common and that is the desire to do their best to serve the needs of the group. It is just that they approach it from different angles depending on their personality and life experience.

One type is the "big fish in the little pond" type. This person has a need to seem to be important and can't do so outside of a small social group. They dominate and take charge more for personal reasons than any other type. But they do take charge and do their best to manage things to a successful conclusion.

Another type is the "if I don't do it no one will or can," type. This type looks upon their self as the savior because they are superior to others.

The last type I will talk about is the "weak willy," who just can't say "NO" when one of the dominate types taps them on the shoulder.

Now as I said the goal is generally the same but the process is different. They all started by being drafted or volunteering for their own reasons. Most get a surge of a combination of power and self-satisfaction. The strongest and best of the rewards is the one of self-satisfaction. That feeling can carry a person a long way in staying at the top of the user group chain.

Burnout happens when that feeling is not enough in itself to carry a person through the often thankless job of watching out for the needs of a user group.

So my definition of "BURNOUT" is losing the mental state whereby a person gets pleasure from the accomplishments and the pleasure of working with others. Burnout is when a normally satisfying task becomes drudgery. When situations that used to roll off your back bring anger or rage. You become unhappy with yourself and others and you can't seem to reverse the feeling.

Well, that is my opinion and definition. Now what causes a normally kind and gentle person to transform into an ogre and begin to alienate people.

Not only what causes it, but how to recognize it in yourself and others before you lose all of the goodwill that you have built up.

After you recognize it how do you make changes to reverse the trend before it drives you completely away from the people you enjoy?

As I begin to describe the causes some of the solutions become obvious. Since I am not a shrink and have no training in this area I can only comment from my experiences. You will begin to think about people you have seen disappear from your group and understand better why they are gone. You may also see the tell-tail signs in people you are working with now and you may be able to save them. Hopefully you won't see them in yourself.

A person who normally takes part in discussions begins to back off.

A normally positive person begins to react in a negative manner to most things.

A person who would always meet a deadline begins to let them slide.

A person begins to withhold support of others.

In understanding what happens to these people we need to look at the fact that most computer people are often very happy to sit alone in front of their computer and be productive. That is one basic thing that I believe that most of us computer types have in common.

If I am right about that then we all start out from behind as we try to work with others in a user group. It is not that we are antisocial or reclusive but that we have fallen into that syndrome by the nature of computers. Part of the desire to be active in a user group is to attempt to break the cycle of working alone.

Starting from that semi-loner position can make a person feel insecure. This could be why it is sometimes difficult to recruit people to volunteer. So a person breaks out of the mold and becomes active for some of the reasons above and now they need to learn to deal with their success and notoriety. They not only have to now deal with new things in their life but others who may have already started to enter burnout.

It is up to the wise among us to help the newbie understand what is going on, and with the burnouts also. Many of the problems come from the lack of support from our peers in the way of thank-yous and recognition. Most of us don't take on this work because we want an at-a-boy at every turn. We do, however, appreciate them when they come along.

We also tend to "ask a busy person to do the job" because we know they have a track record of meeting deadlines, etc. Many times this person gets so much from the user group, work and family because they are this type that they buckle under the pressure. It use to be that 90% of the work in a group was done by 10% of the people. I think that number is shrinking thus applying more pressure on the 5%.

These are by no means the only reasons for burnout but in a short generalized article it is enough to cover.

The problem in dealing with burnout is human nature is to deny there is a problem in oneself. I think there may be some relationship between burnout and depression. The good news is they both can be helped. But we should be careful how we approach people to help them for that reason.

The hardest jobs in user groups to share the duties are the ones that cause the most problems. Newsletter Editor, Program Chair, and President come to mind, and while the others are important, most duties are easier to share. One thing with these jobs is many people stay in them too long so the accumulative effect is greater. Thus, one cure is to try to move the duties around so a person is not stuck year after year.

Solution one

Rotate officers and duties.

These duties are repetitive and taken for granted by most of the members. So you should let them know how much their efforts are appreciated. The old at-a-boy thing works. Certificates, plaques, and other gifts of recognition should be a regular part of your groups’ program. Thank-you are two powerful words and even more so when used in the right surroundings. The more public a thank-you is the more power it has and it can go a long way to lift sagging sprits.

Solution two

Back patting.

For the busy person the answers are easier than the execution. For one thing the person involved will resist you trying to help. The reason for that is that like most people in America the hard-nosed individual is the model we are expected to pattern ourselves after. So they will try to cling to their overworked status until it is too late. The best way to approach them is to suggest it is important to split the job up into a lot or at least several smaller jobs in order to train new people. Giving new people experience is not only a good practice for burnout protection but it also gives you more people ready to step up to more job so you can burn out new people all the time. Sometimes this is easier said than done but it is one of the most important things you can do for your group. Getting new volunteers ready to grow into bigger and better jobs helps maintain continuity and helps prevent burnout.

Solution three

Split up jobs and involve more people.

Discuss these things in your group once or twice a year and take stock of yourself and others so you can help before you or someone else valuable to the group goes down in flames.

The purpose of this article is to start you thinking and hopefully others will add comments to broaden the subject.