Are you a school leader who derives a great deal of meaning and purpose from the work you do? But does this also lead to feelings of stress and overwhelm?

You are not alone.

The ISC research report - Wellbeing in International School (2021) found that “89% of international staff found their work to be filled with meaning and purpose most of the time”. However, despite multiple studies finding wide-ranging benefits of meaningful work from life satisfaction to health benefits (Allan et al, 2019), a recent study with educational leaders (Burke et al. 2022), found that those who attached greater meaning to their work also experienced greater stress. Additionally, Oelberger (2018) found that deeply meaningful work could lead to people not maintaining boundaries, causing them to overwork and have erratic work behaviours.

This will come as no surprise to those who are familiar with Positive Psychology 2.0, understanding that there can be a dark side that accompanies something positive such as meaningful work, and vice versa. This also fits with the Acceptance and Commitment coaching model (ACT), accepting that when something is important to us, there are accompanying stresses and that the two go hand in hand.

So what should we do? Should we reduce the meaning we find in work, despite the benefits it can provide?

Luckily, Lips-Wiersma et al's research (2022) provides further insight. Their study broke down meaning in work further. They found that positive effects were associated with three aspects of meaningful work, integrity to self (when personal and work values are in sync), unity with others, and achieving full potential. However, surprisingly they found service to others was linked to negative affect postulating that this dimension of meaningful work could lead to a depletion of resources. The authors conclude that it could be important to balance these elements of meaningful work, particularly self and others.

When looked at from an organisational perspective the studies recommend fostering a culture where healthy work boundaries are normalised (Oelberger, 2019). Additionally, leaders can nurture the positive elements of meaningful work - unity, integrity to self, and utilising talents to fulfill goals whilst also checking if staff are being depleted through service to others (Lips-Wiersma et al, 2022).

Combining these recommendations with guidance from ACT helps identify some possible actions that we can do, as individuals, to work more healthily and happily within this deeply meaningful work.

Be clear on your own values and what is important to you. Where there is scope, use those values and interests to help you job craft - what areas of learning or projects do you want to be involved in, and in what ways can you adjust your role to have more of these values?
Create some well-being boundaries and apply self-compassion. In service of being able to continue to do this meaningful work, what do you need to put in place to look after yourself?
Spend time creating connections and relationships with those you work with, perhaps collaborating with others to help ease the workload.
Take time to pause to get some perspective on the thoughts that are driving any overwork.

Let me know your thoughts on whether you feel this tension between the meaning you gain from your role and the stress/overwhelm of the job, and if so how do you manage that?

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References:

Allan, B. A., Batz-Barbarich, C., Sterling, H. M., & Tay, L. (2019). Outcomes of Meaningful Work: Meta-Analysis. Journal of Management Studies, 56(3), 500–528. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12406

Burke, J., Kinnarney, P., & Salokangas, M. (2022). ‘Split in all directions’: an exploration of the impact of wellbeing and daily responsibilities on post-primary school leaders’ perceived stress. School Leadership & Management, 42(2), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2021.2016683

Oelberger, C. (2018). The Dark Side of Deeply Meaningful Work: Work‐Relationship Turmoil and the Moderating Role of Occupational Value Homophily. Journal of Management Studies, 56. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12411

Wigford, A., & Higgins, A. (2019). Wellbeing in international schools: Teachers’ perceptions. Educational and Child Psychology, 36(4), 19–19. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2019-71284-004&site=ehost-live

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