How Should Community Managers Combat Occupational Burnout?

As a community manager, you might face a variety of duties that seem impossible to complete without a team such as managing club websites.  For that reason, you may end up fatigued and feel as though you’re not accomplishing tasks as efficiently as you want to.  Often, many managers are so stressed out by this that they experience burnout.  If you feel this way during your efforts to keep members happy, the strategies described below might be just what you need.

 

Community management usually involves repeating the same tasks over and over again.  For instance, informing members how to update or change their passwords and profile pictures, or where to get account information.  In this monotony, it’s easy for some managers to grow exhausted and feel like they’re not making any progress.  To avoid that, set aside time for creativity so you can devise different ways of handling tasks.

 

When professionals come together, they not only share ideas but also give meaning to their work as they explain what tactics make them more efficient.  That’s why more managers should consider connecting with other community managers.  If software is used for managing club websites, there’s a good chance they have user groups made up of community managers which would be a great place to start.

 

One cause of burnout with community managers is the notion that you always have to be on call for members and stakeholders.  To solve this problem, run the community strictly during business hours and let the members know they can only contact managers during this time.

If you have to work outside business hours, only let it be when there’s an emergency and be sure to define clearly what qualifies as an emergency.  Lastly, recognize any signs of burnout and ensure community managers take a break or ask for help from a fellow community manager.