Coaching Through Burnout: A burnout prevention toolkit for busy leaders and their teams

by Hazel Anderson-Turner, Joe Oliver (foreword)

Coaching Through Burnout is a practical guide for leaders (and their teams) to equip themselves with the skills and strategies needed to navigate the growing epidemic of chronic workplace stress.

Business Psychologist Hazel Anderson-Turner offers a unique, evidence-based approach to addressing the topic of burnout after years of coaching leaders and teams in the public sector.

The book is divided up into three clear the first section shares Hazel's own story of burnout, offering readers an intimate look at the challenges she faced as an ambitious, high-achieving professional navigating the demands of work and motherhood. Hazel's candid account will resonate with many professionals who have struggled to maintain a healthy work-life balance and found themselves on the brink of burnout.

The middle section of the book introduces Hazel's 'Coaching Through Burnout' course framework, which equips leaders with practical communication skills and strategies to support their teams. Through clear communication and collective boundary-setting, Hazel aims to empower leaders and organisations to cultivate a culture of wellness and resilience.

In the final section of the book, Hazel shares her expertise in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to outline three key personal skills that can help individuals better manage the critical inner voice and overwhelming demands that often contribute to burnout. These techniques have been transformative for Hazel's coaching clients, and she is eager to share them with a wider audience.

"An invaluable and practical guide - an essential manual for leaders." Ross McIntosh - Business Psychologist, Coach and Host of the People Soup Podcast

"This book will transform your ability to navigate burnout." Megan Monahan - Meditation teacher and author of Don't Hate, Meditate

Hazel Anderson-Turner is a Certified Business Psychologist with the ABP and a Professional Certified Coach with the ICF. After a career in Leadership and Organisational Development she started her own consultancy in 2017 specialising in resilient leadership. She trains coaches worldwide in Acceptance & Commitment Coaching and co-hosts The Coaching UnpACT podcast.

hazelandersonturner.co.uk

212 pages, Paperback

Published January 24, 2025

Reviews

[Roz Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a leader in the sense of management. But in my role, I supervise numerous foster carers. This can be a really rewarding job but also a very stressful one. I've also worked within child protection and the stress is very real at times it feels like you are firefighting one crisis after another. So when I saw this book it really appealed to me.


I thought this book was well written and explained burnout in a way that I think will resonate with a lot of people who have demanding or stressful jobs.


I really liked how the author got us to think of our own ways of communicating and listening to help us better understand why we may be feeling burnout but also understand what those who are close to being burnt out need from us. I found this really useful and it helped me to reflect on areas I could work on so I can have firmer boundaries and provide more beneficial support.


The author also gives lots of suggestions to help ourselves and those we work with. I thought these were useful and realistic. Although focused on work within the NHS, I think the points raised are completely transferable to other fast-paced, high stressed settings. 


The exercises in the book are explained well and make sense in the context of keeping ourselves mentally healthy. You can't pour from an empty cup as the saying goes! I really liked the wellbeing wheel activity and I'm going to try to use it for myself and those I work with. 


I highly recommend this book to anyone who has felt burnt out or overwhelmed within the workplace. Even if you are not a leader/manager, I think it will help you to build the confidence to be able to say no to additional work or pressure and have open conversations about boundaries and expectations.


With thanks to the author, publisher and Love Books Tours for providing a copy of the book to review. 

[Emmie Mere · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came to me at the perfect time, for a number of reasons. (1) I am a leader with staff who undoubtedly are feeling burned out, (2) One of my workplace goals this year is my own leadership development, and (3) Duh, it's a book; there's never a wrong time!

The Coaching Through Burnout book was born from a course the author taught during COVID, which makes so much sense. The pandemic most certainly increased workplace burnout across the board. Working for a public PK-12 school district, I can attest to its impact, which I'm not sure we ever will recover from. I could go on and on about all the reasons my team is feeling burned out (being asked to do more with less, feeling disrespected and under appreciated, etc.) but what you want to know is, how will this book help me?

The book gave me much of what I was hoping for - practical strategies to help move them through these challenges, and also keep myself out of the burn zone. I took pages and pages (and pages) of notes, some with questions that were answered as I read through, and some that I need to do more research on. I so appreciated the at-home or in-office exercises Anderson-Turner offers, as well as the guided questions for reflection after.

Her writing isn't preachy or there to make anyone feel bad. Instead, she offers real-life examples and anecdotes, and thoughtful advice on being a leader your team can lean on. I especially connected to the parts focusing on how doing so not just makes someone a better leader, but by taking some pressure off themself, stops that leader from feeling burned out.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone in a leadership role. If you're lucky enough to read it before your staff are in burnout territory, it will definitely help you to see the signs and stop it from happening altogether.

I was gifted a free digital copy by Love Books Tours. All opinions are my own.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

How many times in your career has you or your team experienced burnout? As a leader it can be so hard to be able to coach my team through it, and you just stand there and wonder what can I do, it's one of those things that you don't know how to handle it until you experience it as each of your team will need different things in that moment, and learning to spot the signs early enough to catch it before it goes too far.

I love a good Coaching/Learning and Development book and as that is the field I am currently working toward, I found Coaching Through Burnout was such an insightful read, although it wasn't in my particular field of work I am able to take learnings from it and will be using it in my career going forward.

I have found that some L & D books can be very preachy/talking at you, whereas the author does a great job of using her experience, with anecdotes, and her own life lessons in a easy going and communicative way. I, for one, enjoyed looking at the tasks and activities and have found that there are a few more areas I want to do a little bit more research on, and maybe include this in further training for other Managers.

Also, the author highlights the importance of communication , skill development, and more to benefit you and your team in the long run. If you are in leadership of some sort, add this book to your toolkit, I know, I will continue to revisit this one in the future

[Bianca Duthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really not a fan of self-help books or books resembling them, but I have experienced burn-out before, and recently started noticing signs of it again, so I wanted to give this a go. The first half I completely resonated with. Saw so many parallels from my own experiences, was met with theories I've come across in my own leadership journey, and just really got everything that was being said. I did feel that the second half of the book started feeling a bit more self-helpy, and I didn't really gel with it.
I'm a rescuer but have also been known to be a co-ruminator, which is something im constantly trying to get better at not being. I found this section really well explained and laid out.
I won't lie, I didn't do any of the exercises she asked us to do throughout, but I was still able to appreciate the information and tie it into my own experiences, and I appreciated that.

[kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burnout is something that everyone has or probably will go through at some point, and although this book is geared towards the workplace I think it definitely could also apply to personal life as well.

The book was well written in a style that made it very easy to pick up and read and didn't come across as either to flowery or to preachy as some self help books can tend to do. I found it a really interesting read and found myself think about not only myself but also people I know that are possibly having burnout and don't even know it or recognise it, however after reading a book like this they definitely would not only be able to recognise it but find the tools to help themselves.

This is a book that I would recommend to everyone to give a go as I think you would be pleasantly surprised, I know I was.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

As many of us manage stressful lives the concept of burnout is a real issue. This book attempts to address this very difficult issue. It starts with some of the basics of defining and focusing on the visbile symptoms to some of the more complex issues related to burnout. The book focuses heavily on coversation and communication and how they can prevent and/or mitgate burnout. There are included activities to help you focus on the tasks that promote wellness. The personal stories included help reinforce the discussed topics.

Overall, this book provides great information and can serve as a valuable resource for people experiencing burnout themselves as well as those trying to minimize burnout on their work teams.

[Siobhain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have held a few positions were I am ‘in charge’ or leading a team and I have to say I have suffered burnout so when I learnt of this book I was interested to see what it would be like. I have say this book is brilliant. Anderson-Turner offers help and advice on how to focus on tasks and activities that can help promote wellness and focus. It’s a fantastic and valuable source and starting point to develop skills and communication techniques to help you and your team from burning out.

As always thank you to Love Book Tours for the copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.

[Daisy Hollands · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is a book aimed at the workplace, for managers and team leaders in particular, I think it’s a valuable tool for personal use as well or even within the family. Being busy truly is a modern day curse. Adult life increasingly seems to be a competition about who is the busiest and who is the most exhausted. I believe more people are suffering from burnout than they realise. Tiredness is seen as a normal everyday occurrence but burnout is something more that needs to be identified and managed. This book was fascinating to me. Informative without being patronising and filled with practical solutions. Highly recommended. I know I will return to it again and again

[Lauren Flewett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is easy to read and navigate mainly due to the easy going writing style and how the book is split into sections. The first section gives us a bit of background about the author’s situation which I think a lot of readers would find relatable.

The second and final sections give us the strategies that can be used to prevent burnout. These do not only apply to professional/work situations but can be adapted to work for individuals in their personal life.

A great read for everyone!

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of people suffer from burnout either at work, school, or home. Written from the view of a NHS ACT coach, the author explains what burnout is and some helpful ways to get out of it. She uses real world examples to help the reader put themselves in the book. I enjoyed that it was a short read that you could absorb. There are activities and reflections to complement the book. At the end there is a summary of main point and additional resources. A very good book to help you fight burnout.