# Sue Langley: Burnout Iceberg & The Invisible Forces Driving Staff Burnout in Schools | Episode 162 Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-wellbeing-with-meg-durham-4350714/sue-langley-burnout-iceberg-the-invisible-forces-driving-staff-burnout-in-schools-episode-162 Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-wellbeing-with-meg-durham-4350714/sue-langley-burnout-iceberg-the-invisible-forces-driving-staff-burnout-in-schools-episode-162.md Podcast: [The School of Wellbeing with Meg Durham](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-wellbeing-with-meg-durham-4350714) Published: 2026-04-02T17:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://open-mind-education.mykajabi.com/podcasts/the-school-of-wellbeing-with-meg-durham/episodes/2149187341 Audio file: https://audio4.redcircle.com/episodes/7943b5d8-6f80-4925-99c1-66b323c7c307/stream.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-school-of-wellbeing-with-meg-durham-4350714/episodes/sue-langley-burnout-iceberg-the-invisible-forces-driving-staff-burnout-in-schools-episode-162 Duration seconds: 2699 ## Resource “Burnout is a sense of feeling overwhelmed by stuff. There is more coming at us than we have the ability currently to handle.” – Sue Langley What’s really driving burnout in schools? In this episode, Meg Durham sits down with Sue Langley to explore burnout through a systems lens. Together, they unpack why focusing on behaviour alone is rarely enough. Because burnout isn’t just about time management or resilience. It’s shaped by patterns that become normal, structures that influence workload, and beliefs about dedication, sacrifice, service and success that contribute to the way we work. This conversation widens the lens without dismissing personal responsibility. Individual habits matter. Boundaries matter. Deliberate action matters. But behaviour does not exist in isolation, it exist with a context. If burnout has ever felt like a personal shortcoming, this episode offers a different perspective. One that replaces self-criticism with curiosity and opens the door to wiser, more sustainable action. ---- Chapter Markers: 02:05 – What burnout really is 09:10 – Why behaviour change isn’t enough 16:40 – The Systems Iceberg explained 27:30 – Patterns that quietly become normal 38:20 – Structures shaping workload 47:15 – Mental models about sacrifice and success 56:50 – Moving from blame to curiosity ---- Reflection Prompts: A pattern of behaviour that is not serving me is... I feel pressure to… Being a "good" teacher/leader/colleague means... A small deliberate action I can take is... ---- Episode 162 Shownotes - Click   here ---- Sue Langley  Website  |  LinkedIn  | YouTube ---- Meg Durham -   Website   |   LinkedIn   |   Instagram Weekly Newsletter - Subscribe   here Speaker Booking - Complete  the booking&nb… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-school-of-wellbeing-with-meg-durham-4350714/episodes/sue-langley-burnout-iceberg-the-invisible-forces-driving-staff-burnout-in-schools-episode-162/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-school-of-wellbeing-with-meg-durham-4350714/sue-langley-burnout-iceberg-the-invisible-forces-driving-staff-burnout-in-schools-episode-162.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.