burnout
Also called: burnout at work, job burnout
A state that builds up from chronic work stress that hasn't been managed: exhaustion, growing distance or cynicism about the work, and a sense of doing it less well. A lead can change workload, control and recognition, but should point the person to a health professional rather than diagnose.
Burnout is a state that builds up from chronic work stress that hasn't been managed. It is usually described along three lines: exhaustion (feeling drained, not recovering over a weekend), growing mental distance or cynicism about the work, and a sense of doing the job less well. In the international classification of diseases it is described as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition, and only a health professional can assess a person's health.
A lead's job is not to diagnose but to notice overload early and change what the lead controls. Early signs show up in behavior and in plain work data: hours that keep growing, messages late at night, slower output for the same effort, skipped breaks, unused leave, withdrawal from the team, new irritability. One sign is noise; several together for weeks are a reason for a private conversation. Start with what you saw, without labels, and ask before suggesting anything.
Research on burnout points to the work itself more than to individual resilience: too much workload, too little control, unclear ownership, unfair or missing recognition, and values clashes. Those are the lead's levers: drop or move work and say no upward, clarify who owns what, give people a say in how and when, and notice unseen work. A resilience webinar moves none of them. When someone describes weeks of poor sleep, hopelessness, panic or a health scare, say what you've noticed and suggest a doctor or a psychologist, and keep what you hear confidential.
Example
At the end of Klasna's spring peak a coordinator posts "We're all drowning" in the team chat. The lead checks eight weeks of workload (everyone on a 40-hour contract). The team average looks fine: the six coordinators worked 86 hours of overtime over 48 person-weeks, 86 / 48 = 1.79 hours per person-week. Inside the average, one person's trend is different:
More hours, more late messages, less done per hour, for weeks: several early signs together. That is a reason to talk, not a diagnosis. In the one-to-one Maryna says she answers EU families' evening emails "because otherwise nobody does". The lead pulls workload and clarity levers: the evening inbox gets a rota, reopened tickets after her shift go to the next shift.
The lead's own row matters too: 59 hours of overtime and 108 of the team's 234 out-of-hours messages (108 / 234 = 46.15%). When the lead writes at ten at night, replying at ten at night looks normal.
Common mistakes
- Diagnosing. "You're burnt out" is a medical judgement; describe what you've noticed and suggest a professional.
- Trusting the team average. A fine mean can hide one person's steep trend; look at each person over several weeks.
- Taking the loudest complaint as the heaviest load. Hear it, then check hours, late messages and output.
- Prescribing resilience instead of changing the work. Workload, clarity, control and recognition are the levers; a webinar moves none of them.
- Ignoring your own load. A lead who works late every week sets the norm and can't credibly protect anyone else.
Learn it in the course
- Overload and burnout · Read eight weeks of workload data, spot the early signs the average hides, and use the levers you control, including on your own week.
- Mediating between two reports · Hear each side alone, look for interests behind positions, collect options before choosing, and know when not to mediate.