At Insight Experience, we believe strong leadership creates the conditions for people to thrive. When burnout surfaces, it’s often a signal of deeper issues in how work is structured and supported. Wellness perks and quick fixes like vacation time can miss the mark.
Leadership Strategies to Prevent Burnout
Instead, senior leaders need to step back, assess the broader system, and make changes that support both performance and well-being. Here are three research-backed strategies senior leaders can implement to address burnout at its root.
1. Fix the Work, Not Just the Worker.
Why it matters: Research shows that burnout isn’t simply about long hours—it’s about a mismatch between work demands and resources (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Fixing the work environment is more effective than focusing only on individual resilience.
What leaders can do:
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Audit workloads and remove unnecessary bureaucracy. Ensure your team has the manpower, training, tools, and resources required to meet expectations.
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Ensure employees have autonomy and decision-making power. This not only increases speed and efficiency but also helps teams reclaim time and energy for themselves.
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Design jobs to be engaging, not just demanding. This takes concentrated effort on behalf of the leader to understand the individual needs, drivers, and aspirations of each team member—and to align work accordingly.
There are times when restructuring work or adding resources is impossible or outside of our control. In an increasingly tumultuous economic environment and amid a fierce war for talent, many leaders are doing their best to make bare-bones operations sustainable.
For example, my husband, who is a military officer, recently led a team through a six-month international deployment. Undermanned and burdened with round-the-clock expectations, his team quickly hit a state of burnout. Unable to source additional personnel, renegotiate the hierarchical nature of decision-making in the military, or shift the focus of their work, he turned to several alternative strategies to help the team survive—and stay functional—under prolonged, high-pressure conditions.
One of the most effective was reinforcing a culture of psychological safety.
2. Reinforce Psychological Safety.
Why it matters: A Harvard Business Review study highlights that when employees feel psychologically safe—able to voice concerns without fear—they experience less stress and burnout (Edmondson & Bransby, 2019).
What leaders can do:
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Encourage open, honest conversations about workload and mental health. Regularly check in on individual capacity and personal responsibilities in an ongoing, open-ended fashion.
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Model vulnerability by sharing your own challenges and boundaries. It may feel uncomfortable initially, but you might be surprised how it encourages others to open up and builds a climate of trust.
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Create an environment where employees can say “no” or ask for help without stigma.
3. Equitably Allocate Time & Attention Across Individuals on the Team.
Why it matters: Studies show that insufficient job resources are linked to disengagement or withdrawal behaviors, common signs of burnout (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Leaders often focus their time on struggling team members, following a “squeaky wheel gets the grease” approach. But in doing so, they risk neglecting the high performers, who may disengage due to boredom or burn out from chronic over-responsibility.
Figure 1 illustrates a typical bell curve of team performance. Many managers tend to focus their time and energy on low performers, shown here on the left side of the curve—often at the expense of supporting mid- and high-performing team members.
What leaders can do:
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Distribute coaching, development opportunities, stretch assignments, career conversations, and resources equitably across the team. Aim for equal favor, tailoring support to each person’s needs and interests.
Figure 2 shows a more equitable approach model of time and resource allocation—and how that approach can elevate overall team performance and engagement.
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Address toxic “hero culture” in high-performing teams or individuals. Top performers often carry a disproportionate load, reinforcing cycles of overwork. Do not reward unsustainable hours; instead, cultivate and model a culture of balance.
These approaches shift burnout prevention away from surface-level solutions and toward meaningful structural change. They also fall well within most team leaders’ control, unlike broader corporate offerings such as gym reimbursements or wellness webinars.
Sustain Yourself to Sustain Others
Finally, it is important to look after yourself as a leader. During his deployment, my husband used several of the following tactics to keep himself healthy so that he could support and positively influence his team.
- Protect your own recovery time.
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Schedule non-negotiable breaks in your calendar, even if it’s just 10 minutes to reset. Use this time to step outside, if possible.
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Limit after-hours work by turning off notifications or setting up an out-of-office auto-response during evenings and weekends.
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- Delegate smarter, not just more.
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Identify tasks that drain your energy and delegate them to capable team members.
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Use the 70% rule: If someone can do a task 70% as well as you, delegate it.
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- Build a support system.
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Connect regularly with fellow leaders, a supportive spouse, or a therapist. You’re not alone in this.
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Invest in peer coaching or mentorship. Even leaders need guidance.
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Burnout isn’t inevitable, but preventing it takes more than perks or platitudes. It requires thoughtful leadership that prioritizes sustainable work practices, equitable support, and a culture of safety and trust. By making small but strategic changes, leaders can reduce burnout—and build stronger, more resilient teams.
References
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499–512. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499
Edmondson, A. C., & Bransby, M. (2019, November 6). Making work less stressful and more engaging for your employees. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/11/making-work-less-stressful-and-more-engaging-for-your-employees
