đź“ť usncan Note: How Great Leaders Avoid Burnout
Disclaimer: This content has been prepared based on currently trending topics to increase your awareness.
Photo by Jehyun Sung on Unsplash
UNSPLASH.COM
When we talk about burnout and falling engagement, the conversation often centers on professionals bogged down by repetitive, low-value work. But as it turns out, the people meant to lead and inspire teams are increasingly running on empty. Leaders are struggling more than ever. Gallup’s 2024 data showed a dip in overall engagement—just the second in over a decade—largely driven by disengaged managers. Rapid tech shifts, economic uncertainty, and evolving employee expectations have left today’s managers stretched too thin.
The antidote is meaningful recovery—but that’s easier said than done. In practice, leaders often struggle to truly disconnect. I know I do. For me, it takes a conscious effort and a deliberate game plan to fully unplug. Here are a few strategies I use in the weeks leading up to checking out, which help me rest, recover, and return to work reenergized for my team.
Identify Workflows To Delegate To AI Agents
You might be surprised by how many of your daily workflows can now be run, start to finish, by AI agents. These aren’t just tools to shave a few minutes off a task; they can plan, execute, and adapt entire processes with minimal human oversight. But before you can hand anything off, you need to visualize a typical workday.
Start by mapping out your day. I call it an “audit.” Break down each of your recurring workflows into clear steps. Then ask: Which of these could be fully delegated to an agent?
Today’s AI agents can do much more than automate a simple task. For example, you can build a news agent that curates, summarizes, and even posts news for you. Teaching agents can dynamically help you and your team members develop new skills. And new agents are launching all the time.
Spending a little time now to identify agent opportunities can save you hours every week. When it’s time to disconnect, you can truly sign off without worrying about work piling up.
Identify Tasks That Don’t Require Perfection
Before I started my own company, I worked with a manager who expected every communication, no matter the recipient, to be flawless by his standards. What could’ve been a quick client email sometimes rolled into an hours-long task, as he examined each sentence with a fine-tooth comb, pushing his team through multiple rounds of edits. While I don’t believe in sloppy work, unnecessary perfectionism is the other extreme. It wastes valuable time and results in frustration and disillusionment.
As you prepare to sign off, consider which tasks—yours and your team’s—are okay to approach with a “good enough” mindset. Writing for Harvard Business Review, Frans van Loef and Jordan Stark recommend that leaders work in a “fit for purpose” way—assessing what level of effort is appropriate for a given task.
For example, if a product brainstorm can be shared as a bulleted list, say so. Make it clear that your team doesn’t need to deliver a grammatically perfect, fully formatted report.
Dropping perfectionism where possible lightens the load for you and your team, both before and during your time away.
Set Boundaries—And Stick To Them
When I take my annual two-week vacation to my family’s olive farm in Turkey, I commit to checking email just once a day—no more. My team knows this well in advance, long before my out-of-office message goes live. Any real-time conversations are scheduled before I leave, and urgent matters are directed to the relevant directors and managers. This isn’t just a logistical arrangement. It’s also a signal.
Communicating your availability before you go sets clear expectations and helps your team plan accordingly. It reduces unnecessary interruptions that can trigger “fight or flight” cortisol spikes mid‑vacation, defeating the purpose of getting away. A recent meta‑analysis looking at studies on vacation and well-being found that psychological detachment—meaning not checking emails, taking calls, or dwelling on office tasks—was strongly associated with improved well‑being during and after time off.
Setting boundaries also empowers employees to act independently, which in turn boosts engagement.
Equally important: modeling this kind of communication shows your team it’s okay to disconnect, too. Leaders who set and protect their boundaries give others permission to do the same. They help build a culture where long-term, sustainable growth is possible.
