Burnt-out managers are destroying teams. These 5 daily habits reverse it

I’ll never forget the morning I froze in front of a client. I was a Vice President at Kearney, the global management consulting firm, presenting our proposal to a three-person client subcommittee. Mid-sentence, my mind went completely blank. Not the normal “lost my train of thought” blank. The kind of blank that leaves a scary emptiness where confidence used to live.

I’d been putting on a mask each day. I’d tried to be positive and stay on top of everything. But that morning, I couldn’t do it anymore. I felt anxious and exhausted at the same time. My mind was racing, and my body was depleted. The mask had finally cracked in the worst possible place.

What I didn’t know then was how common my experience has become. Recent Wiley research reveals that 47% of managers describe their work stress as severe, compared to 37% of employees. The people responsible for preventing team burnout are burning out faster than the teams they’re protecting.

This isn’t just a personal crisis—it’s an organizational one. Gallup research shows managers contribute to 70% of team engagement and well-being. When we crash, we don’t fall alone.

But here’s what I learned after rebuilding my career and interviewing hundreds of leaders. Burnout isn’t inevitable. The managers who stay resilient practice five specific daily habits.

1. They practice self-care and talk about it

When managers visibly practice self-care, team performance improves. American Psychological Association research shows a direct correlation. But it’s not just about doing self-care privately—it’s also about modeling it openly.

Ellen Derrick, Partner at Deloitte Asia-Pacific, told me that she “grew up an athlete” and exercise remains critical to how she works through stress. What transformed her team wasn’t just that she exercised—it was that she stopped hiding it.

When she started naming practices out loud—blocking her calendar for a run, protecting family time—her team followed.

2. They listen with empathy rather than just offering solutions

Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, discovered you don’t show you care by talking or doing things. You show you care by listening with empathy.

He created a listening course for all 12,000 employees. The core skill he taught was to listen to understand, rather than to fix. Workplace relationships improved, and managers reported their home lives transformed.

Most people don’t come to you because they need you to solve their problem. They come because they need to feel less alone carrying it. To implement this habit, try listening to your first conversations for 90 seconds without offering advice.

3. They play to their strengths

I saw the power of strengths firsthand with my son Adam.

When he was about to graduate from high school, Adam was interested in advertising. After work experience revealed it wasn’t what he thought, I encouraged him to take Gallup’s CliftonStrengths assessment. He discovered his top strengths were restorative (problem-solving), futuristic (vision), and learner (acquiring knowledge).

These insights helped him choose neuroscience, which aligned much more organically with his natural abilities. Later, when friends encouraged him to explore medicine, he recognized that it would use those same strengths daily. Today, he’s halfway through anesthetics training and finds great purpose in calm problem-solving, forward thinking, and continuous learning.

Gallup research shows individuals who use their top five strengths each day are six times more likely to be engaged at work. As a manager, consider whose strengths a specific task is suited for before you delegate it.

4. They recognize progress and not just outcomes

Teresa Amabile’s research on The Progress Principle reveals that nothing motivates knowledge workers more than progress on meaningful work—not recognition, not pay, not perks.

However, most managers only recognize the finish line. The managers who build momentum recognize the micro-progress: “The way you reframed that problem in this morning’s meeting unlocked something for the whole team.”

5. They ask, “Are you OK?” when something doesn’t seem right

As Founding Board Director of R U OK?, I’ve learned that 95% of people in my leadership seminars know someone close to them—at work or home—struggling with anxiety, depression, or addiction. Everyone is touched by this. Yet most of us stay silent.

I’ve seen this question work in boardrooms, on construction sites, in mining operations—industries where vulnerability feels impossible. It works because the person feels understood.

The critical part: ask in private. The stigma around mental health remains real.

You don’t need to be a counselor. You just need to notice when something’s off and care enough to ask. If you notice that a team member seems a little off, create a private moment and ask: “Are you OK?”

These habits won’t eliminate workplace stress. But they’ll help prevent the crisis I experienced—and the one destroying 47% of managers right now.

Start with one habit tomorrow. Your team is watching.

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