Preventing Resilience Fatigue: How Great Leaders Protect Their Teams from Burning Out
We’ve all heard the rallying cries: “Be resilient.” “Keep pushing.” “Stay strong.” And while resilience is essential in leadership and life, there’s a hidden truth many high-performing teams are quietly struggling with: resilience fatigue—the exhaustion that comes from constantly having to bounce back without enough time or support to recover.
In today’s workplace, where change is constant and demands are unrelenting, resilience fatigue can quietly erode motivation, performance, and trust. As leaders, it’s our job not to just model resilience—but to create environments where resilience can be restored.
What Resilience Fatigue Looks Like in Teams
Resilience fatigue doesn’t always announce itself. It often hides behind phrases like:
“I’m fine.”
“It’s just a busy season.”
“Once we get through this project, it’ll calm down.”
But beneath those words are signs of deeper wear: disengagement, shorter tempers, declining creativity, and a quiet sense of disconnection. The team is still functioning, but not flourishing.
If you’ve noticed your team’s energy waning—even if performance metrics still look strong—this is your cue to pause and lead with empathy.
Leadership Isn’t Just About Driving Results—It’s About Protecting Capacity
Leaders who prevent resilience fatigue don’t wait for burnout to appear—they build resilience into the culture itself because sustainable success doesn’t come from squeezing more out of your people; it comes from supporting them in replenishing what they give.
Here’s how:
1. Normalize Humanity, Not Hustle
It starts with permission. When leaders openly acknowledge their own challenges—without framing them as weakness—they give others permission to be human, too. A simple, “This has been a demanding quarter for all of us. How are you holding up?” can shift the tone of an entire team. Empathy creates safety. Safety fuels engagement. Both help to create balance.
2. Redefine “Strong”
Being strong isn’t about powering through every storm. It’s about knowing when to pause and recharge before the next one, and incorporate play. Encourage your team to take breaks, use their PTO, or block focus time without guilt. This is really challenging for many leaders, but it is imperative! When people feel trusted to manage their energy, as well as their time, they perform better and stay longer.
3. Balance Accountability with Grace
High standards are important—but so is compassion. Check in on progress, yes, but also on process. Ask:
“What’s working well for you right now?”
“Where are you feeling stretched thin?”
This opens the door for honest dialogue. And when people feel seen and supported, they’re more likely to self-correct before burnout sets in.
4. Foster Connection and Purpose
Fatigue often comes from feeling disconnected—from meaning, from the mission, or from each other. Reinforce why the work matters. Celebrate small wins. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition. Even five minutes in a team meeting to acknowledge effort can rebuild morale and remind people that their contributions make a difference.
5. Model Boundaries—and Keep Them
Your team will mirror the habits you model. If you’re sending emails at midnight, skipping meals, or never taking a day off, they’ll assume that’s what’s expected. Instead, demonstrate that boundaries are not barriers—they’re fuel for better thinking and stronger leadership. When you protect your own energy, you give others permission to protect theirs.
Resilience Is a Shared Responsibility
The most effective leaders I’ve coached understand this: resilience isn’t just a personal trait—it’s an organizational practice. It’s built into the daily habits, the conversations, the trust, and the culture you create.
So as you lead your teams through the final stretch of the year, remember—your job isn’t to demand constant strength. It’s to design a space where your people can refuel, re-engage, and rise stronger together.
Because true leadership isn’t about how well you endure the storm—it’s about how well you help others weather it, too.
If you enjoyed this blog post, here are some other resources you might enjoy:
My book, "Dare To Own You: Taking Your Authenticity and Dreams Into Your Next Chapter": The winner of two Feathered Quill Book awards, and an Book Excellence award, and recommended by Forbes in 2022 as “a teaching memoir”.
My podcast, the "Live Your Best Life with Liz Brunner" podcast: An award-winning and internationally streamed show that highlights powerful stories of re-creation and reinvention from guests who have taken their life experiences, and used that knowledge to create their “next chapters” and live their best lives.
My work as a keynote speaker, executive coach and communication expert. You can read more about more of my services here.
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