Transforming Employees From Burnout To Highly Engaged

The difference between a team member who arrives energized each morning and one quietly struggling with burnout comes down to leadership. In our comprehensive analysis comparing 30,768 individual contributors showing signs of burnout to 119,338 highly engaged direct reports, we identified ten leadership behaviors of managers that consistently differentiated these two groups of direct reports.

This research matters because burnout has become a critical organizational challenge. The good news? The data shows that leaders have more influence over engagement and burnout than many realize, and the behaviors that make the difference are within reach of any leader willing to focus their attention on what truly matters.

Results: The Behaviors That Differentiated Burnout from High Engagement

Our analysis revealed ten leadership behaviors that cluster around four distinct themes, each representing a fundamental dimension of effective leadership.

Theme 1: Inspiration and Energy

Three behaviors define how leaders generate enthusiasm and motivate exceptional performance. Leaders of highly engaged employees inspire others to high levels of effort and performance and energize people to achieve exceptional results.

• They don’t just assign tasks—they create an emotional connection to the work that transcends the transactional.
• These leaders also create an atmosphere of continual improvement where people push to exceed expected results.
• Rather than pressuring from the outside, they foster internal drive, making growth feel like opportunity rather than obligation.

Theme 2: Purpose and Direction

Four behaviors address one of burnout’s primary drivers—the feeling that work is pointless or disconnected from something larger.

• Engaged employees work for leaders who provide a definite sense of direction and purpose and
• help others understand the organization’s vision so they can translate it into meaningful goals.
• These leaders also help people understand how their work contributes to broader business objectives, connecting daily tasks to organizational success. Additionally,
• they keep people focused on the highest priority goals, filtering noise and protecting teams from unnecessary distractions. This clarity combats the exhausting pull in multiple directions that characterizes modern work.

Theme 3: Collaboration and Trust

Two behaviors define the relational foundation of engagement. Leaders of engaged employees promote a high level of cooperation between all members of the work group, creating environments where collaboration feels natural and team members are supported rather than undermine each other. If any team member feels like an outsider, engagement is significantly diminished.

Most fundamentally, these leaders are trusted by all members of the work group. Trust is the bedrock upon which all other leadership effectiveness is built. When trust exists, people assume positive intent, forgive mistakes, and remain engaged even through difficult periods.

Theme 4: Stretching Potential

A final behavior connects to all three themes. Effective leaders are skillful at getting people to stretch for goals beyond what they originally thought possible. Burned-out employees often feel either under-challenged and bored or over-challenged and overwhelmed. Engaged employees feel appropriately stretched—working at the edge of their capabilities in ways that build confidence rather than destroy it.

What Leaders Can Do When Direct Reports Show Signs of Burnout

The data provides clear guidance for leaders facing the challenge of burned-out team members. Rather than treating burnout as an individual problem, leaders should recognize their own pivotal role in transforming the situation.

1. Start with Trust and Connection

Before attempting any intervention, assess the trust foundation. Building trust requires positive relationships, consistency between your words and actions and expertise, understanding the technical aspects of the work and doing it well. Have real conversations you have with direct reports—not just about performance but about how people are actually doing and what would make work better.

2. Reconnect Work to Meaning

Burnout often stems from a loss of purpose. Help each person reconnect their daily work to larger objectives that matter to them. Ask: What drew you to this work originally? What parts feel most meaningful? How does your current work connect to our mission? Consistently communicate how specific work contributes to customer success and organizational goals.

3. Simplify and Focus

Exercise your leadership authority to protect your team’s focus. Make hard choices about what not to do, shield your team from organizational noise, and be clear about what matters most. Review workloads honestly and create space for people to do fewer things well rather than many things poorly.

4. Create Conditions for Collaboration

Isolation intensifies burnout. Create genuine opportunities for collaboration and ensure people feel comfortable asking for help. Pay attention to team dynamics and actively cultivate a culture where cooperation feels natural and beneficial.

5. Inspire Without Overwhelming

Master the balance between inspiring excellence and driving exhaustion. Celebrate progress, not just outcomes. Acknowledge effort, not just results. Create safety to experiment and fail. Model sustainable work practices yourself.

Take Immediate Action

If you recognize signs of burnout, act now:

1. Have direct, caring conversations with each person showing signs of burnout
2. Audit your own behaviors against the ten identified in this research
3. Make specific commitments to change one or two high-impact behaviors
4. Enlist organizational support for workload adjustments or role changes
5. Follow through—actions after the conversation matter more than the conversation itself

The Bottom Line

Leadership behavior is one of the most powerful determinants of whether direct reports experience burnout or engagement. The ten behaviors identified in this research aren’t personality traits you either have or don’t have—they’re practices you can develop with intention and effort.

If you’re leading a team where burnout has taken hold, recognize that you have more power to change the situation than you might think. Start with trust, reconnect people to purpose, protect their focus, foster genuine collaboration, and inspire sustainable excellence. The data shows these behaviors transform outcomes. Your leadership can transform lives.

-Joe Folkman, President of Zenger Folkman