I don’t know about you, but sometimes it seems like we perceive time at vastly different paces. December goes by in a flash of holiday cheer, while January is a cold, miserable slog. I swear this month should’ve been over a week ago, but here we are.
Still in January.
That snail’s pace can make everything feel a lot harder than it should. If you're leading a team right now, you might be seeing the signs: slower response times, shorter fuses, that glazed look in Monday morning meetings.
We're barely three weeks into the year, and some of your people are already running on fumes.
I've been there—both as the burned-out team member and the leader who wasn’t ready for it. So why do things fizzle so quickly into the new year? It’s the accumulated debt from a fourth quarter that never really ended, holidays that felt more like obligations than rest, and New Year goals that landed less like motivation and more like misery.
The Signs of Burnout You're Missing
Burnout doesn't announce itself. Your best people won't walk into your office and say, "Hey, I'm completely fried." They'll just start operating differently.
First sign? Phoning it in. They're in the meetings, but they're not really there. Getting feedback is like pulling teeth. That person who always had three ideas for every challenge now just nods and says, "Whatever you think is best."
Then, there’s inefficiency. Maybe they're working more hours but producing less. Staying late, responding to emails at midnight, but the quality doesn't match the quantity. That's the sign of a system running on emergency power.
And sometimes, the sign is just absence. More sick days. More "working from home" days that feel different than usual. Your gut tells you something's off, even if you can't put your finger on it.
3 Key Actions to Deal with Burnout
When you suspect burnout, the instinct is often to add something: a team-building event, a motivational speaker, a new wellness initiative. But burned-out people don’t need more obligations to juggle.
First: Start with an honest conversation.
Don’t meet in a group when everyone performs their "I'm fine" routine, but real, one-on-one check-ins. And not the "How are things going?" surface-level stuff.
Ask: "What's actually draining you right now? What would make the biggest difference?"
Then actually listen to the answer. When someone tells you they're drowning in administrative tasks, that they haven't taken an honest break in six months, or that they're trying to meet expectations that aren't even clear anymore, believe them.
Even if their answers hurt your ego.
Then: Redistribute the load.
If your top performer is carrying 30% more than they should be because they're the person who "gets it done," you're not being efficient. You're breaking your best tool, slowly but surely.
Look at what can actually be dropped, delegated, or delayed. Not everything with a deadline is equally important, even if it feels that way. Some of the most valuable leadership decisions I've made were about figuring out what not to do.
Finally: Protect recovery time like it's revenue.
This one goes against every instinct when Q1 goals are looming.
If someone needs to step away for a long weekend, let them actually step away. No "just check your email once a day" compromises. No "quick question" texts on Saturday. Trust that three days of real rest will give you more than three weeks of half-present work.
I’ve seen firsthand what happens when you compromise on recovery, and it’s never good.
Leadership is About the Long Game
You can push through almost anything for a while. People will keep showing up, keep delivering, long after they should have said something. But eventually, we start writing metaphorical checks we can’t cash. When that happens, the recovery time is exponentially longer than if you'd just acknowledged the problem earlier.
Your team is the same way. You can push through Q4, push through the holidays, push into the new year on momentum alone. But that debt comes due. The question is whether you're going to address it now, when it's manageable, or later, when you're replacing people instead of helping them recover.
January burnout isn't a personal failing. It's a systems problem. And (thankfully!) every system can be fixed.
What signs of team burnout are you seeing right now? How are you addressing them?