Leading with Care: Supporting Recovery from Burnout and Stress
What people leaders in Australia need to know—and do
Burnout isn’t just a personal issue. It’s a workplace issue.
And while there’s more awareness around it now, what happens after burnout is often where things fall apart.
A person comes back from mental health leave—or maybe they never left, just kept pushing through. They’re quiet. Flat. Tired, even after time off. The pressure starts creeping back in. Everyone wants things to “get back to normal.” But nothing really changes.
This is where leadership matters most.
Because recovery from burnout isn’t about bouncing back. It’s about moving forward—with better support, boundaries, and ways of working. And leaders play a key role in making that possible.
Why “Care” Isn’t Soft—It’s Strategic
We sometimes treat care and performance like they’re opposites. But in reality, care is what makes performance sustainable. Leaders who know how to lead with care are better at:
Retaining great people
Preventing team burnout
Creating environments where people actually want to do their best work
Reducing psychological risk
It’s not about being soft. It’s about knowing what your people need to stay well—and being the kind of leader they can stay well under.
What Burnout Recovery Really Looks Like
Recovery from burnout isn’t fixed with time off or wellbeing perks.
It requires:
Permission to slow down without guilt
Supportive check-ins, not performance pressure
Workload and role clarity—not just being thrown back into the deep end
Time to rebuild energy, confidence, and trust
A culture shift, not just a personal reset
If someone burned out in your team, the system needs to shift too. Otherwise, nothing gets better—just quieter.
How Leaders Can Support Burnout Recovery
1. Talk about what happened—without judgement
If someone’s coming back after burnout, don’t ignore it or tiptoe around it. Have an honest, respectful conversation:
“How are you really feeling about being back?”
“What do you need from me right now?”
“What would support look like?”
2. Protect space for recovery
Don’t immediately fill their calendar or delegate everything you held. Reduce meetings. Buffer deadlines. Give permission to take breaks—and model it yourself.
3. Check in—but don’t micromanage
Let them know you’re available, but also give them space. A quick message or “just checking in” chat can go a long way—if it’s genuine.
4. Reset the expectations
Don’t pretend nothing happened. Talk together about what pace, capacity, and focus looks like moving forward. Recovery is a process—not a return to “before.”
5. Review team norms, not just individuals
If one person’s burned out, others are probably close. Check workloads, meeting overload, after-hours expectations. Recovery for one person might be the warning sign for the whole team.
Leading with Care Creates Real Culture Change
When leaders support recovery with care, they:
Build trust
Keep good people
Reduce turnover and claims
Lead teams that perform better without burning out
Care isn’t something you do once someone’s in crisis. It’s how you lead every day—especially when the pressure’s on.
If someone in your team is recovering from burnout, don’t rush them back to “normal.”
Slow down. Make space. Rebuild safety.
And look at what systems, expectations, or habits contributed to the burnout in the first place.
Because leading with care isn’t about fixing people.
It’s about changing the conditions that wore them out in the first place.