quiz by minimalistee.
Is Your
Team
Burnt Out?
Is it time for a recovery conversation?
Here are 10 simple questions for the founders & leaders to help you begin understanding your team better.
01 - Energy
When you look at your team on a Monday morning, do most of them look tired before the week has even begun?
Not just quiet - but a specific kind of flat. Like they're already running on low. Not sleepy, but depleted.
02 - Silence
Have people who used to speak up in meetings stopped doing so - without any obvious reason?
Ideas, challenges, opinions - they used to share them. Now the room is quieter. Nobody's complaining, but nobody's contributing much either.
03 - Time Off
When team members return from leave, do they still seem exhausted within a day or two?
Vacation should restore energy. If they're back to empty within 48 hours - rest is not the problem. The environment is.
04 - Effort vs Output
Is your team working long hours but delivering work that feels below what you know they're capable of?
High input, low output is a burnout pattern - not a skill gap. The effort is going into surviving, not creating.
05 - Small Things
Are small mistakes - the kind your team never used to make - happening more often lately?
Typos. Missed deadlines. Forgotten follow-ups. These are cognitive fatigue signals, not carelessness.
06 - Beyond the Job
Has anyone on your team stopped doing anything beyond their minimum responsibilities?
Burnt-out people don't stop caring overnight. They protect the last of their energy by cutting everything optional first.
07 - Tone
Has the emotional tone of your team shifted - more irritable, more detached, or strangely flat?
Cynicism or emotional numbness that wasn't there before - these are the emotional phases of burnout, not personality problems.
08 - Clarity
Does your team frequently seem unsure about priorities - even for tasks that should feel straightforward?
When someone is cognitively exhausted, even familiar decisions feel overwhelming. What looks like confusion is often depletion.
09 - Recognition
When you give your team positive feedback, does it seem to have little to no effect on their energy?
Recognition is fuel - but only when the tank isn't bone dry. If acknowledgment isn't landing, they need structural change, not more praise.
10 - Instinct
As their manager, does something feel off - even if you can't put it into a performance metric?
Your instinct is data. If the team doesn't seem like themselves - trust that. Burnout often shows up in feel before it shows up in numbers.