Handling Team Burnout

After spending the past year leading ransomware incident response, I wanted to share some insights that you should be thinking about in relation to your organization. 1. Leadership clarity is non-negotiable. Multiple executives giving competing directions doesn't just create confusion - it directly impacts your bottom line. Every minute of misaligned leadership translated into increased recovery costs and extended downtime. 2. Trust your IR experts. Yes, you know your environment inside and out. But incident response is their expertise. When you hire specialists, let them specialize. I've seen firsthand how second-guessing IR teams can derail recovery efforts. 3. Master the time paradox. Your success hinges on rapid containment while simultaneously extending threat actor negotiations. If your leadership and IR partnership aren't solid (points 1 & 2), this delicate balance falls apart. 4. Global password resets are deceptively complex. Every human account, service account, API key, and automated process needs rotation. Without robust asset management and IAM programs, this becomes a nightmare. You will discover dependencies that you didn't even know existed. 5. Visibility isn't just nice-to-have - it's survival. Modern security tools that provide comprehensive visibility across your environment aren't a luxury. This week reinforced that every blind spot extends your recovery time exponentially. 6. Data gaps become permanent mysteries. Without proper logging and monitoring, you might never uncover the initial access vector. It's sobering to realize that lack of visibility today means questions that can never be answered tomorrow. 7. Backup investment is incident insurance. Organizations regularly lose millions that could have been prevented with proper backup strategies. If you think good backups are expensive, wait until you see the cost of not having them. 8. Protect your team from burnout. Bring in additional help immediately - don't wait. Your core team needs to be there for the rebuild after the incident, and running them into the ground during response isn't worth it. Spending money on staff augmentation isn't just about handling the immediate crisis - it's about maintaining the institutional knowledge and expertise you'll need for recovery. Remember: the incident ends, but your team's journey continues long after. #Cybersecurity #IncidentResponse #CISO #RansomwareResponse #SecurityLeadership"

🌐 #HR #Cyber #BurnOut #MentalHealth Cybersecurity teams are undoubtedly under pressure: experiencing sick leave, insomnia, and more. Of course, threats are intensifying, and #CISOs/security managers are overloaded 🔥, but these reasons alone don't fully explain the phenomenon. Client verbatims include: "What I'm doing feels pointless", "My objectives are constantly changing", "I don't understand what's expected of me"... It's clear that the level of stress is not solely related to the nature of the tasks performed ! 📉 1️⃣ Several organizations have recently taken an interesting approach: they are integrating #HR topics directly into their maturity frameworks (e.g., NIST, ISO) and associated processes (assurance, cyber programs, etc.) 📚. This is excellent as it leads to the definition of concrete and measurable objectives for staff turnover, employee motivation, and work-life balance... and facilitates regular discussions with top management 👥, alongside the convergence towards zero-trust and resilience! 2️⃣ Security teams consist of a wide range of experts (pentesters, CERT analysts, etc.). Unfortunately, too many companies still tend to overvalue management at the expense of #expertise. It's crucial in cyber teams to foster an ecosystem that supports experts 👍! There's a plethora of options to explore: expertise career paths, certifications, communities, conferences, media... Let's not wait for the experts to leave before recognizing their value! 3️⃣ #Mobility is also crucial. Many employees feel trapped in their positions, with no possibility for advancement in the next decade 📈. The solution is quite straightforward: promote mobility! For example, spending 3 years as a project manager, 2 years as a SOC analyst, 3 years in cyberculture... #Cybersecurity is vast enough to offer rich and exciting careers 🎯! From experience, a cyber team thrives with a mobility rate of at least 10%. 4️⃣ And, of course, #salaries need to be discussed. Ask two CISOs/security experts from the same large organization about their pay. I recently met two CISOs with similar profiles in the same company: one was paid a fixed salary 💵, while the other received a 50% bonus based on personal objectives. It's impossible to foster any team spirit and solidarity under such conditions! Addressing salary alignment, up-skilling, training, certification, and mobility are crucial to enhancing well-being in cyber 📢. Clearly, this cannot be achieved by HR alone; CISOs/managers must also be involved. This is especially true since some of the above advice applies to them as well... considering many CISOs have been in their current role for more than a decade 😉

1 in 4 employees report experiencing highly toxic workplace behaviour. Here’s how we combat it: I run 3 agencies—Social Beat, Influencer.in, and D2Scale—which employ 300 team members, and I know first-hand how critical it is to address burnout. But here's the thing: most companies approach burnout all wrong. They treat it as an individual problem, throwing wellness programmes and resilience training at the team. Yet, the real solution lies in systemic change in the organisation. A recent survey across 15 countries revealed that toxic workplace behaviour is the single largest predictor of burnout symptoms and intent to leave. So, what's a leader to do? Well, simply having your team "yoga their way out" won't cut it. We need a holistic, top-down approach that addresses the root causes. Here's a 4-step playbook I follow to combat burnout in my agencies: 1) Detoxify the workplace: Identifying and eliminating toxic behaviours like harassment, discrimination, and unrealistic demands is step one. Create a safe, inclusive environment where people can thrive. Give the team an opportunity to voice this out if it's not going in the right direction. 2) Redesign work: Assess job demands, workloads, and processes. Align them with sustainable practices that encourage growth, learning, and work-life harmony. Often this may mean re-setting expectations with clients. 3) Upskill leaders: Invest in training programmes that equip managers with the tools to encourage adaptability, resilience, and psychological safety within their teams. 4) Embed well-being: Weave mental health support into your culture. From team assistance programmes to mental health days, make well-being a strategic priority, not an afterthought. Even the extra holiday during Diwali or New Year can make all the difference. We also use YourDOST as a partner when someone in the team needs to have a chat. The key? Addressing burnout systemically, not just symptomatically. By prioritising a healthy, sustainable work environment, we can ignite a ripple effect of positivity that reverberates through our teams and bottom lines. What changes have you seen your organisation implement to effectively combat team member burnout? P.S. We call everyone a team member, rather than an employee. The change starts with this thought

I’ve had to protect my team in the past, particularly when their time or focus was at risk. I’ve seen this happen at companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, where mandates and initiatives would stack during the same timeframe. While each initiative alone might have been reasonable, together they overburdened the teams. Those compiled costs may be invisible to the folks driving the individual mandates. You may have seen teams get overwhelmed by a major release, a review cycle, and bi-annual business planning all at once. This type of time management stress is usually manageable, but there are times when teams can be stretched too thin and compromise morale and quality. When you witness this, I believe it’s crucial to step in. You will hear from your team and you need to be close enough to the issues to decide how to respond. This can be tricky for a leader: on one hand, you want to ensure your team can succeed; on the other, you’re part of the broader leadership and need to support the decisions being made. Sometimes, you have very little room to maneuver. In those cases, I find it most effective to have a private conversation with key decision-makers. Meeting behind closed doors allows you to present the reality of your team’s capacity without putting anyone on the spot. Armed with clear data or project plans, you can often negotiate more realistic timelines or priorities. Another common pressure is when stakeholders create frequent direction changes. Repeated shifts in goals or features will thrash your team and waste energy. This often reflects deeper issues with strategy, alignment, and communication. However, you may not have time for a complete overhaul of your planning processes, and you still need a way to prevent thrash. A short-term fix is to set firm near-term milestones or “freeze” dates, after which any changes must go through a formal triage process. This ensures that if changes are necessary, they follow a transparent, deliberate sequence rather than blindsiding. After the freeze, broader project changes can be considered. Ultimately, I see my responsibility as a leader as fostering an environment where my team can perform at a high level, stay motivated, and avoid burnout. Part of a leader's role is to protect their team’s capability and long-term health. There will always be sprints and times when you need to push, but you also need to consider the long view and put on the brakes when required. People who feel supported are more productive, more creative, and likely to stay engaged.

In 2022, I predicted that by 2025, 60% of enterprises would actively foster socialization to combat chronic loneliness and social isolation exacerbated by digital technology. How has loneliness progressed? 🔍 Here's a snapshot according to Gallup's Global Workplace 2024 Report : 🌐 Globally, 1 in 5 employees report experiencing loneliness frequently, with those under 35 and fully remote workers most impacted. 😔 62% of employees are not engaged, while 15% are actively disengaged. 🆘 58% of employees feel they are struggling in life, with only 34% considering themselves thriving. ⚠️ 41% experience "a lot of daily stress." Loneliness and disconnection are silent problems — they often manifest as apathy, disengagement, or learned helplessness at work. So, what can we do to help? 💡 Steps to Consider: -Create a Support Network: Identify your team’s needs and implement channels to address them, such as employee assistance programs, financial planning tools, family assistance, buddy systems, communities, and ERGs. -Rethink the Work Environment: Co-design spaces for deeper relationships by mapping the employee experience and identifying changes in physical spaces, inclusive technology, and management practices. -Redesign Teams: Foster interdependence with collaboration platforms like fusion teams, cross-functional mentoring, and shadowing for problem-solving. - Recognize and Incentivize Goodwill: Acknowledge efforts with peer recognition/gratitude programs, making support visible to all. Implement an Inclusion Index: Measure fair treatment, collaboration, psychological safety, trust, belonging, diversity, and integration of differences through various feedback methods. - Train Managers: Provide managers with guidelines on the expected level of involvement in employee well-being. Train them in handling sensitive conversations, building personal connections, and evaluating mental health on a spectrum. Managers account for 70% of the variance in team employee engagement. Let's address these silent issues head-on and create a more connected and supportive workplace! 💪✨ #WorkplaceWellness #EmployeeEngagement #Inclusion #MentalHealth #FutureOfWork #Leadership #TeamBuilding For data see: Gallup's State of the Global Workforce Report https://lnkd.in/ecj8KUuw

Do not let your friends get to this point ↴ Rock bottom. In a profession like recruiting (external), many of us, including myself, have reached this point multiple times. The pressure is palatable, especially for high-pressure solo practitioners where our success determines if we feed our families. 👉 Let's break down the concerns ↴ 1. Burnout   → Unrealistic targets and the "always-on" nature of the job add to this stress and mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. 2. Rejection Fatigue → The "No's" add up: Constantly dealing with candidates' & clients' rejections or disappointments can create feelings of inadequacy or failure. 3. Pressure for Performance → Intense Metrics-driven environments can result in overwhelming stress to meet KPIs. Economic factors, such as layoffs or hiring freezes, add further stress. 4. Emotional Toll of Candidate Support → Supporting them through brutal rejections or coaching them to improve can be draining. 5. Isolation in Remote Work → For some, the shift to remote recruitment has reduced in-office camaraderie, increased feelings of isolation & impacted mental well-being. 👉 What to look out for in our industry colleagues, friends and family↴ 1. Decreased Productivity Missed deadlines, lower placements, or poor performance relative to prior output. 2. Physical Symptoms → Fatigue, headaches, disrupted sleep, or drastic weight/appetite changes. 3. Changes in Attitude or Behavior → Irritability, reduced communication, or withdrawal from team interactions. 4. Reduced Job Satisfaction → Expressing dissatisfaction or lack of fulfillment in the role. (not standard sarcasm)🙄 5. Impaired Decision-Making → Difficulty managing priorities or making clear, strategic choices. 👉 Strategies to Address Mental Health in Recruitment ↴ 1. Normalize Mental Health Conversations → Provide a culture where discussing stress or seeking help is welcomed and not stigmatized. 2. Reasonable Targets and Metrics  → Ensure KPIs are ambitious but achievable to reduce unnecessary pressure. 3. Flexible Work Arrangements → Encourage work-life harmony through remote work flexibility or mental health days. 4. Mental Health Resources Offer access to counseling, therapy, or stress management programs. 5. Peer Support Networks → Build spaces where recruiters can share experiences & coping strategies. 6. Training Managers to Spot Signs → Equip leaders to recognize when team members need support & how to provide it effectively. Recruitment is a team sport & we must look out for each other as humans. Keep an eye on your friends who do this solo and check in on them. It's like a REAL check-in. Together, we can make a difference! 👉 And before you write some snarky comment about job seekers or other professions, YES, these tips can apply to all. But right now, I am focusing on my industry to spread the word and make a difference. Thank you!  

Burnout doesn't always come from doing too much. Sometimes, it comes from working on shared projects where: ● no one honors deadlines. ● feedback comes late, unclear, or performative. ● decisions are vague, and responsibility floats like a ghost. ● mental health is sidelined — "we're all stressed" becomes normal. I am watching this in my ongoing project. My data equity advisory client – a brilliant Director of Data & Analytics— is trying to build something thoughtful and equity-centered with 20-25 board and Council members. I see her designing systems with intentions. But they are caught in a storm of noncommittal yeses. They host bi-weekly sessions and have multiple shared docs. To make this a collective, she asks for feedback from all, and so it comes—trickling in from 20–25 board and council members. And the feedback – all in different colors on the doc – disjointed. Sometimes contradictory. Often outside the agreed timeline. No one is held accountable. No one reflects on the process. And certainly, no one pauses to ask: "How are you holding up?" This isn't just "a culture issue," which is why I want to write this post today. This is how I have seen intelligent, thoughtful, and emotionally present people burn out. This is how equity-centered work becomes a checkbox. This is how nonprofits lose their most thoughtful leaders. If we want to work better together — especially on data, especially on systems change — we must ask: ● how do we give and receive feedback with care? ● how can we acknowledge and honor each other's boundaries and energy? (which includes the junior staff as well as unpaid team members) ● do we know the cost of our silence or delay? ● are we treating people like inboxes or collaborators? Saying yes to the project means saying yes to the process. And saying yes to the process means showing up for each other — clearly, consistently, and with care. The risk here is not missing out on feedback or a deadline; the risk is losing people who care. #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #community

Burnout isn’t a breakdown. It’s the price for ignored whispers. After working with 200+ organisations and thousands of leaders, I’ve seen the same truth: Burnout doesn’t crash overnight. It creeps in quietly, long before performance metrics show the damage. Leaders who miss the whispers end up firefighting the flames. Here are nine red flags that show burnout is brewing: 1/ Emotional flatline  → Excitement turns into indifference  → Wins are met with silence, not celebration  → Energy flattens across the board 2/ Decision paralysis  → Simple choices take longer  → Teams hesitate more than they act  → Confidence quietly erodes 3/ Learning Stops  → Curiosity disappears from conversations  → People stop asking “why” or “what if”  → Growth mindset gets replaced by survival mode 4/ Conversations shrink  → Messages become transactional  → Humor and casual chatter fade  → The “human” part of work goes missing 5/ Meetings Lose Engagement  → Cameras stay off, participation drops  → Fewer ideas are shared in group settings  → People attend but are mentally elsewhere 6/ Feedback Dries Up  → Peers stop giving honest input  → Safe spaces for dialogue shrink  → Psychological safety quietly breaks 7/ Voluntary Effort Disappears  → Extra-mile behavior vanishes  → Employees do only what is asked  → Discretionary effort hits zero 8/ Irritability Spikes  → Irritability increases in daily interactions  → Small issues trigger big reactions  → Friction becomes the new normal 9/ Pride in Work Fades  → Teams stop talking about impact  → Quality becomes “good enough”  → Ownership gives way to obligation Here’s the real insight: Burnout is not a people problem. It’s a system problem. Prevention is leadership. Cure is damage control. Leaders, your absolute power is in noticing the whispers before they become wildfires. Which of these 9 signs do you notice first in your team? Repost if you believe leaders must catch the whispers before they lose their teams and follow Subramanian Narayan.

Everyone talks about recovering from founder burnout. But what if you could prevent it entirely? Most founders try to carry the full weight of their company: - Every problem - Every decision - Every crisis I couldn’t even imagine doing it all as a solo founder — that’s why the most important decision was choosing the right co-founders. We structured our team to leverage each person's strengths... …where each player brings unique but complementary strengths to the field. From day one, we established clear areas of ownership, allowing each founder to lead where they excel. For example, each of us focuses on our core strengths: - Growing our global community of users - Driving our product roadmap forward - Ensuring our systems scale reliably Think of it like a table: If one leg gets wobbly, everything collapses. But design it right, and the weight distributes evenly. Thoughtful team design prevents any founder from carrying an impossible burden. In our short life as a company, we've been able to lean on that principle. Build a solid foundation, and you'll (most likely) never reach the brink of burnout.

Leaders: your team is burning out... here’s what you need to do about it It’s no secret that during tough economic times, teams are often asked to do more with less. Hiring freezes, budget cuts, and rapid technological uptake can quickly escalate into an overwhelming environment. As leaders, we have a responsibility to keep the wheels turning—but what is it costing your people? Here’s what to keep top of mind to create a psychosocially safe workplace: 1. Prioritise, Don’t Overload More tasks with fewer hands isn’t the solution. Your team needs focus, not overwhelm. Reassess workloads and strip back anything that’s not critical. If everything’s a priority, nothing really is. 2. Have Real Conversations Don’t just ask “how’s it going?”—dig deeper. Regular check-ins reveal the real pressure points, including personal life ones. Create a culture of feedback where your team feels safe to express concerns about their capacity, and other stress they may be feeling. 3. Empower Your Team to Say No A “yes” culture is a fast track to burnout. Encourage your team to push back when they’re at capacity. Set realistic expectations and model healthy boundaries by saying no when needed – I know, this one’s tricky! 4. Use Recovery Strategically Constant grind kills creativity and performance. Make recovery a non-negotiable part of your strategy. Build downtime into the workflow—whether it’s through breaks, quiet time, or mental health days. 5. Be Transparent Ambiguity creates more stress than the work itself. Be upfront about the challenges ahead. Keep communication open about the business landscape, so your team feels informed, not anxious. Protecting your team from burnout isn’t a luxury—it’s your obligation as a leader. Prioritise smart workload management, open dialogue, and recovery to build a resilient team that thrives, even under pressure. #Psychosocialhazards #Preventburnout #Leadership