5 ways to fight burnout at work

Before You Start

Goal: Identify personal strategies for coping with burnout and make an honest assessment of your workload, so you can take meaningful action before your next meeting.

Watch: "5 ways to fight burnout at work" — Lean In. Members are encouraged to watch beforehand.

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Meeting Agenda · Approx. 60 mins

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👋 Member Updates · 10 mins

Go around your Circle and share personal updates. Keep them brief and focused on significant changes or important decisions since the last time you met. It's OK not to have one every month. If you have a One Action update from last time, share that too.

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🧊 Icebreaker · 10 mins

Invite everyone in the group to share. Keep answers to one or two minutes per person.

Raise your hand if you've experienced any of these recently: feeling constantly stressed at work; feeling cynical about your job; feeling irritated with coworkers; unexplained physical symptoms like headaches, trouble sleeping, or stomach problems.

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💡 Key Takeaways · 5 mins

Burnout is a common and serious experience for many women at work, and having strategies to prevent and address it is essential.

• Burnout is different from everyday stress. It's a state of chronic exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced effectiveness that builds over time, often because the causes go unaddressed.
• Women experience burnout at higher rates. The combination of workplace demands, bias, and disproportionate domestic responsibilities creates a compounding effect.
• Prevention and recovery both require action. Waiting until you're fully depleted to address burnout is like waiting until you're dehydrated to drink water. Sustaining practices matter every day.
• Workload is a structural issue, not just a personal one. Talking to your manager about priorities and pushing back on unrealistic demands is both legitimate and important.
• Community accelerates recovery. Sharing experiences with others who understand what you're going through is one of the most effective and underused burnout interventions.

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🏋️ Activity · 20 mins

Activity 1: Strategize how to cope with burnout (10 mins)

Take 3 minutes to reflect individually: Think about the most effective strategies that have helped you cope with or recover from burnout. Even if you haven't experienced burnout, consider what daily practices help you sustain your energy and wellbeing.

Then go around your Circle and have everyone share their best strategies.

Activity 2: Honestly assess your workload (10 mins)

Write it down (5 mins): Make a list of your current roles and responsibilities, at work and at home. Once you have your list, identify where you could scale back. Are there tasks you could reassign to someone else? Deadlines you could push? If you have a manager and/or another adult at home, how could you discuss rebalancing your workload with them?

Discuss as a group (5 mins): Go around your Circle and share one area where you can work on reducing your workload.

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🎯 One Action · 10 mins

Commit to one concrete action, big or small, you'll take before next meeting. Go around the Circle and share (1 minute or less per member). Vocalizing it helps hold each other accountable.

Looking at your list from today, what's one thing you could stop doing, delegate, or push back on that would meaningfully reduce your workload or stress levels?

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📅 Wrap-Up · 5 mins

Before you break, set up your next meeting and close on an energetic note. Go around your Circle one by one and finish the sentence:

Now I am feeling… (choose one word).

• Set the day, time, and location
• Choose the next topic or resource
• Confirm who's leading the discussion
• Decide how you'll stay in touch in between