Your Team Isn’t Burned Out—They’re Bored

We throw the word “burnout” around like confetti these days.
Another missed deadline? Burnout.
Low engagement? Burnout.
Passive-aggressive Slack messages? Definitely burnout.

But what if we’re misdiagnosing the problem?

What if your team isn’t overwhelmed by too much… but underwhelmed by too little?

Not too little work—too little meaning, challenge, and ownership.

I’ve worked with teams that were sprinting at full capacity and absolutely on fire—in the best way. Long hours didn’t drain them. They were energized. Focused. Proud.
Why? Because they were solving real problems. Stretching their skills. Seeing progress.

Contrast that with a team doing repetitive work with no input on decisions. They’re “busy” but disengaged. They aren’t burning out from stress.
They’re bored out from irrelevance.

Boredom Disguised as Burnout

Here’s how you can tell the difference:

Ironically, both lead to the same symptoms: disengagement, low motivation, and eventually, turnover.
But the fix? Completely different.

The Cure Isn’t a Wellness Program

Don’t get me wrong—I love a good yoga class.
But no amount of mindfulness will fix the feeling of working on something that doesn’t matter.

When a team feels underutilized, they disconnect. They start playing it safe. They stop innovating.

To re-engage them, you don’t need to lighten the workload.
You need to deepen the work.

Ask yourself:

• Are they solving interesting problems, or just executing tasks?
• Do they have space to explore, or are they stuck in the same cycles?
• Are they learning? Stretching? Taking ownership?

The real spark comes from giving people meaningful challenges—and the freedom to figure them out.

Challenge Fuels Innovation

Innovation doesn’t happen when people are comfortable.
It happens when they’re engaged—and that often means slightly in over their heads.

Let your team wrestle with messy problems.
Ask them to improve something broken.
Put them in charge of redesigning part of the system they’re stuck in.

You’ll see their eyes light up again.

One Small Win

One team I worked with kept complaining about burnout. But after a few short interviews, it was clear they weren’t overwhelmed—they were uninspired.
So we invited them into a challenge: Redesign your own onboarding experience for new hires.

It wasn’t flashy. But it mattered to them.
They ran with it. Created prototypes. Tested with peers.
Two weeks later, they weren’t just more engaged—they were energized.

That’s the power of relevance and ownership.

Try This With Your Team

Want to test this idea?
Ask your team one simple question at your next check-in:

“Is your work challenging in a good way right now—or just draining?”

Then listen. Don’t try to fix it on the spot.
Just start noticing the boredom signals.
From there, invite them into a challenge that stretches, not just stresses.

Innovation starts with curiosity—and boredom is a sure sign it’s been missing for too long.