How A Burned Out Team Produced 5 days of Work In 4 Days

I was a consultant on a high burn project. When our team missed milestones you could see the stress increasing at each team meeting.

Each week the hours our team worked increased, yet the project continued to fall further behind schedule. We were on a 4+ week streak for working weekends.

Early one Monday morning our executive called a meeting with management to discuss ways to mitigate the impending disaster.

I presented a plan to turnaround the project and increase productivity.

The executive said let's try it for a week, it make not work because the team looks exhausted and they are acting burned out. If it doesn't work this week we will try something else.

The meeting ended.

I met with the team right after we dismissed.

They liked the plan and suggested ways it could be updated. I approved the changes and the team started the week with my new workflow plan.

On Thursday afternoon the project team reported their functional team's progress and status for the week.

When I compared our project team's productivity toward or weekly goals, it was clear.

Our burned out team produced 5 days of work in 4 days.

Our project team celebrated by taking a few hours off on Friday and we did not have to work the weekend.

On Monday the project team showed up well-rested, and motivated to face the challenges of a high-burn project.

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Getting the most out of your team is never easy, but you can do it when you engage your team.

Turnaround and elevate your team's performance starting with a future of work keynote experience.