Key Takeaways
- Burnout in leadership isn’t a personal weakness – it’s a predictable system outcome. Like any risk, it can (and should) be managed.
- Current safety systems protect the team – but not the leaders. Organizations must build in stress-protection mechanisms for the leadership layer, too.
- Applying “safety in design” to leadership means planning for stress, not just reacting to it. Expect decompression needs. Plan relief structures. Design support into the project.
- Simple, structural shifts – like expectation management, decompression time and peer support – can dramatically reduce emotional overload and keep work sustainable.
It was week 27 of a 34-week turnaround. The flare stack was still flaring. The client had just emailed again about the slip in commissioning dates. And Tom, the construction manager, stood alone in the portacabin kitchen, stirring instant coffee into hot water, wondering how much longer he could keep pushing.
He wasn’t sleeping. He hadn’t seen his kids in a week. His site superintendent had just requested stress leave — and honestly, Tom was jealous. Not angry. Not disappointed. Just bone-deep jealous.
“No one asks how I’m doing,” he told the mirror in the cracked cabinet above the sink.
On paper, Tom was the protector: a veteran of shutdowns, well-versed in late equipment, conflicting workpacks and how to motivate a cross-discipline team after 10 straight 12-hour shifts. But there was no redundancy built into the system for his well-being. He wasn’t allowed to wobble. He was the fallback.
The Invisible Burnout of Leaders
Burnout among project, construction and commissioning managers is frequently overlooked because it is seen as part of the job. There is an unspoken expectation that leaders will maintain control under pressure, absorb the stress of the project and shield their teams from the worst of the challenges — often at the expense of their own well-being. They are expected to remain steady in the face of adversity, manage escalating demands without complaint and weather the storm while having little protection themselves.
Leadership burnout goes unnoticed for two reasons:
- The Mask of Competence: When your job is to “keep calm and carry on,” most people won’t see the moment your resilience tips into exhaustion.
- The Hero Narrative: We celebrate stoicism, reward grit and (wrongly) interpret stress as a personal failing rather than a system signal.
But when senior leaders burn out, the consequences ripple across the entire project. Delays stretch, quality suffers and the very teams they were protecting feel the fallout.
Systems Protect the Frontline But Leave Leaders Exposed
Frontline protections matter — fatigue management protocols, risk assessments and mental-health initiatives support operators and technicians. But at the leadership layer, it’s often a different story.
Permit-to-Work systems, golden rules and buddy checks don’t usually extend to construction managers. No one audits whether the commissioning lead has eaten, slept or spoken to their family this week. Too often, organizations rely on individual coping mechanisms and heroic endurance rather than building safeguards into the structure of leadership roles.
But resilience isn’t just an individual trait. It’s an organizational condition. A high-pressure job with no relief valve isn’t heroic. It’s a hazard.
What if “Safety in Design” Applied to Leadership Stress?
In engineering, we design systems to prevent failure. We add safety factors, decompression chambers and bypass valves. What if we took the same approach with high-stakes leadership roles?
- Redundancy in Responsibility: Two leaders briefed on critical scopes — not just one. Illness, family emergency or burnout would not derail the job or the person.
- Stress-Resistant Scheduling: Planning buffers that account not just for physical constraints, but human load (especially during holiday season).
- Decompression Protocols: Time off the tools — and off email — for senior leads post-commissioning. Not two days. Two weeks. Paid. Protected. Pre-planned.
Four Practical Tools for Protecting the Protectors
Forward-thinking project leaders focus on the following:
- Upstream Expectation Management — Setting realistic delivery dates with the leadership team, not just the client, and sticking to them. Scope creep is a silent killer of well-being.
- Peer Support Circles — A structured, off-site space once a month where project leaders share issues, solve problems and normalize stress. Peer-to-peer safety net.
- Rotational Shadowing — Bringing in deputies or rising talent to shadow project and construction managers in the final stretch. This builds capability and creates breathing room.
- Boundary Checkpoints — Having a dedicated leader (not involved in day-to-day delivery) check in weekly: Are you sleeping? Are you eating properly? Do you need to step away? This gives permission — and power — for people to say yes.
Tom didn’t quit that day in the portacabin. He finished the job, hitting mechanical completion two weeks late but with no major incidents.
He also took six months to recover.
The next time you run a shutdown, a major project or a high-stakes turnaround — don’t just ask how the plant is doing. Ask how the people are doing, especially the ones who never complain.
Because even the strongest need somewhere safe to land.
And it’s time we started protecting the protectors.
About the Author
Lauren Neal
Founder and Chief Program Creator, Valued at Work
Lauren Neal is the Founder of Valued at Work – a consultancy that creates workplace cultures where no one wants to leave, in traditionally male-dominated sectors.
Since 2005, Lauren has worked as an engineer and project manager in the energy sector offshore, onshore and onsite on multimillion-dollar projects across the globe. Chartered through both the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Association of Project Management (APM), Lauren is a sought-after speaker, writer, and consultant championing career progression within STEM and inclusive workplace cultures beyond the boundaries of demographics.
Lauren’s book released in October 2023 – 'Valued at Work: Shining a Light on Bias to Engage, Enable, and Retain Women in STEM' – became an Amazon #1 best-seller and is a finalist in the 2024 Business Book Awards.
Click here to reach out to Lauren.