Before your top talent taps out… start listening to the signals

"What gets ignored eventually breaks. High performance demands high awareness."— James McPartland

Like a finely tuned sports car, high-performing teams need regular maintenance to stay sharp. But let’s be honest, we often wait until we hear strange noises or experience a full-on breakdown before we pop the hood. By then, the damage usually requires more than just a quick fix—it may mean a costly rebuild.

It’s the same with elite athletes. They push through minor injuries, ignoring the subtle signals their bodies send, until a major injury forces them to stop. Your top performers do something similar.

They’re focused, driven, and wired to deliver, even when things start to feel off. That dedication is admirable. It also makes it easier to miss the early signs of burnout until the issues hit critical mass.

Here’s the thing: we usually don’t slow down until something’s seriously wrong.

We wait for the late nights to turn into missed deadlines…For stress to become illness…For your rockstar employee to hand in their notice.

And by then? It’s much harder to fix.

You know the type—they show up, crush it, ask for nothing, and make it all look easy. But sometimes, that quiet consistency masks what’s really happening: exhaustion, frustration, or a slow fade into disengagement.

It’s rarely one big blow-up that signals burnout. It’s small things that stack up over time:

• A creative spark that once lit up the room now barely flickers

• Tasks that used to be quick take longer

• Lunch breaks disappear

• Onboarding slows down because no one has the bandwidth to train new hires properly

That last one is a big red flag. When new team members take longer to hit their stride, it’s often not about their capabilities, it’s about a team whose communication is clogged with assumptions, unwritten rules, and invisible workflows. What once felt seamless now feels like navigating a maze of tribal knowledge.

And ironically, this happens most often in successful teams. The ones with the track record, the high standards, the history of delivering under pressure. When things are going well on the surface, it’s easy to miss the cracks forming underneath. No one wants to be the one who says, “This isn’t working,” when they’re known for always making it work.

But here’s the truth: if you want your team to stay great, you have to treat them like a long-term investment—not a short-term sprint.

Think of it like tuning that race car. You don’t wait for the engine to blow mid-race. You listen for the subtle shifts. You check in. You make small adjustments.

Same goes for your team.

Instead of waiting for morale to dip or performance to stall, build in regular space for real conversations. Ask:

• Are our workflows still working?

• Is everyone clear on who owns what?

• Do people feel like they can ask for help, or are they just pushing through?

And don’t just measure results. Look at how the work is getting done. Is there collaboration? Are ideas flowing? Is there room to breathe, or is everyone white-knuckling their way through the week?

Real, lasting performance doesn’t come from pushing harder. It comes from creating an environment where people don’t have to wear burnout as a badge of honor.

That means building a culture where:

• Honesty is valued more than heroics.

• Respect includes acknowledging limits.

• Growth includes knowing when to ease off the accelerator.

The most successful teams aren’t the ones that never struggle—they’re the ones that catch issues before they become problems. They spot the warning signs. They make adjustments. And they stay in the race for the long haul.

So before your top talent starts to sputter, lift the hood. Take a look at what’s happening beneath the surface. Because it’s always easier to keep a well-oiled machine running than it is to rebuild one that’s burned out.

Mac 😎