High Performance Without The Fallout: Manager Skills To Drive Output Without Burning People Out

Hey everyone, thanks for joining. So excited to have you all here with me for our third installment of the Engagement Lab. I’m sharing my screen now.

In this webinar, we’re going to be going through “High Performance Without the Fallout.” We’ve got a lot of really fun things to go over, and I’m really excited about everything we’re going to cover in this call.

We’ve been talking a lot about engagement and performance and how to tie it all together. In this session, we’re going to have a lot of great stats and things you can do right out of the gate.

But I’d love to hear where everyone is calling in from. So in the chat, please share where you’re calling in from. I’d also love to hear: what is your favorite morning beverage? What do you like to drink when you get up?

I’m an 8-ounce maritano kind of guy, but sometimes a dry cap is nice. I’ve been reading that there have been some interesting drinks coming out, like matcha espresso fusion. I know a lot of people are drinking dirty chai, which is espresso plus chai.

There’s also a lot of hot coffee, orange juice—that’s a good one. I love fresh juice. Nothing better than fresh orange juice.

Dirty chai for sure, oat milk on the darker side with coffee. From Steve. Calgary—I was just there a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful mountain ranges, incredible.

So thanks everyone for coming. Mocha at Starbucks, I love it. Dark roast. Yeah, the world comes together when it comes to coffee and tea.

Let’s get going. We have a lot to cover in this call. We’re going to cover six major parts here.

Right off the gate, this presentation—we’re going to share it with you, and you can take it and show it to your managers. This is a manager training guide. I’m really passionate about this, and we’ll talk a bit more about me in a second.

This is about being able to tweak the knobs and create a high-value, high-performing team. So right off the gate, a few things managers or teammates can do: plan your week intentionally.

Then we’re going to talk about performance, high-performance teams, radical prioritization, and psychological safety, which is a huge one. I’m really looking forward to that.

We’ll also talk about guardrails, how to say no, and best practices around recognition, effort, equity, and recovery.

A little bit about me: I’m Alex Grande. Thanks for joining. I’m the CEO and founder of RecognizeApp.com. I’m super passionate about psychology, organizational development, motivation, and gamification theory.

These are things I care about deeply and design into my program, which I may show a bit during this call.

So right out of the gate, what can managers do immediately to make an impact?

We’ve all heard about team huddles. But what about async check-ins? For example, five minutes Monday, five minutes Wednesday, five minutes Friday.

You can use tools like Geekbot, survey tools, or even just a Microsoft Teams channel. Ask: what’s happening? What are your goals for the week? How’s it going? What did you accomplish?

It takes five minutes per session per employee, so about 15 minutes total for them. The manager should be able to read it in about five minutes as well. So 15 minutes a week total, instead of hour-long daily huddles.

Every week, ask: are we on track with priorities? Make it a ritual. Put it on the calendar. Keep time open and free so people can book into it.

Nothing is more frustrating than a calendar completely booked with things like “walking the dog” and “planning goals.” Leave space open. We’ll talk more about trade-offs and scheduling cool-downs.

We’re going to talk about how to avoid being constantly hyper-focused on productivity. We’re only human, and we’ll dig into that.

Next is high performance and the paradox it can create. We also have polls, so Rue, can you pull that up?

We’d love feedback from the group around leadership.

It looks like the last word got cut off at “performance,” but the question is: how much does your leadership care about performance?

I talk to HR professionals weekly. What keeps leadership up at night? It’s performance—especially retention of high performers.

Let’s publish the results. It looks like it’s split, with many saying it’s all they talk about. Nobody said “not at all.”

They care about performance, but not always managing performance. That’s where we can help.

Second poll: what is important to leadership on performance? This helps us understand how to convince them on initiatives.

Looks like there’s a clear winner.

Let’s end the poll. About 48% said retention of high performers is most important.

If you have high performers, recruiters will eventually reach out to them on LinkedIn. If they don’t feel valued, they’ll leave.

Burnout is a key issue here. There’s a myth that pressure creates diamonds, but too much pressure creates dust.

We need balance: productivity without burnout, celebration without exhaustion.

Some stats: it costs about $4,700 to hire a new employee. It takes 3 to 8 months to ramp up productivity.

And burned-out employees are far more likely to look for new jobs—about 2.8 times more likely.

That should concern leaders more than hiring costs alone.

High performance is often described as velocity: speed and quality of output.

Think voltage and amps—speed and volume combine into watts. You want sustainable watts, not flickering lights.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

To get there, prioritization is key. The 80/20 rule, or Pareto Principle. Some say it’s closer to 90/10.

A small number of actions drive most outcomes.

Meetings are often unproductive—about 71% of senior managers say so. Around 60% of workers lack uninterrupted focus time.

We can fix this by reducing constant availability and creating psychological safety around disconnecting.

Use FIFO systems, Kanban boards in Notion, and clarify what is “to do,” “doing,” and “done.”

Be a filter as a manager. Protect your team from low-value requests.

Use the Eisenhower Matrix: urgent vs important. Burnout often comes from urgent but unimportant tasks.

Psychological safety is huge. Google found it to be the top predictor of high-performing teams—not intelligence.

The foundation is feeling safe enough to speak up, fail, and experiment.

Above-the-line leadership avoids blame and gossip. Below-the-line behavior erodes trust.

One-on-ones are critical. Many companies lack standards for them.

They should be structured, focused, and safe—not just small talk.

Also consider communication norms: Slack vs phone vs email. Use ChatGPT or Gemini to help reframe messages more empathetically.

We’re exploring tools at Recognize to support better one-on-ones tied to goals and performance.

Let’s launch a poll on one-on-ones.

It looks like many people are interested in standardizing them and using tools.

Next: guardrails, not just goals. Avoid withdrawal, cynicism, and decreased quality.

Define values clearly. For example: being an ally and being an exemplar.

Have a code of conduct. Make expectations explicit so managers don’t guess.

Respect logged-off hours. If you’re checking green dots, there’s already a trust issue.

People need real focus time.

Model behavior. Don’t send late-night messages unless necessary.

Use scheduled messages. Keep Slack for short communication. Use email for longer thoughts.

Now recognition and motivation.

Tomorrow is Employee Appreciation Day 2026, so hopefully you’re doing something for that.

Recognition should be visible, meaningful, and tied to autonomy, growth, and purpose.

At Recognize, we integrate recognition into workflows like Microsoft Teams.

Employees can earn points and redeem rewards like gift cards, tickets, or swag.

The SAPS model matters: Status, Access, Power, Stuff.

Status: recognition and visibility.

Access: leadership opportunities and conferences.

Power: decision-making authority.

Stuff: tangible rewards.

Next is recovery time. Burnout comes from constant pressure or lack of progress.

We need cycles of intensity and recovery.

Many organizations are understaffed, which is a major driver of burnout.

Watch for uneven workload distribution. Don’t over-rely on your highest performers.

Equity in effort matters.

Now a scenario exercise: a team has a deliverable due in two weeks. One member is overwhelmed, another is working weekends, morale is slipping.

What do you do?

Suggestions included redistributing workload, meeting individually, and resetting expectations.

The goal is warmth and strength—supportive but clear.

One takeaway: in the next 24 hours, reduce or restructure at least one meeting.

Use pre-reads, reduce meeting time, and improve efficiency.

Also be intentional about sending messages across time zones.

Learn to say no to protect focus.

Thanks everyone for joining. Next webinar is coming soon, focused on manufacturing teams.

We’re also doing a live demo of Recognize with my team on March 25th.

We’ll share this presentation afterward so you can adapt it for your own managers.

Thanks everyone for coming, and feel free to reach out.

See you soon.