Facilitation
Energy Retro (Energizers and Drainers) retrospective template
Run an energy retrospective online for free: energizers, drainers and recharge ideas. A burnout check for teams, no sign-up.
Opens a new board with these columns, right in your browser.
What is the Energy Retro (Energizers and Drainers) retrospective?
The Energy retro asks what gave the team energy (Energizers), what drained it (Drainers), and what could recharge it (Recharge ideas). It looks at sustainability rather than delivery, and often surfaces meeting overload, interruptions or unclear priorities before they turn into burnout.
The columns
- Energizers
- Drainers
- Recharge ideas
When to use it
Use it after crunch periods, when the team seems tired, in remote teams that lack informal check-ins, or every few months as a wellbeing check.
Facilitator tip: ask people to think about specific days. "Tuesday afternoons with three meetings" is more useful than "too many meetings". Concrete drainers lead to concrete fixes, like a no-meeting block or a shorter stand-up.
How to run it in Peel in 5 steps
- Create an Energy board and keep anonymity on.
- Write for five minutes; ask for concrete situations rather than general moods.
- Reveal and group the Drainers.
- Vote on the biggest Drainers and brainstorm Recharge ideas for them.
- Agree on one or two small changes and check the energy again in a month.
Frequently asked questions
Is this only about workload?
No. Energy also comes from meaning, autonomy and recognition. The format helps teams talk about all of them.
Will managers see who wrote what?
No. Authors are hidden from everyone, including the facilitator.