So You’re a Team Lead Now, But No One Showed You How to Run a Burn Report or Deal With a COR

It probably wasn’t a big announcement. Perhaps your PM has asked you to take the lead on a few things. Possibly the client began consulting with you instead of your manager. Maybe your company just started calling you “the lead.”

Now your name is on the status reports. You’re being asked to answer questions about hours. And suddenly, you’re on the hook for explaining things to the COR—a person you barely interacted with before.

But no one showed you how to do any of it.

No one walked you through what the government expects.
No one explained what a burn report means.
No one gave you the context behind your new responsibilities.

You’re leading, but you’re leading blind. And that’s not your fault.

Burn Reports Are Quietly High Stakes

You hear it early — “Make sure you track your burn.”

So you open up Excel. You look at the numbers. You try to figure out how fast your team is burning through funding. Someone may have shown you the formula at some point. Maybe you inherited a spreadsheet from a previous lead.

But you’re not always sure what the government is looking for.

Are you supposed to project future spend?
How much detail do they expect in your updates?
What happens if you’re on track technically, but the hours look uneven?

Burn rate isn’t just math. It’s visibility. It’s how the government checks if the contract is being managed well. And when your updates feel vague or inconsistent, it makes them nervous, even if your team is doing great work.

CORs Aren’t Just Contacts. They’re audiences.

If you’ve never worked closely with a Contracting Officer’s Representative, you’re not alone. Most team leads don’t get coached on how to handle a federal client until they’ve already made a few mistakes.

CORs are the government’s eyes on the contract. They’re not just checking if you delivered a product. They’re watching how the work is managed. They’re looking for patterns.

If you show up to check-ins disorganized, if your answers seem uncertain, and if you struggle to explain hours or timelines, the COR starts to lose confidence. And once that happens, it’s hard to earn it back.

They don’t always tell you when something feels off. But they remember. And when it’s time for performance reviews or contract extensions, that memory comes up fast.

Most Team Leads Are Promoted Without Tools

You weren’t put in this role because you’re bad at your job. You were promoted because you’re solid. You show up. You understand the work. People trust you.

That’s the exact moment when leadership should support you, but in most cases, they don’t.

Not because they don’t care. Usually, they’re stretched too thin to notice. They assume you’ll figure it out, or they forget how much context they picked up over the years. They’re not thinking about how it feels to be asked to lead when you’ve never seen the whole contract.

So you piece it together. You ask around. You Google things. You overprepare because you’re not yet sure what matters.

And that’s what burns people out.

You're Carrying More Than the Work

Once you're in the lead role, you're not just responsible for task completion; you're also responsible for ensuring that others are held accountable. You're accountable for communication, forecasting, risk awareness, and client trust.

You’re expected to keep things moving without making noise. You’re expected to see problems early. You’re expected to say the right thing in meetings you were never trained to lead.

And when you don’t, it reflects on the whole team.

That’s a lot to carry when you’ve never been shown the rules.