If you're one of the users who upgraded OS X to El Capitan last week and are having issues with Outlook 2011, you're in luck: Microsoft has released a fix for the show-stopping bug affecting Outlook 2011 for Mac. The Microsoft KB article (KB 3098396) describes how the bug caused Outlook to hang whenever it attempted to sync online with email servers:

Outlook For Mac Hangs With El Capitan Mac

Shortly after you start Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 on Mac OS X El Capitan (version 10.11), Outlook hangs when it tries to sync with the server. The Spinning Wait cursor is displayed, and the application status is displayed as 'Not Responding.'

Oct 15, 2015  Outlook 2011 (14.5.3 150624) still hanging on El Capitan Beta 5 (15A235d) But if I click command+7 (progress dialog) then command+, (preferences dialog), and click Accounts section with click and hold left mouse button in account list with an unstop moving in the list until all progresses finished at least 30 seconds will be ok to use in next 10 15 minutes for my work. (depends on next syn. Oct 10, 2015 On September 30th, Apple made its latest version of OS X-El Capitan-available for download from the Mac App Store. In the week that it's been available, the adoption rate numbers have yet to.

The issue did not affect offline users, however this would obviously leave Outlook's functionality severely crippled. Thankfully the patch appears to resolve the issue and is much better than Microsoft's advice prior to this update, suggesting users roll back to OS X Yosemite.

Sep 30, 2015 On El Capitan, connecting to Exchange email servers causes Outlook 2011 to freeze and display a beachball cursor. Update 10-7-2015: Microsoft has released Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.5.6 Update, which resolves the problem with Outlook freezing. Oct 05, 2015  Applies to: Office 2011, Office 2011 Home and Business Edition, Word 2011, Excel 2011, PowerPoint 2011, Outlook 2011, Office for Mac Standard 2011 Edition, Microsoft Office for Mac Home & Student 2011, and Microsoft Office for Mac Academic 2011 Known issues for installation of Office 2011.

Despite Office for Mac 2011 receiving a patch, Office 2016 for Mac still has serious bugs itself including the apps crashing. Mac mojave format usb for windows. Microsoft told MacRumors they are working on a fix:

Mac Os X 10.11 El Capitan

'We know that some users of Office 2016 for Mac are experiencing issues as a result of upgrading to Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan. We are actively working with Apple towards resolution.'

Users can download the Office for Mac 2011 14.5.6 Update (113.4 MB) via Microsoft AutoUpdate or in a package at Microsoft Support.

Source: Microsoft Support via MacRumors

Hello Jeremy,
I understand that Outlook is freezing after less than a minute of being open. According to Microsoft, They are aware and investigating the issue and will update the page below when more details are available. The only fix right now is to not be on OS X El Capitan as the latest version that Outlook is compatible with is OS X Yosemite. For more details, check out the first link.
Outlook for Mac 2011 on OS X 10.11 hangs during account sync operation
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3098396
If this is dire and are needing Outlook to work properly, then you can revert to a previous version of OS X by using the steps below.
OS X El Capitan: Revert to a previous OS X version
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21950
Take it easy.