Leadership Wellness
Numbers don’t lie! According to Microsoft’s most recent Work Trend Index - a global survey of workers across multiple industries and companies published in September 2022 — more than half of managers (53%) report feeling burned out at work.
Burnout is broadly defined as physical and emotional exhaustion, coupled with decreased motivation and lowered performance at work. According to the American Psychological Association, it “results from performing at a high level until stress and tension, especially from extreme and prolonged physical or mental exertion or an overburdening workload, take their toll”. In 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) included burnout in its International Classification of Diseases and defined it as an “occupational phenomenon.”
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This topic is close to my heart, all my adult life I have been in management. I have worked as a Manager, Managing Director and Country Director for more than 20 years in the private and non-profit sector. I love what I did with passion and always over performed, until the day I did not.
At the age of 45, I was diagnosed with a mental burnout. Now looking back I can see that my burnout was a combination of many years of overworking, high levels of stress and an ongoing neglect of my physical wellbeing. This combined with aging and the increase in the complexity of my life, lead to a breaking point.
I was fatigued all the time and I began suffering from insomnia. I felt angry and irritable, even though I was still able to manage myself at work, I would explode at home often. The ongoing feeling of a deep sadness was probably the last drop in an overflowing glass. I stopped enjoying my work and that was probably the catalyst for my resignation. I gave 12 months’ notice, I pulled myself through that time, but by the end of this period I was certain that my days in management were over. I was diagnosed with burnout after four months of having stopped working. My mental and physical conditions were still in bad shape at that time. It took me a year to recover my old self and through lots of reflection and practicing life-style medicine I understood the things leaders should have in place in order to avoid burnout.
The leadership wellness program was born from years of experience in management, the observations with my peers, the latest health science research and of course my two passions - Leadership and Health.
The program is a 12-week one-on-one health & wellness coaching with leaders at any level of seniority. During the program, we will explore the pillars of health but also other areas in our lives that influence our wellbeing, we will use the IIN circle of life tool to guide us through the discussions.
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This is a program that individuals can sign up for or it can be used as a wellness workplace program by companies/organisations.
Sessions can take place online or in person (North of Portugal).
What to Expect?
First, a 60 min discovery session: let’s find out if we are the right fit for you and you will be able to understand if you want to commit to the program.
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Second, we will meet weekly or bi-weekly for 60 min. It takes 12 sessions to develop, implement and master your personalized wellbeing plan.
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Download the concept note to read about the program in more detail.
