You can’t plan the future on empty: Why leadership teams need space to reset
Feeling a little frantic and overwhelmed? It’s common at this time of year, when our schedules are packed to the brim with holiday festivities to attend and projects to wrap up. But at the same time, the end of a calendar year is a milestone that invites us to reflect on the past 12 months and set intentions and goals for the next 12.
Organisations expect this of leaders—it’s why annual planning tends to get scheduled around this time. But it’s also an opportunity to reflect in a more personal way. What are you hoping to achieve or bring into your life in the coming year? While it might feel like it’s self-indulgent to take time for personal reflection, I believe it’s just the opposite. It’s how you set a strong foundation so you can be there for your team in the coming months.
Pushing through exhaustion is not the way forward
I’ve noticed recurring themes in my recent conversations with leaders: Everyone is being asked to do more with less, feeling worried about economic uncertainty, and doing their best to operate with relentless targets, slashed budgets, and decimated teams.
And instead of taking time to recharge and step back to broaden their perspective, they push forward into holiday prep, end-of-year reviews and their Q1 planning.
Here are a few scenarios I see all too often with the leaders I work with:
You say yes to everything. The pressure is on to deliver, or else you might jeopardise your job. To stakeholders, everything feels equally urgent. Because you’re in a constant state of near-burnout, you lose your ability to prioritise. And you and your team pay the price by piling on to your already too-long to-do lists.
You mistake activity for progress. When you’re always busy, it’s hard to have clarity on whether you’re actually making progress on your strategy. You get caught up in too many meetings and following processes, but don’t actually have (m)any outcomes to show for it.
You lose sight of the bigger picture. You need time and space to take the wider view, spot strategic opportunities, see what’s not working in your operating model, and identify systemic issues. But this is nearly impossible when you’re focused on fighting the fire of the day.
You lose connection with your peers across the organisation. At a relentless pace, it becomes harder to stay aligned (both strategically and humanly) with leaders in other functions. Conversations become transactional, collaboration thins out, and teams begin pulling in different directions. Over time, strategy fragments and people feel increasingly disconnected.
I am not trying to point fingers here. I see the kind of pressure leaders are under, and I know you often make these decisions because you feel you're being pushed rather than out of choice. But that doesn't change the fact that pushing yourself beyond burnout is not a long-term solution.
Against this backdrop, taking time to recharge and reflect might feel frivolous.
But here’s the truth: Wearing ourselves to exhaustion and trying to push past burnout is never the recipe for success. Intentionally stepping away from the daily grind and nurturing yourself aren’t just nice things to do on some theoretical day in the future when things calm down—you need to make time for them today.
What actually works: Creating space for clarity
So what’s the alternative? I’m not simply going to tell you to rest more or practise self-care. If it were that simple, you’d already be doing it! What actually works is creating structured space for strategic thinking, and being intentional about what you do in that space. Here are a few specific steps to consider:
Take a step away from the daily grind. We can’t be both strategic and tactical at the same time. Taking time away from our inboxes and calendars allows us to break out of our habits and regular thought patterns.
Ask bigger questions. When you step away from those daily questions and topics that occupy so much of your mindspace, you’re able to think bigger and remind yourself of your vision, the outcomes you’re trying to achieve, and what roadblocks might be preventing you from making progress.
Engage your whole body and give your mind a break. Good strategy isn’t just a mental exercise. It requires intuition, creativity, and innovation. But it’s hard to tap into these powers if you’re constantly firefighting, and in your head. This is why practices that engage your body and nervous system—like breathwork, time in nature, or working with horses—can unlock new thought patterns and possibilities.
Do this work with your leadership team instead of on your own. Strategy doesn’t happen in isolation (at least no successful strategy does!). It needs to be the result of aligned group effort and collaboration. And this is why it’s especially powerful when you take all these steps along with your fellow leaders. You’re laying the foundation for your future success.
Here’s what I’ve learned from my 30 years of working with leaders: The ones who create the space for strategic thinking AND to recharge aren’t any less busy than others. They’ve simply learned that you can’t envision the future when you’re already depleted. And this clarity translates into the whole team focusing on doing what really matters going forward. Time away is a necessity to set yourself up for success.
If you know that you’d like to cultivate more connection and alignment to help you start 2026 with clarity and confidence, I’m here to offer a few ways to help you do just that.
Your invitation to rest and recharge
You may already understand the importance of taking time for yourself and your team, but perhaps you’re wondering how to squeeze this into your schedule or how to organise something that will truly transform your perspective.
I’m partnering with Amy Gallagher to offer executive retreats that will allow you to rest, recharge, and get ready for 2026. And we’re here to take care of everything for you. Our approach blends decades of senior leadership experience with powerful reflective tools and time in nature. One of our (optional) signature tools is facilitated time with horses. There’s no riding involved; just your presence and willingness to step outside your comfort zone. Horses have a unique ability to surface unspoken dynamics, emotional patterns, and leadership blind spots.
You can choose between the following options, or get in touch to create your bespoke retreat.
The Renewal Retreat
The Renewal Retreat is the right choice if you and your team are:
Experiencing burnout, decision fatigue, or disconnection from your shared mission
Navigating a season of organisational transition and needing space to reflect and realign
Seeking fresh clarity, creativity, and a grounded path forward as a leadership group
Designed exclusively for executive teams seeking deep rest, clarity, and reconnection, the Renewal Retreat offers a rare opportunity to step away from the relentless pace of leadership.
In a private, curated environment surrounded by nature, your team will be guided through transformative practices that calm the nervous system, restore connection to the body, and realign your collective inner compass.
After the Renewal Retreat, you can expect to:
Feel revitalized, grounded, and more connected
Have more clarity on your path forward
Be more comfortable getting out of your head and breaking unproductive thought patterns
The Northstar Retreat
The Northstar retreat is the right choice for teams who want to:
Define or refresh their shared vision and strategic direction
Build deeper trust, communication, and psychological safety
Align leadership styles and clarify how they want to lead together
Engage in creative or strategic thinking away from the office
Whether you’re a newly formed leadership team or a long-standing group navigating change, this retreat is a chance to pause the daily grind and reconnect to what you’re building… together. After the Northstar Retreat, you can expect:
Greater alignment as a team
Enhanced clarity on your vision and strategy
A broader perspective on how to collaborate to overcome challenges
What to expect at our retreats
Our retreats are highly personalised—we will work with you to understand your most pressing challenges and most ambitious goals for our time together. Yet all our retreats share some common characteristics, which include:
A balance of gentle structure with ample time for solitude, immersion in nature, and reconnection
Personalised 1:1 and group facilitation with experienced guides
Breathwork, somatic regulation, and executive wellbeing practices
Luxurious accommodations, nourishing cuisine, and a pressure-free environment designed to renew both individual leaders and the team as a whole
Other ways we can help you thrive in 2026
If you’re interested in working together outside of a formal retreat, we have a comprehensive menu of offerings for leaders, including:
A very limited number of one-day coaching sessions. This is ideal if you’d like the benefits of a retreat but without the time away from your everyday life. In a single targeted 1:1 session, you can do a deep dive into your 2026 goals, get guidance on choosing a new direction, or broaden your perspective on how to approach your current challenges. Book a discovery call to learn more.
1-1 leadership coaching on a short-term or ongoing basis. As an ICF accredited coach, many of my clients are Heads, Directors, VPs, CxOs, and Leads in Design, Product, Innovation, and Data—but what connects them isn’t their job title, it’s a shared desire to lead with clarity and intention and create purposeful impact. Together, we explore what matters most to you across three broad areas: people, products, and practice. Learn more about 1-1 leadership coaching options here.
1-1 and group equine-assisted coaching. Equus coaching can be incredibly powerful because horses are experts at mirroring back to us how we show up. When we’re not communicating clearly, showing up with the wrong energy, or sending mixed signals, horses reflect that back to us immediately. Because working with horses is a full-body, sensorial experience, you can expect to learn in a way that feels truly transformative.
Transformation workshops, assessments, and consulting: One thread that ties all of my work together is the idea of transformation. The leaders I work with are embarking on radical transformation, whether it involves identifying and addressing skills gaps, the purposeful integration of AI, or the ability to articulate and operationalise strategy. Learn more about transformation consulting services here.
Wishing you a thoughtful and reflective end to 2025 and a sense of renewed energy, clarity and purpose for 2026!
