At a crossroads

My coaching practice often finds clients at a crossroads, hitting significant milestones where they realise something’s not sitting right. It could be a misalignment between personal and organisational values, questions about where next in their career or a realisation that they’ve been chasing things at pace to try and prove something to others, rather than being clear about and driven by their own aspirations and needs. Clients want to resolve a situation like this but are often unclear and sometimes paralysed on the direction to take.

The dilemma can persist for many years, subsumed by the more urgent demands of work and family life. If these chronic stressors aren’t successfully managed, the result is burnout. Fuelled by hard work and application to the role, deadlines and business and life pressures, it can leave talented employees feeling disengaged, exhausted, lacking in confidence, and unable to perform at their best.

In the Burnout Report 2025, Mental Health UK¹ found that 91% of UK adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure or stress and that 1 in 5 workers felt that chronic stress affected their performance at work. Whilst the World Health Organisation², defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon, many workers identify caring, financial and relationship issues as well as workplace stressors as factors contributing to chronic stress, and for hybrid workers the line between work and home can become increasingly blurred.

Individuals can practice self-care³; sleep, exercise, mindfulness and seeking support both within and outside of work. Managers have a significant role to play. With training, they can provide clarity of purpose to their reports, agree realistic workloads, support teams to resolve conflicts and individuals to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Organisations can support these endeavours with a wellbeing-led culture, the adoption of physical and mental wellbeing initiatives, employee engagement and policies to prevent and address instances of bullying and discrimination. As always, senior executives can set the tone. Where senior leaders champion workplace mental health and overtly take measures to maintain their own wellbeing, they give permission to their workforce to do the same.

So, what role can executive coaching play? How can it support people along this sometimes difficult road?

Coaching can take different forms; business focussed discussions, reflection on career direction and sometimes life coaching. In practice a coaching discussion can jump in different directions depending on what a person brings to the discussion. However the discussion plays out, coaching remains a great way to pause, reflect, get feedback, explore drivers for behaviour and think about what you want and how to get there.

Taking some of the sessions outdoors, to access the restorative potential of nature and green space and to benefit from time away from the demands and pressures of the workplace is a powerful device which can provide inspiration, free up thinking, and importantly, for an overstimulated nervous system, deliver respite and peace.

Taking time out before a situation hits crisis point is not only good for the individual but impacts the wider team and the organisation. Looking after your people and supporting them within the business makes good business sense. Faced with the polarity between ‘I’ve got a problem here’ or ‘I have opportunities here’, coaching can help people reframe the question and make good choices about which way to go.

If you’d like help to navigate your way ahead, get in touch to talk about your coaching journey.

1.   Mental Health UK. The Burnout Report 2025

2.  World Health Organisation. Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases

3.  NHS. Every Mind Matters: Work-related stress