Leadership Burnout: How to Find Balance on the Climb

When you’re leading others, it can sometimes feel like you’re climbing without a rope; balancing expectations, managing people, and trying to stay calm while keeping everyone else moving upward. You’re the one carrying the vision, reading the terrain, and watching the weather roll in.

But even the strongest guides know that no one can stay on the wall forever without rest. Leadership, much like mountaineering, demands not just endurance but rhythm, and pacing oneself between effort and recovery.

These days, many leaders are pushing hard without realising how close they are to the edge of leadership burnout. The pace of work, the emotional load of leading, and the constant demand for results all take their toll. But just like in the mountains, awareness and preparation can prevent a fall.

At New Zeal Teams, we work with leaders to rediscover their strength and clarity through challenge, reflection, and connection, often outside the office, where the lessons of nature bring leadership back into focus.

Here’s how to manage burnout before it manages you:

1. Take stock before you run out of steam

Burnout doesn’t arrive all at once. It creeps in quietly, disguised as “just one more big week.” A few too many late nights, a few skipped breaks, a few moments where your patience thins faster than it should.

Start by building awareness. Each week, take a moment to check your internal weather:

• How’s your energy?

• Are you still feeling purposeful, or just pushing through?

• When did you last feel fully present with your team?

These small reflections can reveal a lot. Burnout rarely starts with collapse. It starts with small signs of disconnection. If you notice yourself running on autopilot, struggling to focus, or dreading simple interactions, it might be time to pause and realign.

Key reflection: What are the early signals that tell you it’s time to slow down or reset?

2. Protect your energy like a climbing guide

In professional guiding, there’s a principle known as the 70:30 ratio. It’s simple but essential: a guide conserves 70% of their energy for themselves and directs 30% toward their clients.

Why? Because the guide’s main responsibility isn’t just to get people up the mountain, it’s to make good decisions, read the environment, and keep everyone safe. By keeping that 70% in reserve, they stay sharp and steady when the unexpected happens, like bad weather, loose rock, or a client in trouble. That reserve of energy and focus can make all the difference when things get difficult.

The remaining 30% is spent deliberately- coaching climbers, managing ropes, and setting the pace. It’s intentional, not reactive. This balance prevents fatigue, maintains composure, and keeps the team moving safely together.

Leadership in business works the same way. When you give 100% to everyone else, try to solve every issue, to carry every load, you can lose your perspective and clarity. Protecting your 70% means maintaining enough energy and awareness to lead well. It’s about managing yourself first so you can manage the moment when it really matters.

Think of your 70% as your leadership reserve. As the awareness and capacity that lets you respond wisely instead of reacting on instinct. The best leaders, like the best guides, know that conserving energy isn’t selfish, it’s responsible.

Key reflection: What would it look like to lead with a 70:30 mindset- keeping enough in reserve to stay clear, capable, and ready for whatever comes next?

3. Schedule recovery like it’s part of the plan

In adventure guiding, recovery isn’t a luxury, it’s strategy. The same applies to leadership.

If you wouldn’t miss a client meeting, don’t skip a meeting with yourself. Schedule short recovery windows throughout your week. Step outside for a walk after a heavy conversation. Protect a few no-meeting hours to think, not just react. Let your brain and body catch up.

Ironically, the moments we feel least able to stop are often when stopping matters most. Creative insights, empathy, and good judgment depend on rest. You can’t read the horizon if you’re constantly staring at your feet.

Key reflection: What part of your week could you reclaim for true rest or reflection?

4. Don’t climb alone, to avoid Leadership Burnout

Even the most experienced guides rely on their rope team. Leadership isn’t meant to be a solo ascent.

When things get tough, find people who understand the climb; a mentor, a colleague, a leadership coach, or a community that speaks your language. Sharing what’s really going on isn’t weakness; it’s wisdom. It keeps you connected, grounded, and aware that you’re not the only one navigating rough weather.

At New Zeal Teams, we see it on every program: connection creates resilience. When leaders share honestly, they build trust and perspective that can’t be found in isolation.

Key reflection: Who’s on your rope team when leadership gets tough?

5. Celebrate small progress

Burnout often hides beneath the belief that we’re never doing enough. But leadership isn’t all about major breakthroughs, it’s also about steady movement, meaningful moments, and small wins that compound over time.

Notice those moments: finishing a difficult week, resolving a quiet conflict, helping someone grow. These are the real markers of progress. Taking time to acknowledge them keeps you grounded and restores motivation.

Key reflection: What’s one win from this week that you haven’t celebrated yet?

6. See burnout as feedback, not failure

When exhaustion hits, it’s easy to turn inward and doubt yourself. But burnout isn’t proof that you’re unfit to lead, it’s feedback from your system. It’s a signal that something in your rhythm, structure, or environment needs adjusting.

Step back and ask: What’s really draining me? Is it workload? Expectations? A lack of alignment with my values? Once you see burnout as information, not indictment, you can start designing a healthier, more sustainable way to lead.

Key reflection: What changes could help you lead with more balance, clarity, and sustainability?

Final Thought

Leadership, like adventure, is about balance. Balance between effort and rest, courage and caution, self and team.

You can’t guide others safely if you’re running on empty. You can’t see the path ahead if you never pause to look up. Protecting your energy, pacing your climb, and leaning on your rope team aren’t signs of slowing down, they’re how great leaders go further.

At New Zeal Teams, we use outdoor experiences and shared challenge to help leaders reconnect with what matters most- their clarity, courage, and connection. Because leading well isn’t about doing more. It’s about finding the rhythm that keeps you strong for the journey ahead.

Leadership is an adventure, and the best lessons are found outside the boardroom. Join us outdoors and rediscover your rhythm as a leader.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT