How changemakers remain capable of acting in the ongoing crisis
6:30 am. The alarm clock snaps you out of your sleep and that heaviness is back. Not normal tiredness – it’s this deep systemic exhaustion. Between ‘quick’ email checks and ‘quick’ team calls, hours turned into days again at the weekend.
The real burden? It’s not the individual tasks that wear you down. Rather, it’s the constant knowledge of loose ends: New regulations that no one has on their radar. Processes that urgently need to be adapted. Teams looking for direction. While the majority of the organization is still stuck in familiar patterns – as if they were sorting marbles while the house is on fire.
Burnout prevention for changemakers
It is not the amount of work that is draining. It’s the cognitive dissonance:
- You see the urgency, while others are doing “business as usual”
- You recognize connections, but have to work in silos
- You are responsible for change without the corresponding authority
- You know the necessary steps, but the system takes a different approach
The transformation vacuum
Sometimes you feel as if you are being swallowed up by a huge vacuum. Any attempt to draw boundaries is overwhelmed by the force of the system. The thought “I’m going to reduce to normal working hours” sounds good – until you realize that even reducing to ‘only’ 9 hours takes more energy than the usual 12+.
But the hardest part? You can’t help it. Because the project, the vision you are working on, is so fundamentally important and sustainably relevant – also for you personally – that it seems impossible to separate your own goals from it. The transformation you are driving forward is not just a job. It is part of your personal mission, your identity.
And this is where the real challenge lies: how do you remain capable of acting when the line between personal mission and systemic overload becomes blurred? When every boundary you draw feels like a betrayal of your own vision?
The way out of the exhaustion spiral
A paradoxical realization emerges: precisely because your mission is so important, you have to manage your energy differently. A burnt-out change leader is an ineffective change leader.
From tactical troubleshooting to strategic control
Imagine you are no longer standing in the middle of the system, but looking at it from a hill. Suddenly you realize:
- Recurring patterns instead of individual crises
- Key positions with real leverage
- Potential allies who, like you, see the connections
The difference? You are switching from firefighter to strategic playmaker. Instead of putting out fires in twenty places at once, you identify the three points where you can make lasting changes to the system.
Acting tools for a sustainable presence
How do you stay in this strategic position when the system is on fire around you? This is where two key techniques from the art of acting come into play:
The “Over All Action”
Like actors in emotionally charged scenes, you need a clear overarching impulse for action. Your “Over All Action” is your inner compass – it reminds you of your strategic goal, beyond the current fire.
A concrete example: the “impact anchor”
Imagine this: You are standing in front of the Management Board. Once again, the discussion threatens to drift into operational details while the strategic course is set. This is the moment for your prepared anchor.
1st phase : The original anchoring
- Goal as action: “I bring clarity to complex systems”
- Physical movement: You stand upright, bring both hands together in front of your body as if you were collecting scattered elements and uniting them into a clear image
- Training: Practice this repeatedly in quiet moments, visualizing specific situations in which you have successfully resolved complexity
Phase 2: The reduction
- The large movement initially becomes a subtle bringing together of the fingertips
- Then apply short, targeted pressure with your thumb and index finger
- Finally, a minimal movement that nobody notices but that you can clearly feel
Phase 3 : Live deployment In the middle of the heated boardroom discussion:
- Activate your anchor through the minimalized movement
- Immediately feel the connection to your strategic clarity
- Act from this anchored position
The difference? Instead of getting carried away by the detailsog, you stick to your “over all action” – transforming complexity into clarity.
From theory to embodied practice
Do you know this? You have read various leadership books, attended seminars – and still find yourself back in the operational trap in the next crisis. Why is that? There is a crucial gap between intellectual understanding and embodied ability.
You don’t close this gap with more theories, but with:
- Intensive physical and emotional training
- Conscious rehearsal of your strategic interventions
- Real experience of your new management position
5-day focus coaching in Cantal: your space for sustainable transformation
In the powerful mountain landscape of the French Cantal, a format awaits you that combines acting tools and strategic leadership in a unique way:
- Deep integration of acting and leadership tools
- Sustainable anchoring of your strategic position
- Exclusive location for maximum change of perspective
- Individual or team coaching options (1-5 people)
→ Only 4 dates available per year. Secure your strategy meeting now.
