In many workplaces today, overwork has quietly become the norm. Calendars are packed, emails never stop, and exhaustion is almost worn as a badge of honour. But does it have to be this way?
But long hours do not equal high performance. Workplace wellbeing and sustainable success come not from doing more, but from protecting and renewing the energy (read team!) that fuels (read delivers!) performance.
Too often, organisations respond to rising demands by asking their people to do more … extend their hours, take on another project, fit more into the same 24 hours. The focus stays on time, not energy. Yet it’s energy … not time … that fuels sustainable performance. Tony Schwartz reminds us,
“Manage your energy, not your time.”
This isn’t just an individual challenge, it’s an organisational one. When leaders fail to protect and renew energy, they risk eroding the very performance they’re trying to achieve.
Time is finite, but energy is renewable.
The energy gap … and why it matters
When energy runs low, creativity, effectiveness, and engagement all suffer. Over time, unmanaged stress and a lack of recovery lead to burnout, high turnover, and declining wellbeing.
Burnout isn’t a sign of weakness. As Emily and Amelia Nagoski explain in Burnout,
“Burnout is not a sign of failure. It’s a sign that something urgently needs to change.”
For many organisations, that “something” is cultural. The expectation should not be to push through until people break, but to encourage, model, and embed energy renewal into everyday work.
Building an Energy-Rich Workplace
Energy renewal isn’t just an individual’s responsibility. Organisations have to make it part of their expectations and culture. Here’s how you can start:
1.Embedding wellbeing into organisational values
The organisations that thrive long term are those that weave wellbeing into their values and daily practices. As Hadleigh Fischer, founder of The Resilience Agenda, advocates, resilience isn’t just an individual trait, it’s a skill that must be nurtured and supported within organisations.
Practical Tip:
- Co-create a Team Wellbeing Charter with your people, setting simple agreements like respecting lunch breaks, avoiding after-hours emails, and encouraging micro-breaks.
- Encourage leaders to model healthy habits by openly blocking out time for renewal.
When wellbeing is a core value, not a side project, it shapes how decisions are made, how workloads are managed, and how success is measured
2. Prioritise breaks and recovery
Planned breaks protect focus, decision-making, and stamina. As Anne Lamott wisely said:
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… including you.”
Try This:
- Introduce a Micro-Break Challenge where teams take 2–3 minutes each hour to stretch, breathe, or step outside.
- Schedule a Digital Detox Hour weekly, pausing meetings and emails to create space for deep work.
3. Support physical health
Performance depends on healthy foundations. The basics being good nutrition, regular movement, and quality rest. Organisations can make this easyby encouraging activity, and promoting realistic work hours.
Try This:
- Build an Energy Menu – a shared list of quick energising activities like walking, mindfulness apps, desk yoga, or breaks outside) and encourage staff to use one daily.
- Swap one indoor meeting for a walking meeting to boost creativity.
4. Create spaces for reflection
Renewal isn’t only physical. Mental recovery is just as vital. Coaching, wellbeing sessions, and reflective spaces demonstrate to people that thinking time and self-care are integral to the culture.
Try This:
- Start team meetings with a Wellbeing Check-In Question (e.g., “How’s your energy today?”).
- Pair colleagues in Peer Coaching Pairs to encourage regular, supportive conversations.
5. The role of coaching in embedding wellbeing
Coaching is a powerful way to turn these values into lived practice. It helps individuals and leaders:
- Understand what drains and fuels their energy.
- Build habits for sustainable working.
- Navigate stress with greater resilience.
- Reconnect with purpose and values.
Through coaching, leaders also learn to set the tone, embedding energy renewal into their leadership style and the wider culture.
Arianna Huffington puts it simply:
“We are not machines. We are human beings who need rest, recovery, and care.”
Try This:
- Offer Leadership Storytelling Sessions where senior leaders share personal strategies for managing stress and energy renewal. Introduce resilience coaching programmes to help teams build skills that stick.
Reflect. Plan. Act. … A Simple Framework for Organisations
- Reflect: Does your culture reward overwork, or encourage renewal?
- Do your values align with how work really feels?
- Plan: Embed energy renewal into values, policies, and leadership behaviour, not as a perk, but as a performance strategy.
- Make it visible in leadership behaviours and everyday actions.
- Act: Celebrate practices that protect energy, from micro-breaks to boundary-setting, and recognise teams for how they achieve success, not just what they deliver.
“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”– Ovid
The Business Case for Energy Renewal
When energy management becomes part of culture, the benefits ripple through:
- Higher employee engagement and retention
- Greater creativity and innovation
- Lower burnout and absenteeism
- Stronger alignment with organisational purpose
Organisations that embed wellbeing into expectations don’t just talk about caring, they prove it.
Coaching as a catalyst for value-led culture
At Avant Consultancy, we see how coaching supports leaders and organisations to live out these values. Coaching creates the space where energy, resilience, and purpose are rebuilt even in high-pressure environments.
It’s not about quick fixes or surface-level wellness programmes. It’s about building a culture where energy renewal, resilience, and wellbeing are lived, every day.
What about your organisation?
How are you embedding wellbeing into your values — not just policies?
Where could you create more space for renewal and better results as a consequence?
Ready to explore how coaching can help embed wellbeing and resilience into your organisation’s culture?
Let’s start the conversation by booking a free call with this link.
References & Further Reading
- Fischer, H. – The Resilience Agenda: Building mental fitness as a cultural priority.
- Schwartz, T. – The Power of Full Engagement: Energy, not time, drives performance.
- Nagoski, E. & Nagoski, A. – Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle.
- Huffington, A. – The Sleep Revolution.
- Lamott, A. – “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… including you.”
- Ovid – “Ancient wisdom on the importance of rest and recovery.”
