The Leadership Wobble

Turn the end of year frazzle into an opportunity for clarity, connection, and more spacious leadership.

It’s that time of year when even the most capable leaders start to feel the wobble in themselves and in their people. Energy dips. Focus scatters. Everything feels a little heavier than it should, and all eyes are on end-of-year results and the long-awaited holiday break.

I’ve been hearing it everywhere - in 1-1 coaching conversations, group sessions, team workshops, and those quick “No really… how are you?” moments. This end-of-year wobble isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a predictable response to the increasing pressures, complexity, and ambiguity of leading in today’s world.

We can’t be “on” all the time - although many of us try - and eventually it catches up. We’re human.

And here’s the thing: while you’re wobbling… you’re also leading people who are wobbling too. Chances are high it's going on in the board room too. Everyone’s carrying something - deadlines, fatigue, quiet doubts, the mental load of finishing strong, hitting targets, and entering the holidays feeling like everything is neatly wrapped up.

This is where human leadership becomes even more essential. Not in perfection, but in presence. Not in pushing harder, but in creating space - acknowledging, supporting, reflecting, prioritising, deprioritising - for yourself and for others.

1. Real Leadership Challenges Aren’t Theoretical (They’re Human)

Much of the work I do revolves around real leadership challenges, the kind you won’t find neatly packaged in a textbook. Competing priorities. Team overwhelm. Friction no one has the energy to name. Lack of psychological safety. A disconnect between values, strategy, purpose and the experienced day-to-day behaviours.

And then there’s the pressure many leaders quietly carry: feeling they need to be the “calm centre” even when inside they feel anything but calm.

Leadership development isn’t about polishing a perfect version of yourself. It’s about learning to navigate messy, human moments with steadiness and intention.

Practical things leaders can do in this moment:

• Name the wobble - in yourself and your team. When leaders acknowledge reality, it lowers pressure for everyone.

• Simplify the field. Choose the 1–2 priorities that genuinely matter now, and consciously let the rest pause.

• Have the conversation beneath the conversation. Swap “How’s the project going?” for “How are you holding up?”

• Make capacity visible. Look together at what can shift, slow or stop - it prevents silent overload and last-minute crisis mode.

  
  

2. The End-of-Year Wobble Is a Signal, Not a Setback

Around this time each year, leaders begin to wonder: Have I done enough? Why does everything feel hard? Why am I suddenly doubting myself?

This wobble isn’t weakness - it’s a signal. A signal that the pace has been high. A signal that your brain is asking for consolidation. A signal that reflection is overdue.

It’s a natural pause point - and the pause doesn’t pull you backwards. It prepares you to move forward with more clarity.

Ways leaders can respond to the signal:

• Take a micro-pause. Even 2 minutes of quiet resets your nervous system more effectively than powering through. Many of my clients have benefitted massively from this regular practice through the day. It ensures they check in with how they really are personally so they can make informed choices on actions they can take as opposed to carry on on autopilot which is when unintentional impact can happen.

• Look for the real wins. Not just KPIs - the human wins. Your resilience. Your learning. The things you held together that no one saw.

• Remove the heroics from your team. Help people prioritise realistically and look to support the whole instead of sprinting toward an imagined finish line in a silo.

• Acknowledge the collective wobble. Name it to tame it - it reduces pressure more than you might expect.

  
  

3. Leadership Requires Space — For You and For Others

A consistent pattern I see in my work: leaders underestimate the power of space. Space to think. Space to feel. Space to challenge. Space to disagree. Space to breathe. Space to stop performing long enough to notice what actually needs attention.

We often equate leadership with action — doing, fixing, responding. But some of the most impactful leadership moments happen when you slow things down.

How leaders can create meaningful space:

• Schedule thinking time. A protected moment to zoom out and reconnect with purpose - guilt-free.

• Move your body. Physical movement creates mental space far more effectively than pushing through.

• Create spacious meetings or reduce the meeting time. One deeper conversation beats five rushed ones. Start to make meetings 25mins or 50 mins instead on the hour or half hour. It will create micro pauses for others and they will thank you for it

• Model pausing. Let your team see you breathe, reflect, and slow the pace - it gives everyone permission to do the same.

  
  

A Final Word: You Don’t Need to Hold Everything Together

As the year draws to a close, remember: leadership isn’t about being unshakeable. It’s about being real, responsive, and willing to create the space that you and your team genuinely need.

You don’t have to push through the wobble and frazzle. You can lead through it - thoughtfully, humanly, and with just enough space to steady yourself and those around you.

And sometimes, that’s the strongest leadership of all.