I’m Zane. I grew up in Aotearoa New Zealand, and I’ve lived in the UK for over 20 years. I was a rugby forward and a UK police officer. I loved the work. I also believed I could just push through anything.
That belief caught up with me.
After years of shifts, pressure and carrying too much for too long, I hit burnout. My sleep went first. Then my patience. My head felt foggy, I stopped enjoying the job, and my body started breaking down. I did what a lot of us do in uniform: I kept turning up and hoped it would pass.
It didn’t.
Recovery was not glamorous. It was a return to basics. I got honest about what was happening, asked for help, and started rebuilding from the ground up. Sleep, food, training, time away from the noise, and small daily habits. I learned to set limits, to say no, and to stop treating exhaustion as a badge. Bit by bit I got my strength back, then my confidence. Mentally and physically, I came back sharper.
I went back to policing with a different head on my shoulders. Better decisions. Better boundaries. More steady under pressure. I was fit again, but more than that, I was in control of how I worked.
Over time I saw the same patterns in leaders and teams outside policing. Smart people running hot, holding everything, pretending it’s fine, then paying for it in their health, their judgement, and their relationships at home and at work.
So I left the job and built my coaching practice.
I now work with CEOs and C-suite teams on high performance coaching that’s practical and human. We build self-management, clearer priorities, and healthier ways of working across the team. We look at behaviour, boundaries, workload design, and the culture around it.
There isn’t a pill, potion, hack or app that “solves” burnout. Tools can support; recovery and prevention come from behaviour, boundaries, workload design, and supportive environments.
If you want leaders who can perform without burning out, let’s start with one clean rep: what are you carrying today that you should not be carrying alone?
“Had a fantastic call with Zane this afternoon.
Post burnout, life altering, thought process correction.
Very impactful, clearly delivered and very much on point wtih where I am as a human being.
I am very grateful!
Cannot recommend highly enough.”
“Since working with Zane a number of things have changed in my life, from finding a new career, putting a strategy in place to prevent burnout and most importantly being present for my friends and family. While giving me the confidence to talk openly.
Zane is a person I often recommend and always will.
He was the calm voice when all I could hear was negative voices in my head.
I will forever be grateful for his voice being the loudest, most honest and powerful voice of them all”
Zane provided a series of four lunchtime webinars for our firm as part of our ongoing commitment to the health and wellbeing of our team here at Thompson Jenner.
The webinars were very well recieved, and provided timely reminders about the importance of keeping ourselves well and not waiting for issues to present before taking action.
“Zane has been great at reshuffling my life and work balance. I was struggling with overwhelming work load and the impact it has on home life.
I now have a plan of action moving forward and can put things in perspective allocating time more efficiently and taking back time for family.
He even persuaded me to extend our family holiday!
Thanks Zane for your time and understanding.”
“I had the pleasure of chatting with Zane at the start of the year about my feelings of burn out and the challenges I was facing.
I had noticed I was feeling more and more stressed and overwhelmed with work, and various areas of my life, and wanted to get a handle on things.
Zane was very compassionate, easy to talk to, and very clear with his thoughts. I left the call feeling seen, heard and understood. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders and felt a sense of knowing what to do. He kept me accountable whilst I took action to create a better work/life balance for myself.
Highly recommend Zane and very appreciate the time he has given me.”
I went to one of Zane’s presentations and listened as he explained the stages of burn out and how it had affected his life.
I didn’t know it at the time but his message became life changing for me after I realised soon after that I was burnt out. Moderate stage was identified, I knew that the symptoms I had were not me and sought help from my Doctor and a session with Zane to understand how best to move forward.
I changed my circumstances and spent time being kind to myself, and today I am feeling so much better. Thank you for your support Zane.
Zane provided a webinar to Norfolk Police as part of Mens Health week in June, on signs symptoms and strategies of defeating burnout, this was viewed by 44 officers, it was really informative and we received excellent feedback from all that attended.
I think Zane’s style and presentation approach really resonated with our police colleagues and we would be delighted to have him back in the future at training events
“I’m not really sure what more there is to say other than from the first conversation right through to our final session last month it was abundantly clear he understood exactly what was going on and what needed to be done.
His ability to explain what was going on in simple, relateable language menat that we were able to make progress far quicker than I thought possible, anecdotes and explanations that I’ve been able to incorporate into my own role when dealing with members of my own teams that I’m responsible for.
My advice for anyone feeling stuck or worried that they’re operating well below their potential is to give Zane a call.”
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