 person is stressed. It's me on a challenge course with a fear of heights. This was part of a therapy program for anxiety, depression, and burnout. And the advice I got up there sounded strangely familiar. Be present, follow the fear, and just let go. So that's comic sense. Because the thing is, this advice didn't help. It gave me jelly legs and made me more stressed. And I kept asking myself, why couldn't I make use of this advice? Why couldn't I just improvise my way through the challenge course and out of my burnout? What was missing? I've come to think that what was missing for me on that platform is also what our participants need when they, after a session, or an activity say, oh, that was fun, but I don't get it when they can't apply our improvisation wisdom. Why? What are they missing? So let's have a look at those three pieces of wisdom one by one and see how they relate to stress. Be present. Burnouts, as defined by the World Health Organization recently, is a combination of feelings of exhaustion, disengagement, and reduced productivity as a result of chronic workplace stress. According to a 2018 Gallup study, 67% of full-time employees questioned, reported feeling burned out at work sometimes or always. So be present sounds like promising advice. But the top five factors correlated with workplace stress are rooted in material and organizational shortcomings. Unfair treatment, work overload, role ambiguity, bad managers, and time pressure. So asking a stressed employee to be present with that is kind of like asking someone on Netflix's ultimate Beastmaster to keep breathing. It's one of the world's most challenging obstacle courses. Showing up and breathing doesn't solve the problem. Be present. What is missing? Recognition. Notice how all five factors leaning to burnout have logical antidotes. Fair treatment, less work, role clarity, better managers, and decidedly more time. But aside from management coaching, facilitators like us are often hired to treat the symptoms and not the causes of burnout. So when we ask our participants to be more present with energizers, engagement, and productivity hacks, I believe we need to recognize that the present workplace might be making it increasingly difficult for them to even be there. And simply saying be present turns external circumstances into employee mindset issues. And that runs the risk of deflecting responsibility away from the managers, corporations, and systems which are working us into collapse. And being present with that truth feels overwhelming and scary. So then we might say, feel those feelings. Get out of your comfort zone. Follow the fear. Because that's where the magic is supposed to happen. Look, sounds nice and simple. But life rarely looks that obscurely empty. And it is likely filled with fear factors. So the present workplace might not be a nice place to be. And many people find it challenging to feel safe around others, in their office, and in society at large. And then it's really tempting to say something like, oh, well, that's an anxiety. It's a phobia of heights. And it's in your head. But you can control how you react to this. Sorry. I'm burning out. But even if someone's physical safety in the room is assured, a person's sensation of that moment, like right now, can feel exhausting. Because stress is not just in our heads. It's, as you can see, physical. I am shaking. The earlier and more frequently we are exposed to pressures and threats. The more stress-related hormones are released in our bodies. And when overloaded with stress, feeling unsafe and alert can become the new baseline. And then leaning into fear can feel like walking a tightrope above the abyss of our own anxieties. Follow the fear, what is missing, experiences. In order to have a psychological shift, we need a physiological experience. And I believe there are two parts to this. And the first is recognition of discomfort. And the second, as often said, also here is being more comfortable with discomfort, being with it. But being with it is only possible if we know what feeling comfortable feels like in the first place. So if at work normal is stressful, then I believe that it is crucial that we create spaces where employees can reconnect to their inner feelings of calm and safety so that their bodies can relax. So rather than yanking them out of their comfort zones and pushing them off the ledge, I believe we can show them safety features and we can connect them to their inner and outer resources so that they feel safe to let go. Because we ask people to let go of their need for control and their egos and their perfectionism. We ask them to loosen their attachments and dismantle their walls. But let's for a moment consider what those walls are protecting them from. At work, most people don't have agency. They do not get fair recognition and they are at risk of losing their jobs if they do not get a five out of five star rating. And then we come in and ask them to let go of the coping mechanisms that have arisen from a societal structure of uncertainty and punishment. Like Total Wipeout. That's an assault course literally designed to punch you off track. Let go. What is missing? Support. We know from Charles Dwig that if we want to let go of one habit, we need to create another. We need to have something else that we can hold on to. On the challenge course, I was given a partner to hold my hand and guide me. Because let go is literally an invitation to release. It implies a shift from safety to uncertainty and it requires taking a risk and putting trust into the state of limbo and also trust into us as facilitators. And that is not something that is done casually, especially not when you're stressed. So if we want participants to make use of our tools to extend their comfort zones, I believe we need to be professionally trained in and beyond applied improvisation. We need to get trained to recognize and witness discomfort. We need to get trained to safely guide support and coach our participants through new behaviors without resorting to fridge magnet mantras. Recognition experiences support. The stories we tell ourselves about applied improvisation have a bias towards transformation and success. But not everyone experiences recognition and support in our sessions and when they return to their workplace. We do need elements of theory, but they need to be recognizably in line with reality grounded in visceral experiences and guided through skillful supported coaching. And I believe, I fully believe that applied improvisation offers all of those elements. And I also believe that we sell ourselves short if we reduce them to coffee mug wisdom. So for lunch, I invite you, I forgot a slide. There we go. Applied improvisation offers all of that. So for lunch, I'd like to invite you to continue the conversation as follows. How do I or we provide recognition, experiences and support in our work? And are there perhaps more useful things to say? Then be present, follow the fear and just let go. Thank you.