DR ERIN QUINANE
In conversation with Dr Erin Quinane
Why do you care about sustainable high performance?
Nearly a decade ago, I experienced a nervous breakdown, partly driven by corporate burnout. As a classic overachiever and perfectionist, I worked long hours and left little time for recovery or a life outside work. While I loved being a high performer, I realised the hard way that excellence should not come at the expense of physical and mental wellbeing. During my recovery journey, I discovered the importance of understanding what sustainable high performance should look like in corporate life. I found that sustainability is achievable by learning how to regulate performance throughout the day, week, year, and across different life stages and job roles, ensuring that time for recovery is built in. Recognising that I wasn't alone in this struggle, I observed many senior executives and high performers in some of Australia's top organisations facing similar challenges. I've seen countless instances where high achievers have pushed themselves to breaking point because they lacked knowledge of scientifically proven tools and strategies to manage their performance with sustainability and longevity at the core.
What makes your work different?
As I just mentioned, my work is deeply rooted in personal experience, which has led me to critically and rigorously explore corporate burnout and workplace mental health and wellbeing by pursuing a doctorate in this field. Along with over two decades of management consulting experience, I have a profound understanding of the challenges of corporate life, the performance pressures faced by senior executives, and the wellbeing needs of today’s workforce. I leverage my research expertise and corporate experience, collaborating with experts across various fields, including neuroscience, physiology (nutrition, sleep, and exercise), wearable technology, leadership, and psychosocial risk, to tailor solutions for leaders. I firmly believe that each leader is unique, facing different job demands, physiological conditions, and personal life stages. Therefore, I adopt a highly individualised approach that leverages the concept of marginal gains—making small, incremental improvements in daily behaviours, both at work and in personal life. I am also a strong advocate for the importance of recovery as a critical component of the high-performance equation—a topic that remains somewhat taboo in corporate life. We measure the ability of leaders to effectively recover using Firstbeat ECG wearable devices which are the gold standard in clinical use, deliver accurate heart rate variability (HRV) to give an objective deeper understanding of the body's stress response and recovery capacity because we know the habits you develop and maintain daily, weekly, and yearly can significantly impact your ability to sustain high performance as you age, change job roles, and take on more life responsibilities. This focus is at the core of my work.
Who is your ideal client?
You seek to build sustainable high-performance practices tailored to your unique workstyle and way of living. You aim to integrate practical recovery strategies into your demanding schedule, achieving measurable improvements. You are focused on finding those one percent gains in your performance. You want to maximise your physiological performance at work. You strive to balance your work and life performance. You are keen to understand more about burnout, recovery, mental wellbeing, and physiological wellbeing. You want to grasp the impact of psychosocial risks on workforce performance, productivity, and wellbeing. You are looking for a guest speaker or coaching on any of these topics.
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