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When was the last time that you truly took a mental break
from work? It’s now midway through our all-too-short Canadian
summer so it’s timely to discuss vacations and how
we use our “downtime” to enhance our ability to excel at
work.
The book The Power of Full Engagement, by Jim Loehr
and Tony Schwartz, 2003, uses an enlightening analogy from
their studies of world-class athletes. They remind
us that muscles are grown most effectively by stretching
beyond the limits of comfort and then allowing them to recover.
Alternating activity with periods of rest is a training
method used by elite athletes throughout the world.
To quote Loehr and Schwartz, “The key to expanding capacity
is to both push beyond one’s ordinary limits and to regularly
seek recovery, which is when growth actually occurs.”
Coach’s
Question #1:
What are you doing to ensure optimum stretch AND recovery
of your mental muscles?
Looked at this way, it’s not that difficult to buy-in intellectually
to this principle. It makes sense that our creativity
flows best when we are refreshed. It’s logical that
our ideas are more focused when our minds are sharp.
We know that we are better able to “pour it on” in times
of crisis when we have energy reserves to drawn on.
So what gets in our way of acting on this principle?
An article in the June 21-July 18, 2004 issue of Canadian
Business entitled “Give Us a Break”, reports that of
the world’s major economies, Canada ranks 2nd only to China
in providing the lowest legislated minimum number of holidays
and vacation days. To make matters worse, many of us don’t
even take our full vacation allotment or we remain actively
plugged in to the workplace while we are away from the office.
Yet the irony is, as this article points out, “when working
time is reduced, productivity goes up”.
Somewhere along the way we started to equate being available
to our customers, clients and direct reports 24/7 with being
“responsible” and almost “noble”. We joke about our workaholic
tendencies with an odd sense of pride.
I have certainly caught myself in this game. The light bulb
went on for me when I looked at how my behaviour matches
my values. It has been helpful for me to ask myself, “How
am I modelling the success that I want for my clients?”
and, “Is this really what being responsible looks like?”
When the pressure is on, it's easy to slip. We need anchors
to hang onto that are core to us, not a list of "shoulds".
Compromising our vacation and recovery time can compromise
the integrity we model with our staff and our peers (let
alone our families and friends). Integrity might be one
of your anchors.
Coach’s
Question #2:
How might your own values help you stay committed to
the practice of rejuvenation?
Those
of you who manage others or who work closely with team members
may particularly want to consider the impact of the choices
you make around rejuvenation and the messages that your
actions send.
Let's
look at a common example. How might the manager who checks
in repeatedly with her staff during her vacation be perceived
by her team? (Let's call her Kathy) Kathy may think that
she is modelling accountability and demonstrating caring
by offering support to her team while she is away. But what
are some other options for how Kathy's team might see her
actions? In addition to sending a strong message about how
Kathy views the value of vacations, they might also feel
distrusted, undermined and even interpret her behaviour
as a lack of faith in their readiness to step into leadership
roles themselves.
Coach’s
Question #3:
As a leader, how are you modelling the importance of
rejuvenation for your direct reports and peers?
Clearly,
running on fumes doesn't cut it. The demands of today's
organizations are too high and customer expectations too
great. We owe it to our team members, employers and customers
alike to be functioning in top form. We owe it to our direct
reports to rely on them in our absence. When others take
vacations, we need to show respect for the value of disconnecting
from work. And we particularly owe it to ourselves to build
in recovery, so that we can be our most creative and highly
contributing selves when we get back to work.
At the end of a Coaching meeting, I normally leave my clients
with a "request". Often I ask them to commit to an action
that stretches them beyond what they might have asked of
themselves. It's completely up to them to choose to accept
the request, or to modify it to suit their own goals. So,
I'll leave you with an assignment to help you to develop
your own stretch request around this topic.
OVER TO YOU…
What action can you take today to be accountable for building
rejuvenation into your performance plan within the next
month?
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