Disconnecting as a leader sounds super negative…but it’s a necessary tool for sustainable effective leadership. Burnout is the fastest way to lose focus or control of a project, team or report. If you are constantly connected, not taking time for yourself and also pushing beyond your boundaries…you will find yourself in burnout town. With that, it’s important for you to know when to disconnect and what your current mindset needs from a disconnection standpoint.
For me, I have time where I am “Off Work” but I am still checking Slack and responding to emails. In my current role, that is a necessity in some scenarios to make sure things keep moving. I try to take 4-6 weeks of PTO throughout the year…with 2 of those weeks being totally disconnected, no phone, no laptop, not messages, emails or calls. I don’t do those week back to back, because I want to spread out those weeks into different times to spread the impact of that disconnection time. 2 of those weeks are mostly disconnected, where I will check in a couple times during the week to solve any pressing issuse. Then I will have a week or two where I will spend a few hours a day working on top items…no meetings, just focused work and responding some messages.
The actual execution is very individualized, but the point is to make sure that you are taking care of your physical AND mental health. Without both being taken care of, you will not be an effective leader for an extended period of time.
Thanks for being here, I hope you are finding good information here! If you are looking for more, let me know!
