RECHARGING: Developing a New Culture at Work

Imagine this upcoming reality - electric cars will be 40% of all new cars by 2030, and by 2040 every new car sold globally will be electric (report in BBC). Talk about a new world coming - for the sake of progress with climate change and our environmental challenges.

And guess what? For this new electric world to work, there will need to be recharging stations everywhere and easily accessible at any time of day. Recharging won't be a luxury; it will be a necessity in order for the EV's to get anywhere and everywhere and be useful.

Why is it that we as humans have developed a culture at work and beyond that says human recharging is an add-on to life? Here’s the way Arianna Huffington puts it:

“We need to stop thinking of recharging as a reward we get for working hard and burning "out.”

It's treated as a reward for working hard and burning out. People wear busyness as a badge of honor. The busier you are, the more important you are. Rest and recovery are for people who don't possess the strength to keep going--only the "weak" need to factor in recharging, and only after you've proven you're a hard worker.

But here's the truth that most of us know to be true and yet don't always apply: Humans are designed to need rest, recovery, recharging daily in order to enjoy being fully human and fully alive.

We need to recharge at different stations along the highway of life - at any given time:

• some of us need a nap,

• others need to stop to self-reflect to develop more self awareness,

• others need to take a vigorous walk,

• others need to enjoy a hobby,

• others need to be with friends,

• others need to be in nature,

• or read a book,

• or sing a song,

• even our vacations need to be strategically diverse in how we spend that time.

Different activities provide different kinds of positive energy. We need to make strategic choices based upon our current energy needs.

You get the point: though our recharging stations will look different from each other at times, the goal is still the same - we must recharge our batteries of energy to be fully alive.

If we don't, there will be a lot of abandoned "EVs" scattered all over the world simply standing still, burned out, unfulfilled, and purposeless in an emotional & relational climate disaster. That's not a world I want to live in. What specific recharging pause do you most need in your life these days?

The Power of Example from Leaders

LEADERSHIP, VULNERABILITY, & EMPATHY

I remember the days when the leader showed up in meetings and felt the pressure to be the smartest in the group. Leadership was all about authority, intellect, and a commanding presence. And vulnerability was seen as weakness.

But today is vastly different.

Leaders lead with authority and influence, not from being the smartest in the room, but from being willing to be vulnerable, transparent, and empathetic. To admit they don't know everything. The leader begins the transformation process of culture first by their own example. Perfectionism is out, progression is in.

Example is what is what creates culture.

Our example is what provides permission in the workplace for others to share about what they're feeling, what they're needing, what help they're secretly hungering for.

This is the only way a culture of wellbeing can be created and sustained for the sake of everyone. This is the kind of leader I want to be. How about you?

Here's a great article that talks about the significance of addressing wellbeing in the workplace and the leader's role. A must read! https://lnkd.in/gs5B7Nk

TWO REASONS WHY SLEEP IS A LEADERSHIP REQUIREMENT

It’s amazing how often some of the leaders I work with look at sleep as a luxury at best and an unnecessary inconvenience at worst. It’s as though they see sleep as an interruption to the important work they’re doing. Some have actually bragged to me about how little sleep they need and take for themselves, as though this is a badge of honor of some kind.

Let me suggest to you two reasons why sleep is a vital leadership requirement.

First, a physiological reason. Good leadership requires creativity and curiosity, both of which come from deep thinking. And the practice that most profoundly enhances deep thinking is the practice of daily adequate sleep.

In sleep, our brains clean out toxins, process the day’s experiences, and work on problems that have been occupying our waking minds. (Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, “Rest", p. 140.)

And look at what happens what we don’t get enough sleep.

Being chronically tired to the point of fatigue or exhaustion means that we are less likely to perform well. Neurons do not fire optimally, muscles are not rested, and the body’s organ systems are not synchronized. (A study from the Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School)

This is a no-brainer when we stop long enough to think about it. Sleep is an absolute requirement for those who want to be effective and transformational leaders. Our bodies are designed during sleep to recover, rebuild, restore, and reignite the most important parts of our selves needed to empower successful leadership. We simply cannot use the excuse of multiple and challenging demands at work to deprioritize regular sleep.

And second, a financial reason. The lack of sleep among both leaders and employees is having a deeply negative outcome in the workplace and in the company. The actual financial costs being generated from sleep deprivation is staggering.

Today, so many of us fall into this trap of sacrificing sleep in the name of productivity. But, ironically, our loss of sleep, despite the extra hours we put in at work, adds up to more than eleven days of lost productivity per year per worker. This results in a total annual cost of sleep deprivation to the US economy of more than $63 billion, in the form of absenteeism and presenteeism (when employees are present at work physically but not really mentally focused). (Arianna Huffington, “The Sleep Revolution”)

Leaders who think they can get away with little to no sleep on a regular basis are deluding themselves and by their example are costing their companies millions of dollars. So much for fiduciary responsibility.

Contrary to some opinions, regular sleep isn’t just some luxury for those who have the time and leisure. It’s not an experience that the high performers and uber-productive people in our midst can simply choose to neglect or cut corners on. Sleep, as the original strategic stop, is a fundamental and vital aspect of maintaining necessary human resilience. And as leaders, we need this priority for ourselves, for our employees, and for our organizations.