The Hidden Leadership Signal in How You Switch Off
You’re heading off for a break soon. At least, that’s what the calendar says.
But in reality? You’re racing to fit three weeks of decisions into four days, trying to be get everything done right up to the last minute. Your calendar is still jammed full. Your thinking is scattered. And somewhere underneath it all, there’s a voice reminding you that you’re supposed to be looking forward to this.
The truth is, many senior leaders don’t ease into rest – they crash, head spinning, into it. Because the pressure before a break isn’t just workload.
It’s invisible leadership pressure.
The pressure to prove you’re on top of everything right up to – and whilst you’re away.
The pressure to leave things in perfect shape for your team.The pressure to not visibly need rest whilst dragging yourself through those last few days.
The pressure to switch off fast and return fresh without missing a beat.
As unhealthy as this pattern may be, it is a pattern that goes largely unchallenged in many leadership cultures. In fact, it’s quietly rewarded. There’s a badge of honour in “just squeezing that in before I go” or “logging in just to check in on things.”
High-performing leaders often carry an unconscious script that might sound like one of these: If I don’t push on through, I’ll lose momentum. If I’m not present, things might stall. If I slow down, people might think I don’t care.
But here’s what’s easy to forget at the top: how you approach your time off becomes a blueprint for others.
How you act sets the norms for the business. And in fast-growth, high-autonomy cultures, that matters more than you might think. Your team won’t do what you tell them. They’ll do what they see you doing.
So if you treat rest and recovery like a luxury instead of a leadership responsibility, don’t be surprised when others do too. And this is where sustained human performance begins to fray at the edges.
To be clear, this isn’t about never checking your inbox. It’s about owning the choices you make. Rest doesn’t have to mean complete disconnection. But it does require conscious boundaries and role-modelling the kind of leadership energy you want others to replicate.
Because leadership isn’t just about your presence – it is about what you leave behind when you’re not in the room.
And the way you transition in and out of rest is part of that legacy. Do you hand things over well, with thought, clarity and trust? Do you cling to control, disguised as diligence? Do you return with perspective and focus, or with the same urgency and franticness that you left with?
Leaders often say they want to build sustainable, resilient, energised teams. But very few stop to examine their own relationship with resilience, rest and recovery.
As you prepare for a summer break – or just returning from one – this is your opportunity to lead differently. Not perfectly. But intentionally.
So pause for a moment as you read this; to take stock, reset your approach, and shift your leadership patterns around rest and renewal.
Self: How you approach a break says more about your leadership than you think. Most leaders have a default mode when it comes to holidays – over-prepping, under-preparing, clocking out abruptly, or never quite switching off at all. The pattern usually reflects deeper beliefs about control, trust, and identity.
What does your usual pre-holiday behaviour reveal about how you see your role?
What story do you tell yourself about what will happen if you’re not around?
What version of yourself would you like to see showing up?
Team: What you model becomes permission – or pressure – for everyone else. In fact, how you prepare to step away and how you re-enter shapes your team’s behaviour, their stress levels, and their sense of what’s expected in your culture.
What impact does your approach to time off have on your team, whether spoken or unspoken?
What would it look like to role model healthy boundaries, without compromising your high standards?
What patterns might your team be mirroring back to you – and what does that tell you about your influence?
System: Rest doesn’t exist in a vacuum – it reflects your culture, your rituals, and your priorities. The way breaks are handled in your business reveals a lot about how you lead and what you implicitly value.
What does your organisation’s rhythm of work and rest say about its operating system?
What would need to shift to make recovery a shared, strategic habit – not just an individual effort?
What small but visible leadership act could help reset the rhythm of rest in your culture?
If you find this helpful, please share it with your friends and colleagues.
Meantime if you haven’t already, you can subscribe to receive the next issue straight to your inbox.
