Leadership for the long weekend

There’s something about a long weekend that lays bare the secrets about how we really lead. How we behave in the small, almost unnoticeable choices we make when work pauses and I can see that there are a few patterns that emerge when a long weekend rolls around.
Most leaders tend to fall into 3 types.... 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Leadership Lounge. In this episode, I want to talk about what leadership looks like out of a long weekend. Because if you're lucky enough to be heading into the Easter break, how you pause or not, and then how you talk about your weekend on the return to work sends a strong message to your team about the culture you create. For many people, a long weekend is coming, and I've seen some friends and clients really stressed out about how much they need to get done before they could log off and sort of collapse into an exhausted heap on Thursday night. With a few even adding that they would probably have to do a bit over the weekend too. And when I asked why, the response is often that there's an expectation from those above that things will still progress. And this seems especially true if your work involves interacting with teams in other countries. But there's something about a long weekend that lays bare the secrets about how we really lead, how we behave in the small, almost unnoticeable choices we make when work pauses. And I can see that there are a few patterns that emerge when a long weekend rolls around. Most leaders tend to fall into three types. There are the leaders who say they're switching off, but they're still just quickly checking on emails. It's never meant to take long, it's just a quick scan, a reply here, a follow-up there. But in most cases, it's very rarely about an urgent requirement. It's more often than not about habit, about identity, and that quiet belief that being a good leader means staying connected, staying across things, staying available, even when no one's expecting you to. Then there are the ones who actually do switch off, but it really doesn't come easily. Yes, they may have stepped away physically, but mentally they're still in it. Replaying conversations, running through to-do lists and thinking about what next week looks like before this one's even finished. So, yes, they're off, but they're not really resting. And then there are the leaders who genuinely do pause. No checking emails, no quiet just in case logging in. They allow the break to actually be a break. And it's unlikely to be because they don't care, it's more often because they understand that constant connection isn't the same thing as effective leadership. And I think we often underestimate the impact this has on our teams. It's not just about what you do during the break, it's about how you talk about it afterwards as well. Because we've created this strange culture where being busy is more like a badge of honour, where the first conversation back when you come back into the office is often, I didn't really stop. I was still on emails, I've come back to chaos. Almost as if rest needs to be justified or minimized or even apologised for. And over time that becomes part of our identity. We start to define ourselves by how much we're doing, how much we're juggling, how productive we are in any given moment. And being busy becomes a proxy for being valuable. But that creates a tension because if we can't allow ourselves to just be, to rest, to switch off, to have time that isn't productive or optimized, we don't just lose the benefit of the break. We reinforce the idea to ourselves and everyone around us that slowing down isn't acceptable. But your team are always taking cues from you, whether you mean them to or not. If you're online, they notice. If you're replying, even if it's sporadic, it stays with them. And if you come back talking about how busy you were, how much you've stayed on top of whatever's going on, well that message holds. Not only because you've said it directly, in fact, you don't even have to do that to send the message, because you've modelled it. And we know that culture is shaped more by what we model than what we say. But when you pause properly, resist the pull to dip back into work and allow the space to just give yourself the best chance of coming back to work feeling rested and refreshed, which is great for you, but also it's good for your team. And this is really true if your team see that when you return, you say things like, I actually switched off, I rested. It was good to probably take a break. These actions and words create a really different signal for your team. You're now sending a clear message that rest is allowed, that switching off isn't something you have to earn, and that being a committed leader doesn't mean being constantly available, and that rest isn't something to be ashamed of, it's something to be completely normalized, even celebrated. And that's where the real leadership lesson sits for me. Not in how much you get done before Tuesday, not in how on top of things you feel, but in how well you allow yourself to stop and how willing you are to own that when you come back. Because switching off isn't just a nice idea, it's a leadership behaviour, and one that shapes expectations, sets tones, and quietly builds a healthier, more sustainable way of working without needing a single policy or an announcement of any kind. So if you're reading this today, just before you go into the Easter break, and you're somewhere between thinking, now just check in quickly, or I really shouldn't, but I will, when it gets to the weekend, maybe leave it. Not because it doesn't matter, but because you matter more than the habit. And the emails will still be there. They always are. If you've got a quiet moment over the course of today, might be worth asking yourself, when work pauses, what do I naturally default to? Is it rest or staying connected? And where did that pattern come from? And is it still serving me? And how comfortable am I with not being productive for a period of time? What story do I tell myself and others about rest? Do I celebrate it, minimize it, or try to justify it? And when I return to work, what signal do I give about how I talk about my break? And if I gave myself full permission to switch off, what would I actually do differently this weekend? I wish you all a restful weekend if you're going into a long, a long break, and hopefully the sun will stay shining. And uh see you next time.