Winning Wednesday #10

Self-care = better performance?

Reading Time: 1 Minute

I read some interesting research recently that showed something very important.

It’s simple, somewhat counterintuitive, and powerful.

When leaders take the time to recover, their team performs better the next day.

Why?

Because their team feels permission to reset, refocus, recover themselves - and then refreshed to get after it again.

As leaders, its common to think the way to drive better performance is to drive your team to do more. And, to do that, we often feel like we have to model that - so we end up doing more ourselves.

This research flips this on its head.

The idea that you, as a leader, taking time out makes your team better is powerful.

It means you have a responsibility to take care of yourself.

It’s better for you.

It’s better for the team.

It’s better for the organization.

Everyone wins.

Article Referenced:

Kim, S., Cho, S., & Chung, W. (2023). Benefits of leaders’ pleasurable recovery activities on follower performance via emotional contagion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108(8), 1336.

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