The leadership skill that’s not practised enough: recovery

Do you remember where you were the last time you had a big idea or breakthrough?

Chances are, you weren’t sitting at your desk or in a boardroom. My last big idea came while I was in full vacation mode, sitting poolside.

If you’re a regular reader of my newsletter or a podcast subscriber, you know I’ve talked a lot about recovery over the years. The problem is that most leaders treat rest like a reward instead of a strategy.

But the science is clear: creativity and decision-making improve when the brain gets time to recover. Cognitive performance declines over time, yet recovery can actually enhance performance, those mental breakthroughs and insights that tend to show up when you step away.

Lessons from sport

Let’s move from the boardroom to the playing field.

Elite athletes train recovery as intentionally as they train output. Their recovery is scheduled, for a reason: it improves performance.

The same applies to leaders in organizations. On the last day of a recent vacation to Belize, I was reading a book about the power of great questions and had an idea: why not bring that approach to my social media? Instead of just telling people things, I could invite them to engage with me. Encourage them to share, just like I do in my coaching practice.

That idea didn’t happen by accident.

The “Default Mode Network” discovery

In the early 2000s, neuroscientist Marcus Raichle and colleagues discovered something surprising. When people weren’t focused on a task, when resting, daydreaming, or letting their minds wander, a specific network in the brain became more active, not less.

They called it the Default Mode Network.

This network is associated with:

• imagination

• insight

• reflection

• connecting ideas across memory

Research shows that creative thinking is linked to stronger activity in this network during periods of rest.

In other words, your brain often does some of its most valuable work when you stop consciously working. It’s no wonder so many good ideas happen in the shower.

Breaks improve performance

And yet, I still hear about three-hour board meetings and back-to-back schedules worn like badges of honour.

Research tells a different story. Studies show that rest breaks are linked to:

• a 5% increase in productivity

• an 8% improvement in work quality

Even though time is taken away from work, output actually improves.

Cognitive performance declines without breaks

Over time, without breaks, cognitive performance drops and accuracy declines. It doesn’t matter how smart or driven you are, diminishing returns apply.

If accuracy matters in your work, pushing through without rest is a poor strategy.

Want to improve performance? Take a break.

Breaks reduce fatigue and increase energy

Research on workplace micro-breaks shows they:

• reduce fatigue

• increase energy and well-being

• improve mood and resilience

It’s easy to think, “How much difference can one break really make?”

But over time, the impact compounds. Take three short breaks a day, every day, over weeks and months, and you build real resilience and sustained performance.

It’s like going to the gym. One workout won’t change much. But show up three or four times a week for a few months, and the results become obvious.

Breaking your overwork habits

If you’re not used to building recovery into your day, here are three simple ways to start:

• Schedule micro-breaks (10 minutes, no phone or email)

• Protect an evening shutdown ritual (a consistent routine to close your workday and transition into rest)

• Add a weekly deep recovery block (at least half a day focused on recovery, not productivity)