As an executive performance metric, intentional rest is something that is often overlooked, even though it facilitates all the necessary conditions for excellent modern leadership. Evolving from a wellness perk, rest is becoming recognized as something of an operational liability that forward-thinking companies treat as a critical discipline. As such, there are many benefits of rest, including enhanced creativity, neuroplasticity and building sustainable resilience.
A Sharper Decision-Cycle Time
Chronic sleep deprivation, which is actually pretty common among professionals, can impair the prefrontal cortex. As such, you can experience difficulty making decisions that impact your decision-making abilities. However, when you get enough restorative rest, the mind begins to work much more efficiently. Some high-performing people use aids such as sleep gummies alongside wellness techniques that help them make more accurate and error-free decisions.
Enhanced Creativity and Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by streamlining neural connections, allows it to engage flexible thinking, novel ideation, and long-term memory. However, healthy neuroplasticity that consolidates the power of each hemisphere (logical and creative) relies almost entirely on healthy and intentional rest. This is because downtime activates the brain’s default mode network, which allows for the facilitation of the mental benefits discussed.
EQ as an Executive Performance Metric
Insights and surveys into modern leadership have found that up to 71% of executives feel fatigue and burnout. Of course, this doesn’t help when leading with EQ is a core part of your job, as emotional regulation is critical for responsible leadership. However, intentional rest helps stabilize cortisol and rebalance serotonin and dopamine. As such, your ability to lead with empathy, handle challenges, and communicate with composure is typically maintained.
Building Sustainable Resilience at Work
Most professionals agree that leadership is more like a marathon than a sprint, and as such, intentional rest is necessary. Strategic rest resets the nervous system, which can prevent temporary work stress from compounding into long-term issues. This helps your mind build an internal resilience to common workplace problems such as burnout and helps you get past some of the biggest challenges your job as a leader can throw at you in the modern day.
Modeling High-Performance Culture
The performance of managed employees is often a reflection of the leaders above them. Reliable and respected leaders always strive to build and sustain a high-performance culture that delivers results for the company and the teams involved. Executives who track and model their own recovery empower the people they manage to do the same through example. This directly correlates with higher engagement and lower employee turnover of workplace talent.
Summary
An ability to make smarter, faster, and more accurate decisions is among the most valuable reasons why rest is becoming a heavily popular executive performance metric today. Rest also helps you develop and maintain a high level of emotional intelligence (EQ) for dealing with some of the most complex challenges that a modern leader has to contend with. However, one of the more compelling reasons for intentional rest is modeling a high-performing culture.