How was your Easter break? Did you get some much-needed rest?
A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with a senior executive about sleeping patterns. They told me very excitedly about how much they are looking forward to leaving the company that they have worked for for a long, long time. Ouch…!
One of the main reasons…a lack of sleep. The organisation operates globally and because teams are global based in all time zones, they often had to attend meetings in the middle of the night. Their regional leader bragged about only sleeping 2 hours per night. Operational results currently seemed to be good and the company did well during COVID. The downside: many people are slowly burning out and performance starts to suffer. Unfortunately, the head of the region doesn’t want any changes and thus, people are leaving. Doesn’t sound like sustainable high-performance to me.
Even though this example might sound a bit extreme, sleep in general is still overlooked when thinking about how to improve performance and impact.
Lack of sleep impairs performance
Even a “minor” 2-hour sleep loss can have some serious impacts:
Reduced alertness
Shortened attention span
Poorer judgement
Reduced awareness of the environment and situation
Reduced decision-making skills
Poorer memory
Reduced concentration
Increased likelihood of moodiness and bad temper
Reduced work efficiency
Loss of motivation
As a rule of thumb, adults need about 8 hours of sleep. Hours might slightly differ due to individual circumstances, health status or age. If you constantly only sleep for 6 hours, you are risking the above performance reducing impacts.
Thus, as a company and for you as a leader, it would pay off to consider how to support your employees’ wellbeing and how to better manage global meeting times. It’s in your own interest if you are looking to empower sustainable high-performance.
Here are a few energising sleep tips for you to consider over the coming weeks:
Create awareness: Everything starts with awareness and the ability to notice what matters. Start a conversation about the relationship between sleep and performance. Maybe with individuals in your team who are struggling or even better explore the potential of sleep for your whole team.
Think strategically about energy management: Fill in the energy map to see where you could potentially find some balance and spare time. The energy map is a simple tool that I am using in my book ‘Naturally Successful’ and most of my coaching programs.
Define an experiment for the next month: Decide on a small solution step that works for you right now.
Get some data: Explore Whoop wrist band or Oura rings to measure and learn. Both measure HRV (heart rate variability). HRV is a measure of your autonomic nervous system that is widely considered one of the best objective metrics for physical fitness and determining your body’s readiness to perform. Athletes and astronauts use it.
Try Lunchtime naps: There is plenty of neuroscience research on the benefits of a 20 minutes sleep break. I can clearly feel the benefits and do these naps nearly every day.
Let me know how your sustainable high-performance experiment goes. I am here to support you to get to the next level.
Wishing you many energised mornings and days.
Naturally yours,
Ingrid