5 R’s That Can Help Leaders Renew

With all the recent things in the news of leaders failing or ‘falling’ or burning out in all kinds of ways I thought it might be good to take a look at ways leaders can renew and set a healthy rhythm.

Most leaders don’t burn out because of a lack of ability or skill. They burn out because they lack healthy rhythms in their life. These five things below are not meant to be linear or built like a ladder they are cyclical and set as a rhythm.     

Renewal is not optional. It is a leadership responsibility.

1.   Remove.

We need an intentional withdrawal from noise, demand and role-expectation.

Removal is stepping out of constant accessibility. It is not resignation. It is rhythm. It is choosing to become temporarily unavailable so you can become sustainably present.

What goes wrong if we skip it:

If we never ‘remove’ we begin to confuse urgency with importance. We lose perspective. We react rather than discern.

What removal looks like in practice:

• Protected retreat days (non-negotiable)

• Walking without agenda

• Phone off for defined periods

• Space where you are not “the leader,” just a human being

Removal creates margin for honesty.

2.   Rest

All leaders need to replenish energy at the deepest level.

What it is:

This is not the kind of rest that you get by collapsing on the sofa. It is restorative intentional activity that replenishes body, soul and imagination. It may include sleep, prayer, reading, nature, silence, laughter.

What goes wrong if we skip it:

·      Exhaustion masquerades as cynicism.

·      Fatigue distorts perception.

·      You become shorter with people. Less curious. Less generous. Less patience

What it looks like in practice:

• Rhythmic Sabbath i.e. regular and intentional times to rest, that has a rhythm to it.

• Sleep discipline – everyday rhythm and intentional sleep patterns

• Creative input (books, music, art)

• Unproductive time

• When on retreat allowing yourself to nap and sleep more and daydream.

Rest repairs what leadership drains.

3.   Reflect

Having the courage to self-examination.

What it is:

Reflection asks:

·      What is really happening in me?

·      Where am I drifting?

·      What am I avoiding?

·      What is life(or God) trying to show me?

This is where ego gets confronted and clarity returns.

What goes wrong if we skip it:

·      Patterns repeat.

·      Blind spots grow.

·      Frustration accumulates.

·      We stop really growing

·      We become disconnected with people

Leadership that chooses not to be self-reflective becomes unconscious leadership.

What it looks like in practice:

• Journalling

• Spiritual direction / coaching

• Debriefing key decisions

• Asking trusted people hard questions

Reflection converts experience into wisdom.

4. Recalibrate

Realigning with our values, our purpose or sense of calling and re-setting our pace and rhythm.

What it is:

Recalibration is adjusting the things that are out of sync. It is where insight and reflection becomes change.

You alter:

• Schedule

• Boundaries

• Priorities

• Expectations

• Sometimes even direction

What goes wrong if we skip it:

·      Insight without change becomes guilt, or shame or disillusionment or despondency

·      Conviction without adjustment becomes frustration and the above!

What it looks like in practice:

• Saying no where you used to say yes

• Realigning yourself and your priorities to your vales, purpose and

• Delegating differently

• Clarifying success metrics

• Slowing the pace intentionally

• Re-setting your rhythms to dictate you’re your pace.

Recalibration protects you from drifting from your, goals, purpose, call and values.

5.   Return.

Re-engaging with clarity of purpose, commitment to the values, steadiness of rhythm, joy in the vision and renewed presence.

What it is:

·      Return is not rushing back in. It is having a strategic and intentional re-entry.

You come back:

• Less reactive

• More grounded

• More relational

• Less driven by approval

What goes wrong if we skip earlier R’s:

·      You return unchanged.

·      The same triggers, the same fatigue, the same patterns.

What healthy Return looks like:

• Clear communication of boundaries

• Fresh vision articulation

• Calm leadership in tension

• Renewed relational investment

• Reestablishing of values that we have drifted from.

Return is where others feel the fruit of your renewal.

REMEMBER ---These 5 R’s form a cycle, not a ladder.

Remove → Rest → Reflect → Recalibrate → Return → Remove and repeat

Renewal is not an event. It is a rhythm.