A little after noon last Friday, I unplugged from technology (phone and PC) for the long holiday weekend. What bliss!

A refreshing and renewing interlude that would have been impossible in my first act of life where 24×7 connectivity and within-minutes response was expected.

Here’s one of my favorite dysfunctional stories that illustrates this zaniness:  I lived and worked on the West coast for a company whose headquarters were on the East coast. My normal Saturday morning routine involved getting up early, savoring coffee on my deck sans technology, and then meeting my personal trainer in the redwood state park for a workout.

Come Friday evening, I’d normally have clocked 60+ hours, so I really looked forward to those Saturday mornings doing push-ups on tree stumps, jumping across small babbling streams, and seeing the sun come up. Just us and nature. One exquisite morning a week I didn’t arise at 4 AM to do my “dastardly email” as I called it.

One Saturday morning I returned home at 8:45 AM. Hubby said I’d better check my email ASAP since my “crackberry” had been buzzing like mad.

In checking, I discovered that at 7 AM Eastern time (4 AM my time) the CEO had sent me an email. In it, he made a data request and demanded a response by noon ET.

At 8 AM his time, he forwarded his email to my matrix HQ boss, copying me, asking her to find out where I was. For the next two hours, she flooded my inbox with increasingly more frantic email messages about quickly getting the CEO what he wanted.

So at 8:51 AM my time (11:51 AM his) I answered the CEO’s email, giving him the data he wanted. Whew! Just nine minutes to spare! And all the good from my time in the redwoods wiped out.

In his message back, the CEO asked why it had taken so long for me to respond to his request. I politely reminded him of the time difference and told him about my Saturday morning exercise routine (he was a fitness nut). He had the grace to apologize for his impatience for information that he said was a curiosity not a crisis.

Yikes.

My matrix boss (who had also forgotten about the time difference) told me later that afternoon the CEO had been ready to fire me at 8 AM his time for failing to comply with a work request! Double yikes.

The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration—it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done. ~Tim Kreider

3 questions for bosses about downtime

So, bosses everywhere:  if you recognize yourself in this story, this post is for you!

Ask yourself a few questions about your orientation to employees who unplugg and take a bit of downtime:

1.  Am I using weekend and late night email reading and response as an indicator of loyalty, dedication, and hard work?

If you are, why? What other data points are available to show an employee’s allegiance and quality of work? Why do you feel the need to test them? Are you aware of what this behavior does to trust levels?

2.  Am I being thoughtful about involving employees at all times of the day, night, and weekend?

Is what you are asking for really needed or simply satisfying a whim you have? Is the person you are asking the only source of the data, or are there other resources available? Why is it important that you know?

3.  Do you expect your employees to be on call 24×7?

Other than emergency or crisis situations that require immediate escalation and response regardless of the time, what drives this expectation? Is it realistic? Why do you believe 24×7 connection is necessary? Does your company have an escalation process for emergencies? If not, should it?

I pose these self-reflection questions directly to you. Why? Because your employees look to you for guidance and as an example for taking downtime. If you don’t take or value downtime, they won’t feel free to do so either.

Are you willing to take the leap and unplug…just a little?