June | Alone Time

This month’s edition of our L@S Newsletter encourages a more intentional balance.

Many of the leaders we work with spend a lot of time in meetings. A quick glimpse of their schedule shows a wall of back-to-back meetings, often overlapping, with no room to breathe or process the outcome of any of these meetings. Meeting invitations are often sent without context or clear intentions.

We hear from many leaders that they often feel pressured to attend meetings with the intention of supporting their teams. This comes with the unintended cost of spending less time on the crucial strategic thinking that the organization leans on them for.

As we head into the summer season, leaders may also feel a different kind of pressure on their time. This summer is the first in many years that individuals and families will have an opportunity to travel freely. This means an additional layer of planning and coordination, on top of the joy of spending time with our loved ones.

However, the strategic direction of the team, their work, and their growth and development as a whole require regular and consistent reflection time for the intentional, thoughtful leader. Effective collaboration requires alone time.

How can leaders carve out more alone time when we’re consistently pulled into group gatherings?

Journal Prompts

Let’s apply this to your leadership:

1. Protect Your Focus – As the resident introvert of our L@S team, I need a lot of alone time to think through our workshop designs thoughtfully. Your team members, regardless of where they sit along the introvert-extrovert spectrum, appreciate the support to be protected from noise. Unproductive and unfocused meetings have a compounding negative impact on our ability to focus and get into “deep” work. nnReflect:nWhat’s something that you (and your team) can do in the next week to protect more 20-30 minute stretches of singularly-focused work
2. Explore and Articulate Thoughts – Some people are verbal processors. They articulate their thoughts by expressing them to others. Others require alone time to figure out what they want to share in a public setting. Especially when there are power dynamics in a room, people may appreciate more time to feel safe sharing their precious ideas.nnReflect:nWhat medium works best for you to unpack your thoughts?
3. Prioritization – One of the biggest values that a leader can bring to their team is prioritizing their team’s energy and time. Role-modelling this by taking the time to think through their own priorities has a compounding effect on empowering your team members to do so independently. Prioritization is a core leadership skill to think through that thoughtfully instead of reacting to work environment needs.nnReflect:nWhat top three objectives are most important to your role this week?

Further Reading

For a deeper dive into alone time, here are our recommended resources:

In a Distracted World, Solitude Is a Competitive Advantage

How to Build a Culture That Honors Quiet Time

What’s On Repeat

Some of our favourite focus music for solo deep work

Alone Time playlist by Purrple Cat:

Elevator Vibes playlist by Stay There:

Breathing Place playlist by Vibrasphere

Ready to take your leadership to the next level? Book a free call to see how one-on-one coaching can help you grow your career.

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Today’s edition of the L@S Newsletter was composed by Alvin Pilobello. Alvin is a professional coach, salsa dance instructor, and former water engineer. He has a passion for what makes the world go around: water, dance, and connection. He helps people make sense of the diversity within others and themselves to encourage connection and develop innovative, systems-based (vs. linear) approaches to working relationship challenges.