Month: March 2021

7 Weeks of Rest (A Team Playbook)

Inspired by Rich Strobel’s post on LinkedIn, I wanted to take a great concept regarding Dr. Dalton-Smith’s 7 Types of Rest and bring it into action with my team at work.

The purpose of this plan is to explore the 7 different kinds of rest, and evaluate which types seem to meet unmet needs for each individual. My suspicion is that types of rest will yield different responses for each individual. By practicing each type of rest as a group, we can learn from each other and begin to take inventory of how to re-energize ourselves in the future. I’ve set the course to take 8 weeks, with the team exploring a different type of “rest” each week, and then discussing the overall feedback and impressions during the 8th and final week.

Feel free to leverage this plan with your own team, and please let me know if you have feedback or have any recommendations to improve the exercise!

As I mentioned above, the concept behind this exercise comes from a Ted Talk on Rest by Saundra Dalton-Smith, MD. 

SECTION 1: The Plan

Each week, the team will take time for a different kind of rest.  We will coordinate the “rest” exercise, and sometimes will schedule a concurrent “rest” session, and later discuss how it went and how we feel afterwards.  This way, each of us will learn what type of rest seems to help the most, and we can learn from others if there are steps or techniques that sound interesting for future “rest” exercises.

Week One: Creative Rest

Creative rest reawakens the awe and wonder inside each of us. Do you recall the first time you saw the Grand Canyon, the ocean or a waterfall? Allowing yourself to take in the beauty of the outdoors — even if it’s at a local park or in your backyard — provides you with creative rest.

The Exercise

  • Team Lead will Schedule 1 Hour for the team
  • First 5 minutes:  Read about Creative Rest (from the blurb above) 
  • Next 25 Minutes: ask everyone to choose 1 of 3 options:  (1) put on their shoes and go for a 20-minute walk (2) listen to your favorite music for 20 minutes (3) log into Flickr, Frieze, or Artsy or another art-centric website and peruse pieces for 20 minutes.
    • On your walk (or listening or viewing session), take time to notice something small or something new or interesting.  We will ask you to talk about what you noticed!
    • Reschedule if inclement weather is possible!
  • Last 30 minutes: Everyone hop back onto the call.  One-by one, share the thing you noticed.  Did this help you feel (a little) more rested?

Week Two: Sensory Rest

Bright lights, computer screens, background noise and multiple conversations — whether they’re in an office or on Zoom calls — can cause our senses to feel overwhelmed. This can be countered by doing something as simple as closing your eyes for a minute in the middle of the day, as well as by  intentionally unplugging from electronics at the end of every day.

The Exercise

  • Team Lead will Schedule 1 Hour for the team
  • First 5 minutes:  Read about Sensory Rest (from the blurb above) and ask everyone to:
  • Last 30 minutes: Everyone hop back onto the call.  One-by one, share the thing you experienced or felt (or didn’t feel). Did this help you feel (a little) more rested?

Week Three: Emotional Rest

Emotional rest also requires the courage to be authentic. An emotionally rested person can answer the question “How are you today?” with a truthful “I’m not okay” — and then go on to share some hard things that otherwise go unsaid.

The Exercise

  • Team Lead will Schedule 30 minutes for the team
  • First 10 minutes:  Read about Emotional Rest (from the blurb above) and ask everyone to
    • Write down how they are feeling.
    • “Thinking back 6 months ago, did you expect you would feel this way by this day?”
    • If possible, find a partner on this team, or in this company and share how you feel with them.  
  • Allow for last 20 minutes to have the team share their feelings in groups of 2 or 3.
  • The following day: set up another 30 minutes to meet as a group.
    • Discuss: how was the conversation.  Did it help you feel better?  Was it awkward or embarrassing?

Week Four: Social Rest

This occurs when we fail to differentiate between those relationships that revive us from those relationships that exhaust us. To experience more social rest, surround yourself with positive and supportive people. Even if your interactions have to occur virtually, you can choose to engage more fully in them by turning on your camera and focusing on who you’re speaking to.

The Exercise

  • Team Lead will Schedule 30 minutes for the team
  • First 10 minutes:  Read about Social Rest (from the blurb above) and ask everyone to
    • Set up a “for fun” call with friends or family over the next week.  Try to use “zoom” or meet in person if appropriate.
  • Since it takes time to schedule a call with others, it is not realistic to assume everyone will be able to do this within a week.  Maybe consider checking in voluntarily at the beginning of the  “Week Five” session to see if this exercise was beneficial to anyone.

Week Five: Mental Rest

Do you know that coworker who starts work every day with a huge cup of coffee? He’s often irritable and forgetful, and he has a difficult time concentrating on his work. When he lies down at night to sleep, he frequently struggles to turn off his brain as conversations from the day fill his thoughts. And despite sleeping seven to eight hours, he wakes up feeling as if he never went to bed. He has a mental rest deficit.

The Exercise

  • Team Lead will Schedule 30minutes for the team
  • First 10-15 minutes: Debrief from previous week (Social Rest).  Does anyone feel like it was beneficial?
  • Next 10 minutes:  Read about Mental Rest (from the blurb above) and discuss:
    • Are there things that any of you do to “take a break” during the day?  Are you able to “let work go” at night?
    • Ask everyone to schedule at least four 15-minute breaks the following day.
    • Set up a call at the end of the following day to debrief.
  • The following day: as mentioned, hold a 30-minute meeting at the end of the day where we can share “did having 4 breaks help you feel mentally rested?”  Please be honest!

Week Six: Physical Rest

Passive physical rest includes sleeping and napping, while active physical rest means restorative activities such as yoga, stretching and massage therapy that help improve the body’s circulation and flexibility.

The Exercise

  • Team Lead will Schedule 15 minutes for the team
  • First 10 minutes:  Read about Physical Rest (from the blurb above) and encourage w/in next 24 hours:
    • 20-minute yoga session (you will need a mat or a soft floor):
    • Plan for FULL 8-10 hours of sleep tonight!
  • The following day (or the next day): hold a meeting at the beginning of the day where we can share “did the active and passive rest help?”  Please be honest!

Week Seven: Spiritual Rest

The ability to connect beyond the physical and mental and feel a deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance and purpose. To receive this, engage in something greater than yourself and add prayer, meditation or community involvement to your daily routine.

The Exercise

  • Team Lead will Schedule 30 minutes for the team
  • First 10 minutes:  Read about Spiritual Rest (from the blurb above) and share that this one feels the most elusive.  
    • To me: things that can bring you confidence, or back to center:
      • Meditation
      • Reading about science or history
      • Prayer or Practicing Religion
      • Other interesting ideas:  Genealogy/Ancestral Praise, Crying, Fellowship on a shared interest (eg: tribal)
      • Any other ideas
  • Encourage each person to partake in 1 or more of the above over the course of the next week.
  • We will have a chance to share or discuss results from this exercise during our final meeting (mentioned below in section 2).

SECTION 2: The Results

As a group, let’s discuss this exercise and whether or not we found any value in exploring the different types of rest.

The Exercise

  • Leader will schedule a 1-hour meeting
  • 5-10 min: Leader can review each of the 7 weeks and what steps were taken.
  • 40 min: go around the room and let each individual share her/his experiences.  What types of rest were beneficial. Are you likely to try any of these again?  Anything that was uncomfortable or that you would not want to attempt again? 
  • Last 10 min: Any other suggestions on the exercises or other ideas to improve well-being?

Leading with Authenticity

Inspiration comes from within. But before one can feel inspired, a series of needs must be met. Basic needs (food, water, and shelter) followed by the need to feel safe and then belonging. Leaders have an opportunity to create the space that fosters safety and belonging in the workplace. 

Trust is not assumed. It is earned. And a behavior that I, as an employee, have found impactful to pave the way to a safe and trusting environment is authenticity. Employees are perceptive. They can pick up on nuance and contradictions, and when they do, it can quickly erode that feeling of safety and trust that leaders have to work so hard to cultivate.

There are moments in a leader’s tenure where she or he can decide how to cascade messages or prioritize direction, and leaders were tested in 2020. 2020 (and into 2021) challenges were fueled by the pandemic which disrupted revenue, careers, goals, and generally the way of life for everyone on earth. But it was also a wonderful opportunity for leaders to build trust with the sentiment that “we’re in this together.”

My inspiration today comes from learning of the passing of a great leader, Arne Sorenson. Arne was the CEO of Marriot (the 3rd CEO in 93 years), and had been battling pancreatic cancer. Not only was this a difficult year for Arne due to his struggle with cancer, but this year hit the hospitality industry harder than I can ever remember, and I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for him trying to manage a company this size through a situation that he literally had no control over. I remember seeing a video of Arne addressing his employees soon after COVID-19 became a household term, and was struck with his candor and concern for his employees. Through countless testimonies of others that knew him, I knew that his message here was authentic. Here is that video…

My thoughts are with your family today, Arne.

Watch this video (above). Do you feel like you can trust this man? Do you feel like you could work for this man? I do. And I know that there are many today who mourn because of what Arne drew out of them. Inspiration. We, as leaders, can learn from Arne, and bring our authentic selves to work to create that safe and trusting place that lends itself to innovation.


(originally published on LinkedIn Feb 16, 2021)