VIM Executive Coaching, executive leadership clients frequently bring us up-to-date as to the latest trends in the form of their personal problems. Here’s a trend that is particularly troubling.
A client with an internationally-based healthcare equipment company came to us saying, “I just can’t be available 24/7. I am so stressed out with ‘round the clock emergencies, I no longer have time for myself. I am losing my ability to manage my people.” I need “me time.”
The Rise of 24/7
Many years ago, someone – most probably a creative at an advertising agency – came up with the concept of 24/7. The “symbol” represents availability, i.e., we are always open for business. It is a statement that says: “Whenever you need us, we’re here.” Originally intended for retail fast food establishments, the idea quickly expanded to supermarkets, banking, ride sharing, emergency medical clinics, health clubs, cable news networks, big box stores, coffee shops, pharmacies, car rental sites and many more services.
24/7 became a call to action. If a customer could not access “a live person” any time, day or night, all hopes (and presumably huge chunks of business) were lost. The rise of international operations, contract workers and the internet didn’t help.
It was a pace that could not be maintained. As I write this, I note that a local supermarket, health club, chain coffee shop and even an emergency medical clinic have scaled back. What was once 24/7 with those operations became “about” 18/6 or less. Even operations that still claim 24/7 have scaled back to where some units remain open while others lead more reasonable hours.
24/7 is an untenable pace, starting with the fact that it is terribly difficult to staff operations during a graveyard shift.
Yes, but I’m a Software Executive
Obviously, if you are an executive leader in a non-brick and mortar environment (such as software, consulting, banking) or an international operation (or both) you may be thinking that your situation is not equivalent to an executive who manages1,200 fast food units.
Unfortunately, what has been happening is that 24/7 accessibility has often shifted from the operation to the executive leader. The executive leader (and by extension their managers) are often viewed as pieces rather than people.
A common interview question often covers the idea of availability:
“As you know, we’re an international organization with remote and contract workers. What would be your reaction to being available, let’s say, on Sunday mornings at 6:00 a.m.?”
Obviously, the anticipated answer is most often: “Whatever it takes to get the job done.”
What might happen if our interviewers were to hear:
“Oh, Sunday mornings are my church day,” or “I always take my daughters to the park on Sundays,” or the equivalent?
The 24/7 concept has often come to mean that any time, day or night, it is expected that accessibility is a given. It leads the executive to have increasingly less personal time and space, greater stress and often health problems.
The Antidote to the Conundrum
If we allow the 24/7 mindset to consume us, rather than executive leaders controlling it, the result is more than burnout, it can take our very joy away from us.
The antidote is mindfulness. VIM Executive Coaching is committed to coaching techniques such as mindfulness meditation, responding rather than reacting to problems and developing greater authenticity.
Developing mindfulness helps put things in greater perspective. Responding, rather than reacting, allows us to handle problems with greater simplicity, to be more in the moment and even be more compassionate.
Compassion is not a one-way street. If we learn greater authenticity and compassion toward others, we also learn to be more compassionate toward ourselves. Mindfulness allows greater gentleness toward ourselves, others and the situation at hand.
In our individual races to be everything to everybody, we often lose our ability to be ourselves. Mindfulness can restore us.