The Power of Switching Off and Why Calm is a Leadership Skill

Recently, I went off-grid camping with my family. No Wi-Fi and No emails. It was the longest I’d been offline all year and it surprised me how much my nervous system needed it.

What happened next was unexpected.

I realised how rare it is to experience true calm, the kind of mental stillness that doesn’t just recharge you but recalibrates you.

And it got me thinking. If calm is this restorative for me as a person, what does it mean for leaders and their teams?

Calm, I’ve come to believe, is not a luxury. It’s a leadership skill.

It’s easy to assume that leadership is all about action: decisive moves, dynamic communication, high energy. And yes, there’s truth in that. But there’s also power in containment. In being the calm centre of the storm.

When a leader is calm, it creates psychological safety. Teams mirror what they see. When you regulate yourself, you give your team permission to do the same. In stressful moments, this can be the difference between chaos and cohesion.

I’ve written previously about the importance of speaking up at work. In my article What Did You Say? How to Speak Up and Be Heard, I shared practical ways leaders can find their authentic voice and contribute meaningfully to the team dialogue. But calm is what allows those contributions to land. When we speak from a place of calm, not dissonance, we invite others to listen without defensiveness. We foster an environment where ideas can be heard and explored, not just exchanged.

This is especially important in leadership teams. I’ve worked with many executives who think they’re collaborating when really, they’re just coordinating. True collaboration, the kind that unlocks creative potential and drives synergy, only happens when team members feel safe, connected, and respected. Calm is what allows space for voices to be shared and understood.

I describe high-performing teams as those that are curious, connected, and calm. In fact, those are the 3Cs I wrote about my latest book, because they are the essential qualities that elevate team dynamics from functional to truly high performing.

So what does calm leadership look like in practice?

It looks like:

• Pausing before reacting, especially when emotions are high
• Asking questions instead of giving answers
• Creating space in meetings for silence, not to fill the void, but to make room for deeper thinking
• Responding with “tell me more” instead of “here’s what I think”
• Protecting time for rest, so you have the bandwidth to show up fully

That last one matters more than most leaders realise.

Rest is not indulgent. It’s intelligent. The weekend I spent camping off-grid wasn’t just a family holiday. It was a reset . It reminded me that when I am calm, I can think more clearly, listen more deeply, and lead more effectively.

So if you’re feeling the pull to disconnect, even just for a little while, I encourage you to honour it. You don’t need to go bush. Start small. Log off early. Take a walk without your phone. Create a boundary between
your brain and the barrage of digital demands.

Calm isn’t passive. It’s potent.

And it might just be your next leadership edge.