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Always On, Never Off: Why Leaders Must Reclaime the Off-Switch

“If your phone owns you, your leadership isn’t your own.”

For many leaders, this is more than a clever turn of phrase — it’s the quiet reality shaping every decision, every conversation, and every night’s sleep.

I’m not talking about being busy. I’m talking about being tethered.


The Experiment That Changes the Room

When I run workshops for school leaders, I often begin with a small request: turn your phones off.

Not on silent. Not face-down. Off completely.

I reassure participants: “We’ll turn them back on at morning tea.”

Every time, the sequence is the same. A few nervous laughs. Someone checks the clock. One or two people send hurried messages: “I’ll be out of contact for the next hour.” Then, silence.

And then — something you can almost feel.

Shoulders drop. People look up. Conversations deepen. The air in the room feels lighter.

Most of us don’t realise how loud the background noise is until it stops.

The Emotional Tsunami

In the Professional Wellness Program, I call this The Emotional Tsunami — the relentless flood of other people’s urgency, emotions, and expectations that crashes into your mental space all day long.

When you’re “always on,” you are no longer deciding what gets your attention — everyone else is. Your time isn’t your own. Your priorities aren’t your own. Your clarity is fragmented.

And if you can’t switch off, you can’t lead with perspective.

Why This Isn’t About Willpower

The science shows that always on isn’t a discipline problem — it’s biology.

Attention residue. Sophie Leroy’s (2009) research showed that when you switch tasks, part of your attention stays stuck to the previous task. That “residue” reduces performance on the next task. Multiply that by dozens of “quick checks” a day, and your strategic thinking is like trying to sprint with ankle weights.

Physiological load. Bruce McEwen and Robert Sapolsky’s work on chronic stress demonstrates that when the stress hormone cortisol stays high for too long, it erodes memory, slows decision-making, and reduces emotional regulation — the very things leaders rely on most (McEwen & Gianaros, 2010; Sapolsky, 2004).

Burnout risk. Christina Maslach’s burnout model identifies emotional exhaustion as the first and most damaging stage of burnout. Without genuine downtime, leaders hit this stage faster, often followed by cynicism, withdrawal, and impaired judgement (Maslach & Leiter, 2016).

“If you can’t step away, you can’t step up.”

Why Leaders Are Especially Vulnerable

Leadership requires judgement, perspective, and presence — and these only thrive when there is time and space for reflection and recovery.

The 2024 ACU Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey found that:

  • 77% of principals reported after-hours communication demands as a major stressor (up from 74% in 2023).
  • Psychological detachment from work during personal time has declined for the third consecutive year.
  • Those with high “always on” stress load also reported significantly higher fatigue, reduced job satisfaction, and lower capacity for strategic thinking (ACU, 2024; ACU, 2023).

In other words, the very conditions leaders need to lead well are being systematically eroded.

Strengthening Two Dimensions of Professional Wellness

To shift from “always on” to “strategically on,” leaders must strengthen two Dimensions of Professional Wellness:

  1. Sustainable Practices — Deliberate rhythms that protect energy cycles and create genuine recovery, not just less time at work. Research on the stressor–detachment model shows that psychological detachment is critical for reducing strain and improving wellbeing (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2015).
  2. Resilience & Adaptability — The skill to fully engage when it matters and fully disengage when it doesn’t. Norms around communication often drive telepressure more than policies do, making boundary-setting an active leadership skill (Barber et al., 2023).

Emma’s Story: A Practical Turnaround

Emma (not her real name), a principal of a large secondary school, told me:

“I’m answering emails at 10pm so I don’t drown at 8am.”

We didn’t start by reducing her email volume. We began with boundaries that fit her role:

  • Availability windows — The team knew when they could expect quick responses and when she was in deep work.
  • Protected thinking time — Two 90-minute blocks per week, phone in another room, admin filtering interruptions.
  • Shutdown ritual — At 5:15pm: one-line intention for tomorrow, close the laptop, phone away for 90 minutes.

Three weeks later she said: “I’m making better calls because I’m actually thinking again.”

Boundaries didn’t reduce her commitment. They restored her capacity.

In 2024, principals who reported strong boundaries around communication had 23% higher self-rated decision quality (ACU, 2024).

The Phone Factor

Interruptions have always existed. But the smartphone changes the equation.

Research shows that the mere presence of your smartphone — even face-down and silent — reduces cognitive capacity because your brain allocates energy to not checking it (Ward et al., 2017).

Work-related smartphone use at night disrupts sleep, increases next-day fatigue, and undermines emotional regulation (Lanaj et al., 2014). Leaders who normalise device-free recovery report greater focus and resilience.

Recovery isn’t indulgence. It’s infrastructure.

The Three-Part Reset

Moving away from “always on” starts with intentional design. Here’s the framework leaders use to reclaim control:

1. Design the Off-Switch

  • Keep devices out of sight during deep work and meetings.
  • Schedule micro-sabbaticals — 15–30 minutes each day without notifications.
  • End the day with a shutdown ritual: last scan, one-line intention, devices away.

2. Renegotiate Reachability

  • Publish availability windows.
  • Consolidate urgent communication into one channel.
  • Use “message received” acknowledgements without instant fixing.

3. Recover Like It’s Your Job

  • Protect evenings from work screens.
  • Schedule mastery or relaxation activities weekly.
  • Treat recovery as an investment in decision quality, not a break from leadership.

The Morning Tea Reveal

Back in the workshop, when the phones go back on at morning tea, the pings and buzzes return. A few faces tense. Someone mutters: “Here we go.”

Most messages could wait. The urgent ones? Already handled or quickly resolved.

The lesson: the cost of constant reachability isn’t just the time spent responding — it’s the erosion of the clear, strategic mind you’re paid to bring.

Your Challenge This Week

Try the workshop experiment:

  • First meeting of the day — phones out of the room.
  • Notice the difference in focus.
  • Choose one boundary to keep — and tell your team why.

Because leaders don’t just set boundaries. They normalise them.

“Boundaries aren’t a sign you care less — they’re what allow you to care more.”


References

ACU. (2023). The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2023: Data report. Australian Catholic University.

ACU. (2024). The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2024: Data report. Australian Catholic University.

Barber, L. K., Santuzzi, A. M., & Hu, X. (2023). Telepressure and the “always on” culture: Norms, boundary control, and employee outcomes. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 28(2), 159–173.

Lanaj, K., Johnson, R. E., & Barnes, C. M. (2014). Beginning the workday already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124(1), 11–23.

Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168–181.

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111.

McEwen, B. S., & Gianaros, P. J. (2010). Central role of the brain in stress and adaptation: Links to socioeconomic status, health, and disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186(1), 190–222.

Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why zebras don’t get ulcers (3rd ed.). Henry Holt and Company.

Sonnentag, S., & Fritz, C. (2015). Recovery from job stress: The stressor–detachment model as an integrative framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(S1), S72–S103.

Ward, A. F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. W. (2017). Brain drain: The mere presence of one’s own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), 140–154.