This Friday spin is about the things that zap your energy, focus, and light. It isn't a dive into doomsday or despair, but rather an acknowledgement of the things that pull us down and the energy it takes to push through.
Holding space for attention, hope, time, and energy requires leaders who are aware of their surroundings and deeply understand their role. There are plenty of things that compete for our focus every day. Some deserve it. Some don't. The challenge is knowing the difference.
Many leaders are conditioned to be fixers, especially in education and healthcare. We see a problem and instinctively move toward solving it. The reality is that leadership is not about fixing everything. It is about leading while protecting the capacity needed for sound decision-making and humanizing the choices we make on behalf of the people we serve.
Not everyone will agree with every decision. That comes with the territory. Strong leaders are not defined by individual decisions as much as they are by the clear, calm direction they create and their ability to stay focused on what matters most, even when distractions and energy zappers are pulling them away.
The question isn't whether energy zappers exist. The question is whether we recognize them before they start influencing how we lead. The following are two energy zappers that I believe deserve more leadership airtime, not just in education but in all organizations.
Communication Zappers
We live in a hyper-connected world that allows us to connect with others at incredible speed and ease. We can communicate in nanoseconds and stay connected in remarkable ways, regardless of distance or place.
On one hand, this connectedness is an immense blessing. I can contact my parents, who live across the country, in seconds and see their smiling faces or hear their kind voices at almost any time of day. When I think about the realities of families navigating immense geographical distances in the past, waiting for letters or telegraphs to arrive, I am immensely grateful for the speed and connectedness that modern technology gifts us.
The Zap of Hyperconnectivity
On the other hand, the hyper-connectivity of modern communication has created a new dimension to the workday and, perhaps more significantly, to the response expectations many of us carry. Technology has enabled around-the-clock access while simultaneously expanding expectations for responsiveness. Thoughtfully determining what warrants a swift response, while also setting healthy boundaries, has become an essential digital competency in today's workplace.
During the workweek, I am highly connected and do my best to stay on top of the daily email slay. Even so, I regularly encounter the "Did you read my email?" question mere minutes after a message has been sent, often just as I'm resurfacing from an intense in-person meeting. As a leader striving to model some semblance of balance within a high-pressure portfolio, I am intentional about shifting away from the notion that everything is urgent and toward the belief that everything deserves thoughtful time and attention.
When I am asked, "Did you...?" I increasingly find myself responding with context: "I'm afraid not yet. I've been with people in real time for the past few hours." That simple response is often a reminder that just because we can communicate instantly doesn't mean we are instantly available.
Being conscientious about the timing of emails is something I am still intentionally working on. I have written about this before, and those who work closely with me know it remains a work in progress. I, too, sometimes slip and send the after-hours brain dump of thoughts, ideas, or requests. A special apology to the close colleagues who find themselves on the receiving end of the 5 a.m. express.
The Zap of Immediacy
A few other lessons learned: Friday night emails are rarely a good thing. Neither are responses to complex matters that arrive less than 24 hours after receiving them. Complex concerns deserve processing time, thoughtful reflection, and often sensitive collaboration.
Yes, some situations are truly urgent. Anything involving imminent danger requires swift communication and immediate action through proper processes. Most matters, however, benefit from a little space. Time allows us to think, consider different perspectives, and respond thoughtfully rather than react reflexively.
Perhaps one of the hidden energy zappers of our hyper-connected world is not the communication itself, but the expectation that every message deserves an immediate response. Constant accessibility can leave us feeling perpetually behind, even when we are doing meaningful work with the people right in front of us.
If communication zappers had a mascot, I suspect the monster of immediacy would be at the top of the list. We live in a culture of digital immediacy that is quietly disrupting slow reflection and quickly replacing it with instant connectivity and real-time feeds. Our relationship with the here and now is increasingly complicated if we do not hold tight reins on our digital lives. Real-time updates and instant access create high sensory engagement, flooding us with distraction. The monster of immediacy can be especially disruptive in leadership circles because the role of leaders is to hold space and give time not only to the immediate, but also to the past and the future, often all in one move.
The Zap of AI Overreach
The third dimension of communication zappers is what I would describe as AI overreach.
One place where this trend is becoming increasingly noticeable is within complaint processes across the public sector. As AI tools make it easier to generate lengthy correspondence and detailed submissions, organizations can find themselves investing significant time sorting through volume while working to identify the core issue requiring attention. Rather than speaking directly with one another and working through difficult matters as humans, some are leaning on AI tools not to problem solve, but to problem load.
The result can be escalating concerns, lengthy submissions, and at times a collection of claims that lack clarity or context, creating more confusion than resolution. While technology can help us communicate faster, it cannot replace the value of thoughtful human dialogue. AI becomes a zapper when it amplifies conflict rather than supporting resolution.
In education, I believe we need to continue emphasizing human-centred problem-solving that begins with direct conversation and follows appropriate processes. AI can be incredibly helpful. I regularly use it to wordsmith IEP goals or edit short pieces of writing. Used thoughtfully, AI can support communication and improve efficiency. It cannot, however, replace responsibility, relationships, respectful dialogue, or the processes designed to guide difficult conversations.
Healthy communication is the goal. Holding space for both pertinent, complex conversations and enjoyable social chats is equally important in leadership. We need to stay focused and energized to work collaboratively through complexity by talking to one another in real time and in real life. This is not to say that email isn't an appropriate medium for communication, it is and remains an important means of clarifying and at times documenting plans, ideas or concerns.
Communication involves more than sending messages. It requires listening and noticing, talking and socializing. These human connections help us understand one another's perspectives and hopes while providing the energy that sustains us in the leadership long game.
Time Zappers
Time deprivation is a real threat to leaders in all sectors. The competing demands of duty, responsibility, personal wellness, and health can quickly become a time zapper, leaving leaders overwhelmed as work begins to consume both body and mind.
I will admit that I struggle with this myself. My personality is very much "all in." I am admittedly the girl who, when invited to the game, buys the T-shirt and the hat to cheer on the home team. I rarely approach anything halfway. If I commit, I jump in with both feet. While I would not necessarily change my way of moving through the world, I do recognize the impact that commitment and high levels of enthusiasm can have on my time and my expectations.
The Zap of Competing Priorities
I can look back on many moments in my career when I felt strongly about working something through to completion or needing to be present for something that seemed so big at the time. While the work undoubtedly deserved my time and attention, it was often at the expense of something else that was equally important. I didn't always do a good job at time shifting through the realities of time and let the zap of immediacy and perceived urgency cloud my judgement about priorities.
As I work with leaders who are early in their careers, I always encourage them to hold space for the glass balls in life, the ones that don't bounce back when dropped. Family, friendships, and personal health should not be repeatedly sacrificed for work commitments, especially those that could be shared, delegated, or supported by a colleague.
I learned this lesson the hard way. As a beginning school principal, I chose to miss my dad's retirement celebration because it fell during report card season. At the time, there were countless reasons why I believed I needed to stay at work. Today, I can't remember most of those reasons, which tells me they probably weren't as important as I thought they were. What I do remember is missing the celebration and that important milestone in his life.
Sometimes we wave the wand of time-zapping in the wrong direction and lose sight of the priorities that grounded us long before we stepped into leadership roles. Every now and then, we need to pause, reset, and remember that our ability to serve our organizations, families, and communities is directly connected to our own health and well-being.
The Zap of Self-Neglect
There is part of me that is reluctant to explore this zap because it stings and it is scary. Leaders are not immortal, yet we often run like we are. We go hard and fast, giving ourselves fully to our roles. The longevity of this type of leadership edges into self-neglect, sometimes physically, sometimes emotionally, and sometimes socially. We stack the deck with "I'll get to those things later," meanwhile the hands of time keep moving, while our dinosaur brains continue stomping forward as though there will always be more of it.
Thinking about personal health is part of sustainable, lasting leadership. Time does not wait for us, so deciding how we are going to spend our time matters. The zap of time pressure is a zing for leaders. We spend a lot of time in leadership mentorship talking about what comes first and how to strategically prioritize.
Leaders learn how to carefully schedule, manage day-to-day to-do lists, and answer the knocks of "Do you have a minute?" Health awakenings come in surprising and often dramatic ways when we slip into the presumption that time is on our side. The sneak of age is real and moves at an exponential speed when you lose sight of yourself on the list of people to lead and care for.
While there are many other energy zappers worth discussing, and I certainly do not want to dismiss their importance, I would suggest that, in leadership, many are extensions of communication and time. Leadership is not about eliminating every pull on our attention. Leadership is about adaptability and respecting the needs of others by modelling an ethos of calm.
In human systems, humans struggle. The struggle is real, and it can hurt when our resilience becomes compromised by the demands, distractions, and expectations that surround us. Our awareness of how we communicate, and how we welcome the communication of others, matters. Our awareness of our time, and the demands we place on the time of others, matters.
Energy zappers will always exist. The challenge is not eliminating them, but recognizing them before they begin influencing how we lead. The danger of becoming stuck in the "doing" of our jobs, alongside the tyranny of the urgent, can sidetrack us from the creative art of leadership and the vision of systematic improvement for the humans we serve.
Awareness may be one of the most important leadership tools we have. Knowing when to pause, when to respond, when to let something breathe, and when to say, "No, not right now," may be what protects both our energy and the energy of those we are privileged to lead.
Author's Note: Once again, in the spirit of author integrity, I note that my Copilot AI thought partner assisted with soft-touch editing and grammatical revisions in support of publication. The ideas and reflections shared in this spin are my own and represent my original thinking.