“For leaders who spend most of their professional lives solving problems, sometimes the greatest form of restoration is entering an environment where there is nothing that needs to be solved.”
The Case
When I founded Kay Consulting Group, LLC, I made a personal decision that has become part of how I manage my leadership capacity:
When I complete an assignment, I intentionally take time to recover before moving into the next chapter.
This year, that commitment has taken me on three different journeys.
My first was Ethiopia.
My second was Las Vegas, traveling with a fellow Nursing Home Administrator.
And now, my third is a solo trip to Istanbul, Türkiye.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Reconnecting with deep roots, perspective, cultural stillness, and grounding beyond corporate operations.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Traveling and connecting with a fellow Nursing Home Administrator, sharing executive experiences and collective exhale.
Istanbul, Türkiye
A deliberate solo retreat. Stepping into complete stillness, reflective journaling, and deep restorative pause.
I am currently sitting in my hotel in Istanbul, intentionally slowing down.
Why This Matters to Healthcare Leadership
Healthcare executives operate in environments where the demands rarely stop.
Administrators and senior leaders are expected to manage staffing, regulatory compliance, quality, finances, census, employee concerns, resident and family expectations, organizational culture, survey readiness, operational crises and countless unexpected problems.
At the same time, many healthcare executives have responsibilities outside of work.
I am a mother, wife, student (DHA candidate), and business owner, in addition to being a healthcare executive and consultant.
Successfully managing these responsibilities requires more than productivity.
It requires capacity. And capacity has to be replenished.
Research strongly supports this leadership perspective. A JAMA Network Open study of physician leaders found that:
- Burnout was associated with lower independently assessed leadership effectiveness.
- Professional fulfillment and self-valuation were associated with stronger leadership behaviors.
The researchers concluded that leader well-being should be considered an essential component of leadership development, not simply an individual self-care issue. (JAMA Network Open)
My Leadership Recovery Practice
After completing a demanding assignment, I intentionally create space to disconnect.
During these periods, I prioritize:
The Four Intentional Permissions
✓ I allow myself to slow down.
✓ I allow my body to rest.
✓ I allow my mind to become quiet.
✓ And I give myself permission to temporarily step away from being responsible for everyone else.
The Importance of Psychological Detachment
One of the most important components of my recovery is psychological detachment from work.
It is not enough to physically leave the workplace while continuing to mentally manage the workplace.
Physical Relocation vs. Psychological Detachment
Sitting on a beach answering emails, obsessively refreshing census dashboards, worrying about night-shift coverage, answering staff messages, and ruminating over tomorrow's regulatory survey.
Intentionally disconnecting cognitive focus from daily operations. Creating sacred mental boundaries where the mind is freed from the burden of immediate crisis resolution.
Research confirms that psychological detachment from work during non-work time is associated with employee well-being and recovery. Studies involving healthcare professionals have demonstrated that psychological detachment actively weakens the relationship between heavy workload and fatigue and sleep problems. (PubMed)
For healthcare executives, this distinction is particularly critical:
“A vacation should not simply change your location. It should create an opportunity to change your state of mind.”
My Istanbul Case Study
This trip to Istanbul represents that principle in action.
I intentionally traveled alone.
Not because I do not value my family. Not because I do not value my responsibilities. But because I recognize that there are times when I need to reconnect with myself without simultaneously managing everyone else's needs.
Giving Myself Permission in Istanbul
In this season, I am giving myself permission to:
For leaders who spend most of their professional lives solving problems, sometimes the greatest form of restoration is entering an environment where there is nothing that needs to be solved.
What the Research Tells Us
This is not simply personal philosophy; it is empirical reality:
A comprehensive meta-analysis examining 32 studies and 256 effect sizes found that vacations have a substantial positive effect on employee well-being, pinpointing psychological detachment and physical activity as essential recovery experiences.
Research specifically examining healthcare leaders found that taking more vacation days was directly associated with lower burnout, whereas performing professional work during vacation was strongly associated with higher burnout.
The Pivotal Executive Question
“Are we actually taking vacations, or are we simply relocating our offices?”
Healthcare executives must think carefully about that distinction.
The Leadership Ripple Effect: Executive Wellness as an Organizational Strategy
There is another compelling reason executive recovery matters:
The condition of the leader directly influences the environment around the leader.
- Becomes reactive to operational friction
- Struggles with active listening under pressure
- Communicates with unintentional strain or sharpness
- Suffers diminished capacity to evaluate strategic complexity
- Maintains calm composure during facility crises
- Listens deeply with emotional intelligence and patience
- Communicates with clarity, empathy, and conviction
- Possesses the cognitive space to pause, evaluate, and respond strategically
Research involving more than 5,000 physicians across 11 healthcare organizations found powerful relationships between perceived leadership behavior and burnout, professional fulfillment, and intent to leave. Healthcare professionals who rated their supervisors' leadership behaviors favorably experienced substantially higher professional fulfillment, lower burnout, and dramatically lower intent to leave. (PubMed)
This is why executive wellness is not merely a personal lifestyle choice.
It is a cornerstone of organizational resilience and sustainability.
The KCG Leadership Principle
At Kay Consulting Group, we partner with healthcare organizations where leadership capacity matters most.
Our work requires leaders who can think strategically, navigate complex regulatory expectations, understand intricate operations, communicate effectively across interdisciplinary teams, and make difficult, courageous decisions.
But leadership capacity is not an unlimited reservoir.
What Healthcare Executives Must Avoid
✦ Don't wait until you are burned out to rest.
✦ Don't wait until your body forces you to stop.
✦ Don't wait until your relationships begin suffering.
✦ Don't wait until you no longer enjoy the work you once loved.
A Practical Executive Recovery Framework
For Nursing Home Administrators, Executive Directors, and senior clinical leaders, I recommend five intentional practices:
Schedule Recovery
Put time away on your calendar with the same non-negotiable commitment you would accord a board meeting or a state survey exit conference.
Create Psychological Distance
When appropriate, completely disconnect from emails, routine operational calls, and facility chat threads. Delegate operational authority and empower your leadership bench.
Restore the Body
Prioritize extended, restorative sleep. Hydrate, nourish your body with wholesome nutrition, move intentionally, and receive restorative body treatments.
Restore the Mind
Engage in prayer, meditation, deep reading, and peaceful reflection. Travel and immerse yourself in environments where silence replaces operational urgency.
Return Intentionally
Return to your organization not with an overflowing inbox panic, but with heightened clarity about what truly deserves your executive focus, and what does not.
To Every NHA, Executive Director, DON, CNO, COO, CEO, and Healthcare Leader
Please take care of yourself.
We spend our careers caring for residents, patients, employees, families, and organizations. But the leader also needs care.
You are not abandoning your organization by taking care of yourself.
You are protecting the person responsible for leading it.
My Personal Leadership Lesson
My three vacations this year have taught me something indispensable:
“Success is not only measured by how much you can accomplish. It is also measured by whether you can build a life in which you have the capacity to enjoy what you have accomplished.”
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Las Vegas, Nevada. Istanbul, Türkiye.
Three different experiences. One consistent purpose: Recovery.
I will return from Istanbul to my responsibilities as a mother, wife, student, entrepreneur, and healthcare leader. But I want to return differently:
KCG Leadership Takeaway
Strong organizations need strong leaders.
Strong leaders need recovery.
And recovery should not be treated as a luxury reserved for people who have already reached exhaustion.
“Make recovery part of your leadership strategy. Because sometimes the most productive thing a leader can do... is step away long enough to become fully present again.”
References
- Shanafelt, T. D., Makowski, M. S., Wang, H., et al. (2020). Association of Burnout, Professional Fulfillment, and Self-care Practices of Physician Leaders With Their Independently Rated Leadership Effectiveness. JAMA Network Open, 3(6), e207961. (JAMA Network)
- Grant, R. S., et al. (2025). I Need a Vacation: A Meta-Analysis of Vacation and Employee Well-Being. Journal of Applied Psychology. (PubMed)
- Vacation Days Taken, Work During Vacation, and Burnout Among US Physicians. JAMA Network Open / PubMed. (PubMed)
- Psychological Detachment from Work During Nonwork Time and Employee Well-Being. PubMed. (PubMed)
- Psychological Detachment from Work During Nonwork Time as a Moderator and Mediator of the Relationship of Workload with Fatigue and Sleep in Hospital Nurses. PubMed. (PubMed)