“Turn Off, Tune Out, and Drop In”

By Barry Stern, Ph.D. 

I made a minor tweak to my 14 year old son Jake’s routine the other night. Picking up on the pressure he was feeling to stay “connected” I suggested he go old school and take a “Facebook Vacation”. Miraculously to me, he took me up on it. Instead of keeping up with the teenage cyber-chatting Jones’, he went dark for a night of solitude. Miraculously to him, he enjoyed the peace of his respite and being alone to explore his thoughts and activities he loves.

When I was Jake’s age, counterculture hero Timothy Leary implored teenage souls to Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out. While many misunderstood this catchphrase as endorsement of psychedelic experiences, his message in fact was far more serious, difficult, and still relevant. In reality, he was imploring us to begin a voyage of “personal development” towards self-discovery and reliance. Leary also anticipated Jake’s experience through his notion of the technology enabled “cybersociety” which would vastly change the way we communicate.

Just a few days ago, a wonderful client asked us to help her organization boil their Talent Management “word soup”. I began to reflect on our struggle to nurture and prod associates transformed into prisoners of corporate cybersociety gone wild. Our symptomology is vast – apologetic “out of office” messages, 24/7 availability, “global” mandates hopelessly disconnected from local cultural realities issued through finger flicks on enter keys, cowardly e or v-mails in lieu of more difficult but resolution-oriented face-to-face engaged conversations - the painful list is endless.

Amidst this swirl of connectivity, consistency of message trumps reaching out and cybertouching associates. Now is the time for simplicity, for back to basics, for true commitment to quality of life. Perhaps time to make it fashionable to Turn Off, Tune Out, and Drop In to accelerate associates’ personal journeys of development and connectedness to the vital few corporate actions that really matter.

So ask yourself:
•    How truly committed are you and your company to quality of life?
•    How clearly and consistently are you communicating the 3 or 4 key “how’s” of your unique culture?
•    How clearly does leadership across the enterprise at all levels reinforce those simple messages?

The rest is just word soup.

Barry Stern is vice president, Consulting Services and Delivery for Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Comments

[Dennis Kelley]

Barry, I couldn't agree with you more. I see this with the businesses that I coach on a regular basis. There is a lot of discussion and agnst about the cultural demands and guilt associated with temporarily turning off the connection to the company. This is going to become more of a problem for corporate cultures that struggle to adjust to the new reality of a workforce that wants and demands the flexibility to connect - and disconnect - to obtain the quality of life and sense of purpose they are looking for. As leaders, our job will be to figure out how to make this a reality while driving the results expected. It can be done very effectively with the right mindset and creative solutions.