Organizational Sleep Cycles

There’s nothing like that refreshed feeling after a great night’s sleep. The first time I connected sleep to my work in improving organizational effectiveness was an employee sensing session in the early 2000’s. We asked employees an open-ended question about health & wellness across our locations, job levels and business units. They mentioned sleep and relaxation so frequently that it became a lead story in our out brief of the findings.

I recently read The Power of the Downstate (2022) by Sara Mednick and Why We Sleep (2018) by Matthew Walker. Truthfully, it stressed me out a little because my sleep and rest habits aren’t ideal. Both books were inspiring and provided sound supporting data that raised the overall priority I put on rest and sleep. The specific tips provided were also very helpful. 

“Downstates rejuvenate your body and mind at a cellular level, giving your heart, brain, and metabolism a rest; repairing over-trained or inflamed tissue; and processing your memories, emotions, and creative decisions.” – Sara Mednick, PhD – The Power of the Downstate

Sleep is not only a time for our bodies to heal up, but it’s also a time for our brains to tidy up. It sifts through our current happenings and allows parts of the brain that don’t talk during the day to share data as it searches for helpful patterns from old memories and chooses what new ones we keep.

“Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested?” - Matthew Walker, PhD; Why We Sleep

Last week, I read, "One Brain Region Teaches Another During Sleep, Converting New Data Into Enduring Memories" (UPenn 2022). It not only woke my sleep anxieties that night, but the article used the term "Regions" which, I guess reconnected sleep to organizations for me. The next morning, just as I was about to awake, I started thinking about a single piece of advice that one of my American University professors left with our class in our last meeting (1994). 

~ “Organizations live! They’re not mechanical! Let’s get the word out. Mechanical models of organizational structures/flows are overly simple and not very useful. Organic models are much more true to life.” - AU OD Professor (1994)

So, before I left my bed, I began to wonder:

• Since everything from bugs to humans sleep, do organizations also sleep?
• What’s the equivalent of a good night sleep for an organization?
• What’s a rough equivalent of REM, non-REM, deep sleep & awake time for an entire body of employees?
• Could different regions of the brain communicating be compared to different functions, business units or different levels of dispersed employees in a company communicating?
• Can sleep serve as a model to help us to understand a better way for organizations to rest/heal, reconnect, evolve and solidify the most useful long term shared memories (~culture) to help the overall body of employees to stay healthy, relevant and effective at creating what’s needed?

I grew up and thrived in large organizations that provided offsite gatherings, where we’d escape the daily grind (ex: no emails, messaging, calls). We connected with others across our business sharing meals and:

• What was/wasn’t working well
• How things might be better
• Where we’d change going forward
• What we'd do differently when we got back to work

It was a big investment in each employee, our processes/tools, our long term shared memory/vision and our sense that we were all so very connected. These gatherings included process improvement, strategy, planning, teambuilding, focus groups (sensing sessions), training or some combination. I grew to create and facilitate these types of gatherings and now miss them more than anything else from the workplace over the past couple of years.

As a general rule, we'd pause some daytime manners such as following established channels of communication and being overly proper. Egos were to be left at the door. Facilitators helped groups to keep focused on the product and the process rather than the people and the politics. We did look closely at data and 1st hand experiences to find natural connections and dream up solutions together, eventually updating our mental maps and plans.  

When it went well, employees of diverse functions, levels and experience walked away refreshed, bought into a new map and with new actions in hand for next steps. Then, for a while, this body of employees was on the same page (or a similar page) from head to toes, right hand to left hand.

• What if these offsite gatherings really were part of a deeper organizational sleep cycle?
• What’s been the +/- impact of a pandemic quarantine and either eliminating/reducing or virtualizing these organizational memory/vision building gatherings for years?
• Might teams and organizations be experiencing some of the consequences similar to sleep deprivation impacting: Memory, Mood, Concentration, Problem solving
• Can we look closely if/where some parts of the organization have remained healthy or gotten back into a healthy "sleep" cycle?

Please share your experiences and insights in the comments for this article, especially related to what’s working/not-working with your organization.

Specifically, how are you doing with sifting through new data/experiences, searching for helpful patterns and syncing up as an organization (or just your team)?

If you’d rather separate your name from your thoughts, please message me. I can add your comment anonymously. I'll make a list and check it twice so we know what and what not to ask for in 2023.

References:

• One Brain Region Teaches Another During Sleep, Converting New Data Into Enduring Memories (11/11/2022) UPenn - Anna Schapiro, Dhairyya Singh, Kenneth Norman
• Why We Sleep (2018) by Matthew Walker
• The Power of the Downstate (2022) by Sara Mednick
• Impacts of sleep deprivation include memory issues, mood changes, trouble with concentration, creativity, problem solving.