The Case for Pausing This August
For many of us in the Northern hemisphere, August has a way of asking many of us to slow down, whether we plan for it or not. Diaries thin out, offices empty, and for a few weeks the pace of the year loosens its grip.
For leaders holding a team through change, giving yourself permission to pause can feel harder than giving it to anyone else. There's a pull to use the quieter weeks to catch up, get ahead, clear the backlog before September arrives with its usual momentum.
We'd invite something different. Rest isn't a break from good leadership. It's part of it.
Teams that pause well tend to come back with more capacity for curiosity, care and courage than teams that push straight through the summer. Pausing gives people room to notice what's working, what isn't, and what they'd genuinely like to change before the next stretch of work begins.
This doesn't have to mean weeks away. It can be as small as protecting one properly unplugged day, closing a meeting early, or asking your team directly what would help them rest well this month. The size of the pause matters less than whether it's real.
What the eclipse reminded us
On 12 August, many of us paused to watch the sky darken during the solar eclipse, a partial one here in the UK, total further north and south along its path. For a few minutes, everything ordinary stopped. People stood still together, looked up, and said very little.
It is a strange thing to be handed a natural deadline for stillness. But it worked. And it is a good reminder that an edge, the point where light meets dark, where one state gives way to another, is not just a limit. It is where something becomes visible that is not visible the rest of the time.
That is true of teams too. The pause is the edge. It is where you notice what the daily pace usually hides.
A question to consider
Before September: where could your team use a genuine pause, and what would it take to actually give it to them?
We would love to hear what comes up for you. It is also, incidentally, something we have been thinking about while working on a book together, on collaboration, pace and the conditions that let people do their best work. More on that in due course.
Come and pause with us
Our next Walking Partnerships day is on 8 October 2026 in East Sussex. It is a day for leaders who want to think, not in a meeting room and not on a call, but outside, moving, and talking honestly with people who understand what it means to lead through change. A small number of places are open. Send us a message to find out more or to book your place.
Collaboration Equation is the leadership framework built on Curiosity, Care and Courage, created by Anni Townend and Lucy Kidd. If you are thinking about how to help your team work better together, we would love to talk. Send us a message to start a conversation.
With Curiosity, Care and Courage, Lucy and Anni