Over the years, I've returned to writer and artist Austin Kleon’s wisdom more times than I can count. His ability to distill creativity into actionable steps has been an inspiration, a compass, and sometimes even a roadmap. The piece below, "Rest like an Artist” is directly inspired by Kleon’s “Read like an Artist” and “Steal like an Artist”. The bottom line: how can we rest like creatives? Here is my take: 

Each organization will receive a $30k grant for their leader to take a 3-month consecutive sabbatical to invest in the organization’s talent that will support the team in the leader’s absence. This grant honors these executives’ significant and longstanding contribution and leadership. The award also looks to provide much-deserved time for leaders to rest and recover. Summatively, our research shows that sabbaticals are a powerful intervention that positively impacts leaders, organizations, and ultimately, the sector.  R&R’s research can be found here.

BREAKWEEK is an organizational-wide closure where staff take time-off at the same time, providing everyone on the team with a synchronized vacation. As a result of our pilot BREAKWEEK Grant Program, we’ve created a public Implementation & Resource Guide to give guidance on how to think about, prepare for and implement a BREAKWEEK at your organization.

Nonprofit organizations are increasingly facing capacity and sustainability challenges due to widespread leadership and staff turnover, which is, in part, driven by burnout. In both the for profit and nonprofit sectors, sabbaticals (extended periods of leave provided to employees for rest, rejuvenation, and personal development) have been increasingly recognized as a best practice that promotes individual, organizational, and sector-wide flourishing.