Constantly thinking about work may hurt rather than help one's performance as a leader, three academics wrote in the Harvard Business Review, based on a study they conducted. In fact, leaders who detach from work in the evenings often feel more recharged the next day.

“We found that not taking a break from work in the evening backfired for leaders, especially for those new to managerial roles, because it drained their mental resources,” wrote Remy E. Jennings of the College of Business at Florida State University, Allison S. Gabriel of Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business at Purdue University, and Klodiana Lanaj of the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida. “Instead, leadership effectiveness was highest on days in which leaders mentally turned off from work the night before and were able to recharge.”

Their research, published in Applied Psychology, noted that it was “not uncommon for managers to continue thinking about their job.” But that “constant rumination leads managers to be more depleted and less able to show up as leaders—something even their employees can pick up on.”

Conducting a 10-day daily diary study with 73 leaders and a matched follower (i.e., an employee who directly reports to the leader), they found that when leaders detached from their work in the evenings, they felt more recharged the next day, but on days when they ruminated about work in the evening, they felt more drained the next morning, hindering their ability to identify as a leader. They also found that the negative effects of ruminating after work were particularly pronounced for leaders who were newer in their positions.

Their findings helped them to develop a few practical recommendations for leaders.

The first was to find ways to detach after work. Their results “legitimize disconnecting from work and taking time to recover rather than continuing to think about work until late into the evening,” they wrote. “Whether it is mastering a new hobby, exercising, spending time with loved ones, or simply reading a book to relax, leaders may be wise to find activities that they enjoy in the evening to turn their thoughts away from work.”

The second recommendation was to establish boundaries between work and home. Noting that leaders set the tone, they wrote that delineating the hours of availability to one’s employees may be helpful in ensuring adequate time each day to recover after work. Creating guidelines about when work-related interruptions are allowed during non-work hours, they suggested, may be helpful for both supervisors and employees.

The study refuted the notion that disconnecting in the evenings will hurt their performance, as “inexperienced leaders are rated as more effective by their followers when they refrain from ruminating about work in the evenings because they are more recharged and connected to their leader role the next day.”

The third recommendation was to use recovery time to combat depletion and enhance one's identity as a leader. “Leaders should be cognizant of how they spend their non-work time because people need energy to connect with their work roles each day,” they wrote. “Ultimately, leaders need to be intentional about managing their energy after hours. Barring emergencies, when at home, they need to disconnect from leadership responsibilities and recharge by engaging in family or leisure activities.”

“In sum, our work counters the notion that leaders need to stay connected to their work at all hours to perform well in the eyes of their employees,” they wrote. “Instead, we find that leaving work behind at the end of the day plays a key role in developing successful leaders.”