Work / Life Balance

Every six months or so, I’d block time on the calendar for a meeting that didn’t look or feel like any other meeting we had. It was just an open conversation with the team about how we wanted to work together.

More specifically, we talked about work/life balance and setting our own boundaries. When were we okay with being contacted? What kinds of pings were fine after hours, and what felt like too much? You know - the things we normally don’t say out loud, but constantly try to guess. At first, this wasn’t an easy conversation for everyone. People didn’t want to reveal too much about how they felt without knowing the boundaries of others.

So, I’d start by sharing my own preferences: “You can message me anytime, just don’t expect a reply at 10 p.m. Even if you get a message from me late at night, it’s because I just remembered something and I’ll forget to send it later. Please do NOT respond until you are back to work.” I’m not sure if those were my exact words, but my team will remember I said something along those lines.

That usually opened the floodgates because people started naming their own boundaries. One person fiercely switched off from work on weekends but loved starting early on Monday to catch up. Another said texts were fine late at night, but emails piling up after hours made them spiral. Someone else just wanted their lunchtime respected - a sacred hour to not be “on.”

Slowly, the room would change, and people would relax. You could feel it. By talking about it out loud, we allowed each other to disconnect and ask for space. It didn’t solve everything, but it made things clearer. Vacations finally became proper vacations where each of us could fully disconnect for a change. Funny enough, I’d like to believe we got better at our jobs because no one was burning energy tiptoeing around each other anymore.

If you’re leading a team and things feel stretched, try having this kind of conversation. These discussions are just as important as strategy sessions. In fact, they’re one of the most powerful lessons we practice in leadership training and team development training: creating psychological safety by making the invisible visible.

We all work better when we stop guessing what’s okay or not, and start saying it. That’s why at Teamwork Unlocked, our leadership escape room training and escape room Singapore workshops are built around creating moments where teams don’t just talk about boundaries and communication - they live them under pressure. The result? Stronger collaboration, less guesswork, and more effective team building.

These are the kinds of insights we unlock in the world’s first B2B escape room training experience created as a leadership training Singapore and team development program.