Your Job: Love it AND Leave it!
This is a test! On your next vacation leave your cell phone, lap top computer, personal digital assistant, notebook, and your business behind.
Test Number 1:
Are you willing to take the risk in disconnecting and unplugging from your business life when you exit into the rare time and space called vacation?
Test Number 2:
Will your business survive during your absence?
If your motive for staying plugged into your work while on vacation is to stay on top of all the challenges while you are away, then it is hardly a vacation at all. A vacation by definition is a period of time for pleasure, rest and relaxation. This escape from the routine stresses and burdens of work occurs only a couple of times each year.
Whether or not you think you are indispensable to your business, I encourage you to take this test and love your job, but leave it behind for one or two weeks each year. Use this test to determine how well you are really managing your organization, department, or people.
Will things function without you? Will deadlines still be met? Will the numbers be achieved whether you are physically present or not? To alleviate your anxiety relative to these questions, take these precautions before you unplug… Ensure your goals are clearly understood, first for yourself and then by the people that work for you. Monitor and evaluate the actions, decisions, and interventions that make up your work week and determine the critical roles that you play. Consider what would/could have happened had you not been there to fulfill that role. Begin to identify the players in the organization that can fill those critical roles.
Now, begin to train, coach, and set the expectations of the people who work for you and around you to act as if you were on vacation. Build their confidence and yours relative to planning and executing the daily routines to keep the business running and to meet the key performance indicators.
It's amazing when you think about it. Managers at every level do get sick, travel for business, or leave their work for personal reasons; yet the business continues to run in their absence.
And when you realize you can trust your subordinates and fellow workers to sustain the business while you are away, you will have passed the third test of management… The ability to run your business through your people. When you can achieve this comfort and performance level in your organization your life at work can be a vacation all year long.
While on your vacation, don't forget to take this final test: HAVE FUN!
Management Tips: Unplugged Vacation
Disconnect
- Leave your work behind
- Don't take/make calls
- Only respond to emergencies (defined ahead of time)
Test Your Absence
- Evaluate current roles
- Identify critical decisions made
- Disappear for hours at a time
Set Future Expectations
- Train and groom others
- Model and coach key roles
- Establish checkpoints/controls
- Ensure clear roles/goals
Measure Your Vacation Success
- Expectations were met
- Fond memories established
- Desire to repeat the event
The business is still running.
This is a test! On your next vacation leave your cell phone, lap top computer, personal digital assistant, notebook, and your business behind.
Test Number 1:
Are you willing to take the risk in disconnecting and unplugging from your business life when you exit into the rare time and space called vacation?
Test Number 2:
Will your business survive during your absence?
If your motive for staying plugged into your work while on vacation is to stay on top of all the challenges while you are away, then it is hardly a vacation at all. A vacation by definition is a period of time for pleasure, rest and relaxation. This escape from the routine stresses and burdens of work occurs only a couple of times each year.
Whether or not you think you are indispensable to your business, I encourage you to take this test and love your job, but leave it behind for one or two weeks each year. Use this test to determine how well you are really managing your organization, department, or people.
Will things function without you? Will deadlines still be met? Will the numbers be achieved whether you are physically present or not? To alleviate your anxiety relative to these questions, take these precautions before you unplug… Ensure your goals are clearly understood, first for yourself and then by the people that work for you. Monitor and evaluate the actions, decisions, and interventions that make up your work week and determine the critical roles that you play. Consider what would/could have happened had you not been there to fulfill that role. Begin to identify the players in the organization that can fill those critical roles.
Now, begin to train, coach, and set the expectations of the people who work for you and around you to act as if you were on vacation. Build their confidence and yours relative to planning and executing the daily routines to keep the business running and to meet the key performance indicators.
It's amazing when you think about it. Managers at every level do get sick, travel for business, or leave their work for personal reasons; yet the business continues to run in their absence.
And when you realize you can trust your subordinates and fellow workers to sustain the business while you are away, you will have passed the third test of management… The ability to run your business through your people. When you can achieve this comfort and performance level in your organization your life at work can be a vacation all year long.
While on your vacation, don't forget to take this final test: HAVE FUN!
Management Tips: Unplugged Vacation
Disconnect
- Leave your work behind
- Don't take/make calls
- Only respond to emergencies (defined ahead of time)
Test Your Absence
- Evaluate current roles
- Identify critical decisions made
- Disappear for hours at a time
Set Future Expectations
- Train and groom others
- Model and coach key roles
- Establish checkpoints/controls
- Ensure clear roles/goals
Measure Your Vacation Success
- Expectations were met
- Fond memories established
- Desire to repeat the event
The business is still running.