23 Jul Tips to Stay Productive During Vacation Season
It’s the height of summer.
The pool is calling. Vacation is coming up. But work just keeps getting in the way.
Do you forge ahead, avoiding vacation and risking burnout? Or do you tell work to call you in a week and disappear to enjoy a fruity drink next to some water? The answer is to do neither.
Instead, it’s critical to find a middle ground that allows you and your team to maintain productivity while getting a much-needed break.
Here are some tips to make it happen:
Avoid Common Pitfalls
When trying to get through the summer months, we see people fall into many of the same recurring pitfalls. Those include:
- Insufficient Delegation: If you’re planning on taking time off, you can’t simply grind through your workweek and disconnect on Friday. When teammates — and especially leaders — don’t pass off enough of their tasks before leaving, it can create bottlenecks, misunderstandings and worse.
- Last-Minute Cramming: You know weeks or even months ahead of when your vacation begins. So why rush to complete everything just before you leave? Preparing in advance — as far in advance as possible! — is a great way to ease the transition for both you and the rest of the team.
- Inadequate Training: When you’re not around, is there anyone who can complete your work or keep things moving? If not, that’s a major red flag. Before you even think of taking time off, it’s critical that someone on your team is prepared to handle your responsibilities
- Overcommitting: If you are the type who says yes to lots of things and/or likes to have lots of plates spinning at once, it is critical you take this into account weeks leading up to your vacation. If you find yourself saying yes to too many tasks in the weeks and days leading up to your absence, it’s likely that you’ll end up working through your vacation or worse setting up those who are covering for you to have those plates crashing down.
Be Strategic
You make strategic decisions in business all the time — so do the same for your vacation prep!
Here are just a few of the important strategies that will get you through time off:
- Early Delegation: Sending out your list of delegated tasks along with a “goodbye” on Friday afternoon will simply not cut it. To give your support system time to adjust, be sure to start delegating tasks well in advance, so that everyone knows what to expect and you’re around to answer questions.
- Team Training: Is there no one else qualified to complete that specific task you have to do? Train someone before you leave! Having no one else able to complete your job is a great way of finding yourself working from the beach.
- Clear Communication: It’s crucial that your team understands what you expect them to complete or work on while you’re away. And they shouldn’t just have a to-do list, they should know when they need to alert you about a problem or issue, and when you’ll be able to be reached.
Master the Art of Letting Go
Delegation, delegation, delegation.
If you go into a vacation or break with the attitude “If I don’t get this done, no one will,” you’re already behind the curve. Make delegation a habit and start early, rather than a last-minute effort to check off a box in the to-do list.
And delegation isn’t just a one-time thing. This serves as an opportunity to empower members of your team. Do you have a high-potential worker who is hungry for new growth? Give them a chance to pick up one of your tasks. Has one of your people grown bored and stagnant? Let them help out in a new area. Now, you’ve turned vacation prep into actual growth.
While you’re gone, do your best to minimize your management from afar. Avoid the urge to constantly check your email and intervene. That kind of micromanagement can damage trust.
Weeks in advance, start identifying and prioritizing the critical tasks that you’ll need to be covered, which will help you avoid stress as you get closer to the trip. The things that will make or break projects should be your priority, while housekeeping items that can wait for later might be able to hold until you’re back.
Finally, schedule a meeting (or a series of meetings, depending on your responsibilities and direct reports) with necessary individuals to be sure that your backups understand your tasks, approval processes, client interactions, language or anything else that you think might be irreplaceable without you. You’d rather answer questions before you leave than while you’re sitting on the beach.
Now go enjoy your vacation!