I can hear it now. Some of you are thinking “you shouldn’t work when you’re on vacation” or the harsher “what kind of person would work when they’re away?”
Many people have said these exact words to me and have tried to get me to cast everything aside and just “vacate.”
It sounds great but you know what, it’s not exactly my style.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love my vacations and just as soon as Covid is in our rearview mirror, I plan to book a trip to some wonderful destination. So yes, while I certainly appreciate a good trip, I also know that I have responsibilities that cannot be ignored for very long.
Before we go onto that, let me assure you that I have a fabulous team in my agency, and I trust them totally. They’re highly skilled and dedicated employees and I couldn’t do it without them.
But still, there are these reasons:
There are certain situations that need my attention and where my input is invaluable
Clients that have a serious problem that require my attention and aren’t “needy” simply because they’re not respectful of my time away
“Keeping up” with what’s going on rather than returning to 100’s if not 1000’s of emails
So, how do I do it without ruining my vacation? Actually, it’s not all that difficult.
· I set aside a specific time during the day to clean out my email. It might be early in the morning before anyone else is up or during that slow time before dinner. In other words, I don’t impact my fellow vacationers, nor quite honestly, do I mess up my day at all.
· I focus on those items that are important and cannot wait. There aren’t many but when they occur, they need attention.
· I check in with my staff to make certain that everything is running smoothly and to answer any of their questions. I know they’ll be very certain to keep the call or email brief and to the point.
This is what works for me and I can completely understand if people turn off their devices and make themselves unreachable to the office when they are on vacation. I just know that it wouldn’t work for me.