When I go on a vacation I want to unplug and leave work at the office. The best way that I’ve found to ensure that happens is by taking a proactive approach. The longer that I plan to be out, the more in advance I take action. If I plan to be out for a week, I will start about a week in advance. I make a point to check in with anyone whose workflow I affect and all my team members who directly rely on me. I let them know when I will be out and I probe to see what they might need from me during that time. I may ask them to accelerate tasks so that my involvement can happen before I am out, or to postpone tasks that can wait until I return. Anything that absolutely must happen while I am out gets someone assigned to handle that task. If there are things that “might” come up, people are delegated to handle those issues as well. I make a point of closing the loop with anyone to whom I have delegated responsibility to ensure they understand any key strategies or issues that need to be kept in mind. This ensures that I will get the best possible work completed or decisions made by those I delegate to because they understand the key issues. While probing for anything that might come up from each person I take the opportunity to provide my feedback or insight on things that will be taking place in my absence. I will make the rounds again a day or so before leaving to address any last minute needs.
Some people might look at it that the people who need me have a responsibility to ask for my help before I leave, but I see it as another point of success in taking an active approach to leading a team or group. Following this approach has allowed me to take great vacations where I truly leave the work at the office and I return to things running smoothly.
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