Fierce Tip of the Week: Develop Your Team While Away on Vacation

You can develop your team when you are away on vacation. That sounds like a dream, right? A magic pill that you would most definitely purchase if it existed, yeah?

Well luckily, you don’t need a pill. It boils down to the conversations.

As a leader, you need to take time off and recharge. This is necessary for your wellbeing as well as your team’s. A past Fierce Study revealed that more than 58 percent of respondents indicated that they received no stress relief from vacations. The goal of vacation is to enjoy and feel refreshed when you return. And your ability to relax and decompress is dependent on you, not the vacation itself.

Surprising or not – there are currently responsibilities on your plate that your team members want to own. This should make you jump for joy When your team members develop, your team develops, and you do as well. Vacation is a great time to give high performers on your team more responsibility.

When I was preparing for my vacation in France this month, I met with each of my team leads to:

Clarify what must get accomplished in that timeframe.Ask questions around the support needed. Make a plan if it is not clear for the individual.Give clear direction for levels of decision-making. We use our Decision Tree model to share whether it is root, trunk, or leaf level. Be clear on who can provide support or approval if they do not have a high decision-making level.

This structure helped everyone feel more grounded before my departure, including me. Given that, this week’s tip is to create a plan to develop your team when you are away on vacation, even if it is for a long weekend. Set up clear expectations, so that you feel comfortable when you disconnect, and you are truly able to disconnect.

Then take a deep breath and play when you are away. You must have trust in your team. And if you do not, that is something you need to explore more deeply.

If you take the steps to properly prepare for vacation, your team will be developing, and you will come back refreshed and renewed. That’s a win-win.

I shared my simple structure above. What else have you seen work for preparing everyone for vacation time, as the leader or a team member?

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