Leadership for a Smooth Transition Season
Any organization contends with overlapping requests for annual leave and ensuring enough coverage, but international organizations with a significant number of international staff often have to work around longer leaves, longer travel distances, awkward time differences, plus staff leaving the country and new ones coming in. This year, there are the added logistics of possible quarantines on either or both ends of the itinerary. How can you strike a balance between providing everyone’s earned leave while making sure none of your team’s important work falls through the cracks? And, if you’re taking leave, how do you disconnect, recharge and bring your best-self back to work. Communication and setting expectations are key on both counts.
The Handover
Work assignments made to temporarily fill a gap are different than regular work assignments because, rather than letting each person achieve outcomes in their own way, it is expected that the person temporarily filling the gap will return the work assignment to whomever normally does it without any major changes. With a temporary handover, more detailed instructions are necessary, and they may be more like instructions you leave a house-sitter than how you normally delegate or assign work in your team. This may include outlining a process step by step and a few “what to do if…” instructions. You will need to specify exactly what to do, when, how often, and who to contact if things go awry. Just as you would walk a house-sitter through your house, the person leaving will have to walk the temporary person through the work, provide details and allow ample time for questions. The process of introducing the temporary person to the work should take place a week to two weeks in advance. Depending on how crucial the work is to the team, you may allow some time for the temporary person to shadow the one who will be leaving. If one task or work area will be split between two or more people, all should do the “walk-through” together.
If you are the team leader and your team members are temporarily taking on each others work, it is important to make sure they go through the same process and that you understand how each handover is being handled. This will be especially important where staff temporarily take over from a person who is leaving and then pass the work to their replacement. You will need to ensure the new person understands how their work fits in with the team mission and vision and how to prioritize.
Disconnect
Once you’re on leave, make sure you are really disconnected. Even if you are not handing off work to a coworker, it is important to define for yourself if, when, and how you will check in so that you can take your time off to really disconnect. This may look different for different people depending on their job and their personality. Some people may not be able to relax without checking in periodically, while some relax better if they cut off all contact. Whether you are the traveler or the one staying behind, make sure there is agreement on if and when they will communicate and what “checking in” looks like. Maybe it’s a call once a week. Maybe whoever is filling in sends periodic updates. Or, it could mean checking email at the beginning and/or end of the day. Once there is a plan make sure the traveler and the person filling in stick to the plan. Encourage people on leave to turn off notifications or leave devices in their hotel rooms and really take the time to take their earned and needed time off. Make sure there is a shared definition of “emergency” and be sure to apply the definition in the moment.
Recharge
Depending on where you go, who goes with you, and who is waiting to see you during your leave, you may need to be intentional about setting aside time to recharge during your leave. If you are traveling with a partner, small children and pets, it could be stressful getting to and from wherever you are going. If you are flying a long distance to your destination and family and friends in dispersed locations all want a bit of your time, that adds stress too. None of the air travel, hotel stays, or car rental processes has gotten easier with the addition of pandemic precautions. With all of this going on, how will you ever be rested when you get back? Make sure that you have some unstructured time where you choose what to do. Bonus points if the activity is something you can’t normally do at home – whether it’s reading on a beach, hiking up a mountain, or even eating a diner breakfast, make sure you choose something that is what you want to do and choose who you want to do it with. Of course, you will also do things that the people traveling with you want to do, but save something for yourself. If there are too many demands on your time, let friends and family meet you where you are, or you can make plans to see some people next time. If you’ve already traveled around the world to be on the same continent, let people meet you part way if they can.
New Start
The end of a vacation has its own stresses. There are the returns for the cars and flights that you started with, plus extra luggage and a mound of dirty laundry when you get home. You’ll have to deal with a dusty house, getting groceries, and getting ready to get back to work. If there is any way you can leave a day to get settled before you go back to work, that would be great. Arriving the day before the end of your vacation will allow you to address one day of jetlag while puttering around and getting your personal space back in order. It will also allow you proactively plan your first day back with the team instead of reacting to whichever news hits you first. You can use the day to catch up on the emails you didn’t read while you were away, so you aren’t playing catchup. You can request meetings with whoever you want to meet first and address the reverse handover the way you want to do it. It will also give you time to carefully plan the onboarding of any new staff.
If you have been away for a month or the whole summer, this is a good time to think ahead to the year between now and the next long break. Being away will give you a new perspective. Ask yourself: What would you like to do differently? What would you like to celebrate? Do you want to refocus your time/energy on higher priority tasks? What do you need to do to make the changes you think of? You may want to wait a week or so before springing the new ideas on the team – at least until your tasks are back with you and most people are back from their annual leaves. But starting a fresh while the team is feeling fresh is like a new beginning.
With a good handover process and a real disconnect from work, you can recharge and give yourself and your team a new start when you get back. Bon voyage.
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