I liked her as a supervisor; she was good to me. She rarely took vacations and if I’m honest, I dreaded whenever she finally took one, because she never really left. She called in almost every day she was on vacation to “check in” on how things were going. If you regularly call in, you aren’t on vacation, which means we didn’t get vacation from her either. Another problem with her going on vacation was when she returned and did some second guessing of decisions as well as an occasional, “why didn’t you call me?” I never wanted to call her and stressed about if something was important enough to call and wondered how she’d react if I didn’t call. I followed her example of not taking many vacations early in my career, but I didn’t call in.

Everyone worries something big will happen while you’re away, which can happen, but you can’t impact them. I had one of those surprises on a vacation where I appropriately never called in. On the morning I returned from vacation, during my walk from the parking lot and through the building to my basement office, people greeted me with surprise. Some said, “I didn’t know you were still here”. Others said, “good to see you, I thought you were replaced by that guy in your office.” As I walked down the steps and turned the corner and into my office area, I’ll admit being anxious. Then, there was a guy in my office, who saw me and said, “You must be Dale, I’m Don and thanks for letting me use your office.” It was the start of a friendship that is now over 40 years. I quickly learned he was hired to help us out on a temporary basis, help we needed. He was a great guy, helpful and a joy to work with. If someone on your team will be returning to find someone in their office, an advance phone call would be helpful.

Vacations are important, but for some of us, it’s hard to truly disconnect and be present with family. The 24/7 world of connectivity makes that even more challenging today. There is an urge to read and respond to emails, when your kids just want you. I can’t say that I always gave my family my best on vacation (I’m sorry), but I got better later in my career.

Here are some things I’ve learned about from vacations throughout my career that might be helpful to you as a leader.

1. Vacations are intended to be rest for you and for your team from you. Yes, it should be a break from you, so don’t call and check in all the time. My solution for my staff to help them was to call in on Wednesday of my vacation week. It was to be a quick “hello”, but if someone truly needed to talk to me, they knew to let my assistant know they wanted to talk. Occasionally there was someone that needed to let me know something or ask a question, but most of my calls were 60 seconds in length.
2. You’ve prepared your staff for a time when you’re not there. They should be able to get by without you for a week or two. Let them spread their wings and operate without you. Let them make decisions in your absence and support them upon your return. If you think they should have done differently, talk with them privately about where you think they’ve erred.
3. Don’t miss vacation time. There is always a crisis at work. Push your vacation off or cancel it and just when you’re ready, there will be another. There is no perfect time for vacation in an organization, so make sure you take yours. Twice I had my job eliminated. On the day I walked out the door, I certainly looked back and wondered why I had skipped or pushed vacation times with my family to accommodate a need, and I couldn’t even remember what it was for. Time is precious, re-charge your batteries.

If you look back on scripture, Jesus frequently rested before or after significant events. If he knew the value of time off, we should too.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Genesis 2:2

PS – Sorry that I didn’t post a blog last week, life got in the way.