Last week I wrote about my two-week vacation in Tuscany. What I didn’t mention was that a few days after returning, I left for a 10-day trip to Florida to attend two conferences.
My challenge was reengaging at work without causing frustration for me and my coworkers after almost a month’s absence.
If you work in an office or as part of a team, I’m guessing you have probably experienced this to some degree. You go on vacation and a lot of stuff happens while you’re gone. When you get back, you are either in the dark or feel out of touch and frustrated. And it is probably frustrating for your coworkers, too.
So I thought I would share what I did to make my reentry smoother:
- I returned to work on a Monday. So the Friday morning before, I sent an email to all my direct reports and asked them to email me by the end of the day a topline recap of what happened while I was gone. I wasn’t looking for a play-by-play, but rather enough information such that when I went into a meeting, I would feel caught up. I read the emails over the weekend.
- Sunday evening, I went through my emails (more than 600 of them), sorted by sender, then deleted all newsletters because many newsletters cover the same things from week to week. I deleted at least 50 percent of the rest because they were part of threads or I was copied on them. I’m still not caught up, but I know what’s in there. I got those 600 emails down to about 150 that need some action on my part.
- I got two good nights of sleep over the weekend (7.5 to 8 hours a night). I find I feel so much better and am in a better mood when I have enough sleep.
- When I got into the office, I made a point of checking in with everyone with whom I work with directly. The investment in a quick 5- to 10-minute conversation, asking, “Anything I need to know about?” and “Anything you need my help with?” brought most issues to the surface.
Spending that much time away from the office (only monitoring my emails, but not being obsessive about them) really cleared my head. I got a lot of sleep while I was gone and I feel as if I emptied all the “trash” from my brain.
Even though it is sometimes hard to disengage and take off time because you have so much work to do, I feel much more productive now that I’m back at work.
Maybe it’s time for you to start planning your next vacation.
Karen
