Hey friends, welcome to the Worthy to Lead podcast. I'm your host, Kristiana Corona, and I'm thrilled that you are here. So this week is going to be a short episode because I'm on vacation and I have promised my family that I will not spend the whole time doing podcasts, even though I totally could because it feels like fun, creative expression for me. But the point is to unplug. So that's what I'm going to do.
In today's episode, I'll be digging into why we find it hard to unplug from work as leaders and how that guilty habit of constantly checking in while we're out of the office is leading to burnout and setting unrealistic expectations for our team. I'll share five strategies that I use to approach vacation in a way that's more strategic and intentional and really helps to disconnect. Get ready to take some guilt -free time off, friends. Let's dive in.
So I am currently on vacation, spending time in the beautiful Northwoods of Minnesota. It's sunny, on and off with a little bit of rain, a light breeze, it's been in the seventies. It is just perfect here. Everything is really vibrant and green.
This is where I grew up and coming back here every summer feels totally refreshing and it fills my cup. Being surrounded by the forest, the lake, the fresh air, my friends and family reminds me to slow down and breathe deeply, really savoring the moment. In a world where I'm always running from kids activities to work, to get groceries, to go to appointments, I need moments like this to remind myself to just hit pause.
We all need moments like this to fully unplug and just breathe sometimes. So why is it so hard for us to take the time off when we know it feels so good once we do?
A new study of 2,000 people created by the communications and growth firm, Movchan Agency, finds that 47% of Americans are struggling to disconnect from work. And the majority are taking what we would call a guilt trip. So turning there would be vacation into a work vacation. Check out some of these stats.
- 54% of people work while on vacation.
- 59% of people struggle to switch off from work in their mind when they're on vacation.
- 63% of people feel anxious that if they don't check their work-related messages while they're on vacation, something will happen.
- 86% of people receive disruptive calls or messages from colleagues while they're on vacation. - 54% feel guilty if they work on vacation
- 47% feel guilty if they don't work on vacation
- And I find this last one to be especially startling: One in four admit that their boss demands them to work on vacation.
One in four people have leaders that tell them they need to work on a vacation. Like it just blows my mind.
But as leaders, we are the ones who are setting that tone for our team. And if we're never taking a vacation or worse yet, we're only taking work vacations where we remain fully plugged in. We are actively engaging in steering ourselves and our teams down a path of burnout. And that is why I really wanted to talk about this topic.
So while you may think it's not a big deal to respond to emails while you're out of the office,
think about the precedent that that is setting for everyone else. Are you accidentally becoming the boss whose team believes that they're expected to work while they're out? You are the one who creates the culture on your team, maybe even when you're not trying to. So consider what your current approach to taking vacation is telling your team.
I know this because I used to be a serial working vacation taker. I would have my laptop out and I was just checking for any fires and then I would schedule my vacation activities around important meetings that I didn't want to miss. My family would be sitting around waiting for me to do stuff that is fun while I would frantically be looking for a quiet spot to take a call where my kids would not interrupt me.
And that call would inevitably turn into two or three hours of work as I would get drawn back in responding to emails and all those things that I felt I should, you know, just quick take care of while I'm online. I would end up stressed, my family would be annoyed and super bored waiting for me, and all in all it was no fun for anyone. Multitasking, answering emails, Slack messages, and doing it while hiking or exploring waterfalls is just not compatible and it's also not necessary.
Admittedly, giving up this behavior is super hard and so easy to just justify why taking a call or responding to an email is more important than, you know, doing fun things or doing nothing. But when I started having employees on my team act the same way I did by staying plugged in through their vacations and never getting fully recharged, I realized I had to take a look in the mirror. It was time to make a change. This is not good for my team. So why was I doing it to myself?
Pivoting my mindset around leading by example when taking vacation has really been a game changer. I no longer feel guilty taking time off and I look forward to moments where I can give others the opportunity to step up in my absence. Using this time strategically and planning it with intention makes it more useful to everybody.
What do you think would happen if you invested in a strategy for healthy vacation taking? What do you think would change in your physical health, your mental health, your level of happiness if you truly unplugged? And what do you think would change for your team?
To dive deeper into this topic, I outlined five strategies that I use to help me make the most of those moments when I unplug from work. I hope these are helpful for you to start thinking about your unique approach as well.
So first, I set expectations. When I'm out, I'm out. I turn off all my emails, all of my notifications. I put out of offices on early and often on every channel, email, Slack, any other workspaces that I'm using. I make sure people have a heads up and I give them an update the week before, just again, a reminder, I'm going to be out if anyone needs me, let's get that worked out before I leave.
But I also have an andon cord for the team, which basically means pull this in case of emergency, pull this in case we need to stop something. They really need you to lean in, something has happened, that is obviously going to be there. But it's in a push versus a pull mentality. So they need to push it to me for me to engage. I'm not pulling it, I am not going in and just double checking and triple checking and trying to help from the sidelines here. My team will reach out to me if they need me. And so that's there.
The second strategy that I really love, and I'm going to use a phrase that one of my leaders taught me, is called paying yourself back. And I think this is so powerful because it's something that he uses in his executive role. And we know that there isn't going to always be a perfect balance to what we're doing in our work and our personal lives, right?
It's always going to be in a state of flux. It's always going to be changing. There are going to be times where we need to invest more time at work. We need to surge into that work. And it's worth it. It's going to create the outcome that we need. But what happens after that surge? Do you just go right back to working the way you were?
The philosophy here is pay yourself back. Create a habit or a rhythm around when you invest more time and you put in extra time, when are you going to pay yourself back? When are you going to take that time off? When are you going to rejuvenate and make that space for yourself. No one else is going to make that space for you, so you need to make it for yourself. And you know those moments where you've kind of overdone it, right? Like you just, you start to feel that, it's so heavy or I'm so exhausted or I'm starting to feel burned out.
You need to create those moments of paying yourself back and prioritize it because otherwise you're creating a deficit. And if that deficit gets too big, it's really difficult to fill it back in. So kind of think about it as a rhythm. You surge in and then you pay yourself back with time off or leaning out.
The third strategy that I think about a lot is role modeling the kind of behavior that you want your team to emulate. If you are constantly staying tethered to the computer and the phone, checking your email, you're setting an expectation for your team that they need to do the same thing when they're out of the office. So whether you intend to or not, you are fostering a culture of burnout and it's going to make your team miserable.
You may think that you are doing what the company expects you to do as a leader, but actually the long-term impact can be toxic. Nobody wants to work in an environment where they can never get a break. And what you're telling them about being a leader is that they shouldn't expect to get breaks because you're not taking them. Is that what you want them to think leadership is like?
Do you think that that will motivate them to step up someday and take a leadership job themselves? I would argue this is a really big reason why people don't actually seek management or leadership roles or they say, no way, that's not for me, is because they see leaders grinding themselves into the ground, not taking vacation, and they just opt out. They're like, I don't see anyone doing it a better way. So that's not for me. That's not what I want.
What if you could provide a different example for them? What if you could show them that leadership is challenging, but it's also rewarding? And that there's a formula for success where you can define the rules for how you use your time outside of the office and you are empowered to make that happen. And while you may or may not have a boss that is supportive of that approach, oftentimes, we have more leeway here than we actually think we do. So what could you experiment with that can move you in that direction for your next vacation?
Okay, number four, use being out of the office as an opportunity to coach and empower your team. You'll need to delegate responsibilities to a second in command. So who can you empower to back you up? And what will they need to be successful? Who could you delegate to that can take the lead and represent you in important meetings? And what would you want to prepare with that person ahead of time so that they can go into that meeting with confidence.
I think that role modeling good vacation behavior also helps your team know how to set themselves up with their partners and colleagues. And when we do it ourselves and then we help them to set boundaries, we are letting others know how they should treat us. And so if you teach your team to set good boundaries for themselves, it really sets up this more virtuous cycle. They can clearly articulate expectations for when they're out of the office and it allows their partners to plan ahead better and collaborate on different ways to get the work done in the time that they have available. So it's really a win -win. It sometimes can feel challenging for people to really stand up for themselves in that way and say, this is what I will and won't do when I'm on vacation.
But the more that they can do that and the more you role model it and the more you can help reinforce that behavior, over time you are empowering them to create a thriving work environment, to create a work environment that allows them to unplug when they need to unplug and be more effective. And it spurs more creativity. And it just ensures you are not constantly operating from this burnout state.
All right, number five, do a retro on what went well and where you need to adjust for next time. So let's say you had a big fire while you were out, and instead of just telling yourself, well, you know what, I better not ever take a vacation again because there was a fire. Analyze what went wrong and what might you want to do differently next time.
So maybe there was someone who couldn't handle a problem effectively. Who else could you pair them with? Who might be a more senior person that could come in and step up alongside them so they're not alone? Let's say something important didn't get done. What might you change about how you delegated that to set more clear expectations? Or how can you navigate if something is standing in the way before you leave so that there's a commitment and an accountability that the thing will get done?
Just look for opportunities there where you can continue to dial back and forth when you think about what goes well, what doesn't go well. It's not an all or nothing thing. It's a gradual process where you're going to learn and you're going to make mistakes and something bad will happen. But that's okay because that's going to happen anyway. Whether you're there, whether you're not there, those things will need to happen. And so you have to work that muscle. You have to help your team work that muscle.
And so this is just a good idea around reflection to make sure that you're thinking about what could I change, but also celebrating the things that went well. So when you were out on vacation, you're looking for data points about, you know, what should I do again that works really well? What, who stepped up? How did they get these wins when I wasn't here? Think about those things as well. It's really important to celebrate that. That will all help reinforce the behavior and help make sure that you continue to do it.
So ultimately this takes planning and time with these five strategies and it doesn't happen by accident, right? But the more that we focus on using our vacations well to empower our teams to step up and show leadership when we're gone, the more we can let go of the guilt, the stress and the anxiety of being away.
And when we're finally able to fully unplug, we'll be reminded of how grateful we are to have these rejuvenating moments. And when we're finally able to learn to fully unplug, we'll be reminded of how grateful we are to have these rejuvenating moments. And for the smart team that we have that is capable to take on the challenges in our absence.
All right, thank you for joining us for this shorty episode. I hope you found this helpful. For everyone out there who is taking vacation this summer, who is taking vacation later in the year, please try some of these different strategies. See how you can start to evolve your mindset around taking vacation and really turning it into this empowering and useful and strategic exercise where you are creating leadership and empowering leadership in your team while you are on vacation. So it's not about your absence, it's about empowering your team to step up.
For this episode and all of the show notes, go to worthytoleadpodcast.com/5. And if you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so that you can get all the new episodes as I release them. You can subscribe at worthytoleadpodcast.com/subscribe. I would appreciate it if you could rate and review these episodes and definitely share with your friends and any other leaders in your life that need to hear this.
With that, I wish you a wonderful day and best wishes on your journey to being the worthy leaders I know you are. Bye for now.
