Maybe you have checked this off your list: Got time for holidays? Maybe you have taken them already.

Or has work got all your time?

Take a break off from work before work breaks you!

Skipping your 2024 vacation because you have too much to do?

It’s now proven that stressed employees cannot produce as well as rested and relaxed employees. 

Going on holiday can be a critical management strategy for you as a  business leader, especially in today’s “always-on culture”. While it may seem counterintuitive that taking time away from the office can benefit a company, the reality is that strategic downtime can enhance leadership, creativity, and overall organizational success.

There is Power in Rest and Renewal

Firstly, a well-planned holiday offers much-needed respite from the relentless demands of leadership.

Just as athletes need rest to perform optimally, so do you. Constantly being in 'go mode' leads to diminishing returns, burnout, and decreased productivity. Taking time off allows you to recharge mentally and physically, returning to your role(s) with renewed energy and focus. This refreshed state enables you to have more effective decision-making and problem-solving capabilities.

A Break Enhances Creativity and Strategic Thinking

Breaks from routine and the stress of daily operations are also pivotal for fostering creativity. Away from the rigors and distractions of the office, you can gain fresh perspectives on existing problems. The change in environment often stimulates new thoughts and ideas, which can translate into innovative solutions and strategies upon returning. Many great business ideas and strategic pivots have been credited to insights gained while leaders were on vacation, away from the fray of daily operations.

As a Leader, Encouraging Holidays is Empowering Your Team

Vacation time isn't just beneficial for the individual; it empowers the team back home. When leaders are away, it provides an opportunity for other team members to step up, take on more responsibility, and cultivate their own leadership skills. This helps in building a resilient and self-sufficient team that can manage crises and operate efficiently even in the absence of the key leader.

The Practicalities

To ensure a smooth process, as a business leader you should plan your holidays meticulously. Selecting a period where business activities are predictably slow can help minimize disruptions. Here in Europe, the months of July and August and between December 15th and January 10th are often such times.  Communicating plans well in advance ensures that the team is prepared. Setting up clear contingency measures and delegating key responsibilities can also help in maintaining business continuity.

Setting an Example: Take you holidays now!

You can model this to your team, and they can model this to their “people”, too.

By taking regular vacations, leaders set a healthy example for their employees, promoting a culture that values work-life balance. This can enhance overall job satisfaction and contribute to lower turnover rates for the whole company.

In essence, holidays aren't just a luxury for business leaders but a strategic tool for maintaining optimal performance, fostering innovation, and cultivating a strong, independent team. So, don’t hesitate to pack your bags; your business will thank you for it!

Finally, make sure you shut down when you are away.

The temptation is very high to keep on working, even if you have holidays during your holidays.

Many of us, whether pressured from our boss or not, are tempted to skip our summer holidays, or, at least, check our work emails frequently while at the beach or in the hotel. 

Some bosses expect this, and many do it just to help for the “return”; after all, nobody wants 1,000 emails to go back to work to. 

But psychologists have found it vital for our health and well-being for us to completely shut down for a while, even if it’s for just a 48-hour break from emails and the phone, and a change of pace and scenery. 

August is upon us and September is just around the corner.  Have you already planned your vacation(s)?  Taken it already over the Easter weekend and don’t plan anything else?

Decided to skip it this summer and maybe take a short break in the fall, maybe? 

What about your “people”? Do you have a holiday roster for your team?

You and your employees’ physical and mental health depends on R&R; be like the French where their holiday policy where FIVE weeks is a minimum.

Studies have shown that we need to take time away from the daily schedule of work for our continued health, whatever that place and activity and might be. 

It is the “other”, the time doing something completely different that causes restoration and growth.  For example, new places make new mental neuron synapses grow and this is a very good thing for creativity and memory. This also allows our brain to rest the overused “pathways” of much used tracks of thinking in our brains.

Not only that, but stress levels are reduced when you go away and really shut down

Just do it!

Take a break – for yourself, for your team, for your employees because productivity increases with a break in our work.  Employers should be sending their team members away more often just for better productivity — and for better creativity, too.  Employees return to work relaxed and healthier after a vacation, they are then ready for to overcome more challenges in creative ways.

You need to relax, or you might find it difficult to do so later on, I promise.

This is what has happened to a friend.  I

t has been shown that, depending on your actual stress level at any point in time, it will take more or less time to unwind and really relax.  If you go on working for too long, especially with high levels of stress at work, it becomes increasingly difficult to wind down.  Eventually, you will be unable to “remember how to relax”, and then may be in danger of burnout. 

Therefore, even long weekends with no emails and telephone on “off” are recommended to keep you “in practice” for relaxing. 

Also, for bosses, burnout and stressed employees actually cost the company a lot of money in lost working days (read “sick leave”) and in lowered productivity. 

Thus, holiday time is one of the keys to a productive and positive work environment.

AND you values are at risk, to – friends and family are key for my values – and they are a key to longevity

Remember, your family matters, and spending extended time with family builds relationships

Finally, it is important to remember working should be less important than your relationship with your loved ones, which is part of your big “why”, I hope (it is mine). 

Take the time off to build your relationships with them, doing things you all feel are enjoyable and relaxing.  For me recently, it has been on holidays visiting old friends and at a favorite “happy place”; for another it would be another place and/or pastime. 

But it is the time spent together doing things you enjoy in the end that matters because this is what builds and maintains relationships.

Just do it. 

Take that vacation, even if it’s a mini-vacation! 2-3 days is at least something!

So, take that time off; and limit the amount of time on work-related activities such as emails; do things with those people you love; and mostly, have some fun before the end of this summer! 

Remember to shut down for at least 48 hours, but why not more? 

Take a break and be healthier for it.  There is only one Summer of 2024, after all, so enjoy it!

Patricia Jehle patricia@jehle-coaching.com