Shared Responsibility Doesn’t Take a Vacation

Nothing shows more respect for your customers – both internal and external – than quickly re-engaging with them and your work after a vacation.

As employees (and hopefully you) return from summer vacations, just a few simple steps before and after the R&R will keep your workplace spectator-free. And you'll be able to maintain shared responsibility during any team absence.

Here are four tips for maintaining continuity:

• Reset. The first thing to do when you get to the office and fire-up your computer is to reset your email and voicemail “out-of-office” prompts.

• Re-connect. Before you head out, if possible, schedule a touch-base call or face-to-face meeting with your manager or, if you lead a team, with your direct reports. Just 15 minutes is enough to reconnect about:
  
  • Decisions that have been made while they were gone
    
  • Issues or problems that arose during their absence
    
  • Questions that came up requiring attention
    

Tip: A best practice is to put this meeting on the calendar before you or a member of your team takes off.

• Re-engage. Chances are you missed at least a handful of meetings while you were out. Find out what you missed and track down the meeting notes and minutes. This includes any customer meetings, Town Hall meetings or other mission-critical event.
  

• Re-establish. Follow up with key team members and customers and re-establish that you’re back, refreshed, and ready to get going. When talking with customers, ask about highlights and low-lights while you were out – what went well and what didn’t? Get clear on what key actions need to get done.