Define priorities!
Usually your time away from work provides an opportunity to relax, refresh and renew. But all those great feelings can go out the window when you come back to the office. As one of my colleagues used to say, at that moment vacations seem more like ‘deferred work’. The million pending things waiting for you can set you immediately into stress mode.
Like anything in life, prevention is a better strategy than mitigation. One of the companies that I worked for had a great strategy. When somebody went on vacation for more than a few days (usually at least 2 weeks), another person was appointed to take over their responsibilities. Depending on the complexity of the role, this person would get a replacement as well or handle both positions. A handover was done before and after the vacation. This was a fantastic strategy. Not only because did it avoid a huge backlog accumulating during the incumbent’s absence, but it also allowed for the junior person to be tested on a higher level or different position. By taking over a role for a short period of time, both the worker and the company could evaluate if that role would be a good fit in the future, and the development plan that would have to be put in place.
You may be thinking, that sounds great, but that is not done in my company. Still the concept can work partially for you. Could you think of a couple of projects or activities that you can entrust to some of your direct reports? They could continue working them during your absence and report progress when you come back. You will still have many other things waiting for you, but the load will be less. And, they will be grateful for the development opportunity.
Now, what can you do when you return to attack the mountain of pending issues?
First, don’t treat all pending activities as if they had the same priority.
We all have the tendency to get to work immediately and know out every single pending item and email. Resist that temptation. Not all pending issues have the same level of priority. And let’s face it, there will be some things that you will decide to let go and not attend. They may be unimportant, irrelevant when you return, or simply you can wait for the other person to approach you again if they are really interested.
Don’t spend hours cleaning your inbox. Block 60 minutes in your calendar first thing on the day of your return and scan your overflowing inbox. You will be looking only for emails from your most important stakeholders: your boss, important clients, etc.
Second, don’t review emails in the order they came in.
It is very common to start from the bottom of the pile because you want to get back to the person that has been waiting the longest. This logic is well-intentioned, but it’s flawed. Some issues would probably have progressed and even resolved themselves during your absence. If you start attacking emails from the beginning, you are bound to start asking questions that were already answered at a later date. When you get to those emails you inevitably will have to write a “nevermind” email.
A strategy that I use is to look at the whole thread of emails on the subject. On most email platforms you can do that by right-clicking on the email and choosing “Find all emails with this subject”.
Third, block uninterrupted time in your calendar to address the top priority items.
After you have a good picture of the complete threads related to your top priority stakeholders, start working on those. Block uninterrupted time in your calendar to do so. I recommend not more than 60 minutes at a time.
You also need time to catch up with your team, your colleagues and your boss. Don’t make the mistake of chaining yourself to your desk to attack your to-do list. The information that you will get from human interactions, both formal and informal, will be extremely valuable.
Continue reserving blocks of time in your calendar to keep working on the first level of priority until you finish it. Then, repeat the procedure with the second level of priority, and the third, etc. And remember, you can decide to let go of some stuff and not attend it.
I hope you put these strategies to use next time you go on vacation. I would love to hear how they work for you.
