Most small business owners seem to fall into one of two camps when it comes to taking a holiday. There are those who dismiss breaks as an absolute impossibility when you’re at the helm, and others who claim to take at least a month off every summer – and imply that you must be doing something wrong if you can’t do the same.
But while technology means it’s never been easier to keep tabs on your team from anywhere in the world, many of us struggle to get the balance right between taking a break from the business and staying in touch with what’s happening while we’re away.
“Two weeks is a long time in today’s world so your business can’t just slow down while you take a holiday,” says Jason Downes, managing director of Powwownow. “My team know I’m contactable on holiday for critical issues and I make sure customers, suppliers, agencies and all the relevant people are aware that I’m going away. Adequate planning means I go away on holiday with peace of mind.”
Downes doesn’t object to taking a quick call from the office whilst on holiday but resists the urge to solve every problem himself. To ensure he switches off, he hides office devices between designated check-in times. “Your team can rightly feel quite insulted if you behave as if you’re the only person in the business who can do certain things,” he says. “When I’m away the most important thing is my family, and it’s important they know they are my priority.”
Preparing your team for your absence instead of focusing on staying connected during your holiday is critical. According to Craig Hall, operations director at Glass Digital: “Many businesses have an ‘ASAP’ culture that puts artificial deadlines on every project – think about what could be delayed without causing any real issues, then brief co-workers so they can pick up the slack while you’re gone.”
Hall also recommends project management tools such as Basecamp to make it easier for colleagues to ensure nothing’s missed while you’re away – and keep documentation up to date so your return to work is less stressful.
If the thought of taking two weeks off fills you with dread, try taking regular, shorter breaks, advises Edward Relf, CEO of Laundrapp, who says he can’t remember the last time he took a fortnight off. “A break of three to four days off is much more realistic for anyone running a fast-growing small business.”
Relf also recommends examining the stability of your business if you can’t go away without worrying about the impact of your absence. “The belief that you can’t take holidays when you’re at the helm is potentially harmful to your business, because with the right team and management structure you should be able to switch off for a week without worrying about the business.”
Martin J Norbury, author of I Don’t Work Fridays, says regular breaks are vital to ensure you give your best to the business. He specialises in helping clients put the right structure in place to create an organisation that can sustain you not being there. Recently returned from a trip to Machu Picchu, he says: “If you have to be there all year round to solve problems then you don’t own a business, it owns you. If you can’t leave it, it isn’t a business. It’s a hobby.”
If you do plan to work while you’re away, protect yourself against cyber criminals who set up malicious open networks, where they can easily monitor your internet traffic, steal data, or infect your device with malware, says David Brock, managing director of Let Us Fix It.
Brock says: “Take care not to connect to any network that does not have any WPA/WPA2 password security, as this encryption can be the difference between your device staying safe and being compromised, and update your devices with the latest operating system, anti-virus and firewall protection available – this can be your last line of defence should an infection take place.”
Slack, the cloud-based collaboration tool, gives John Quinton-Barber of Social Communications the best of both worlds; time off from work without losing touch with his team. “It’s way less intrusive than an email or WhatsApp alert because I can log in at the end of every day and easily pick up the work stream,” he says. “But it also gives the assurance that the business is running well without me which is, ultimately, what I want it to do when I’m on leave.”
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