The Forced Sabbatical

Hello everyone, and welcome back to this month's episode of Building Value. I wanted to share with you something that I'm very excited about right now: sabbaticals. Now, most people are familiar with a sabbatical, or perhaps even the Sabbath, a forced time away from work, electronics, and so forth, a time to rest, to unplug. And what we've begun to implement here are two-week sabbaticals for all members of the Presilium team, a time where each team member is forced to unplug, no phone, no email, no anything, for two consecutive weeks.

You know what I received when I first introduced the concept? Blank stares and pushback. I heard, 'I can't.' 'I don't know.' 'I don't feel comfortable.' 'What if this happens? What if that happens?' Which is exactly why we implemented it. This isn't just to prepare for the inevitable, someone being unavailable due to life, illness, or a new opportunity, which will undoubtedly happen. This is to improve who we are as a firm and what we do on a daily basis. It enables us to reveal where we're weak, reveal our bottlenecks, find out where workflows run through just one person, and work to alleviate it. It allows us to rest and recharge, stepping back from the day-to-day busyness of our everyday roles, evaluating the business from a higher level, which often leads to those bigger, game-changing ideas. And lastly, it allows us to enjoy life. When work and life are blending well, our general output is so much better, which in our case translates into an even more wonderful client experience, the ultimate goal.

That's why this was a non-negotiable for me. It wasn't about me making sure that people didn't burn out, or making sure people actually took vacation, although those are two really great byproducts. It was about creating a win-win-win: a win for our firm, by forcing us to get better, to shore up our gaps, and shine a bright light on our bottlenecks and other areas of weakness as a firm and as a business; a win for our team members, providing two weeks to spend however they'd like, traveling, hanging out with friends and family, or simply doing nothing, but two weeks off without any responsibility to the day-to-day blur; and a win for our clients, as they remain on the receiving end of service from a well-rested, energized team ready to go the extra mile for them every day.

Now, from an implementation standpoint, with enough thoughtfulness, intentionality, and practice, this is actually a much smaller task to accomplish than one may realize. Is it likely that there will be a few bumps and bruises the first time or two this is implemented? Yes. But sitting down ahead of time to play out various scenarios and evaluate your day-to-day will be hugely helpful, to consider things like: what am I in charge of? What does someone stepping in for me need to know? And while I'm out, what is due to definitely happen? What may happen? And if X, Y, or Z does happen, what should then occur? By preparing ahead of time, everyone can feel very comfortable with anyone unplugging for two weeks. Thanks for joining me everyone. Until next month, keep building value.