Give yourself a roundtrip ticket

Before taking time away from work, plan how you'll go back in

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that if you are planning to step away
from your job for a while, such as for a
leave or even just for a longer vacation, make a

(00:25):
plan for how you will re enter. This will make
life feel more calm and productive for you and for
everyone you work with. Today's tip comes from Lorena Ye.
Lorena is a senior partner at Mackenzie and the co
author of the book The Broken Rung When the Career

(00:46):
Latter Fails for Women and how they can succeed in
spite of it. Lorena was recently a guest on my
other podcast, Best of Both Worlds. When I interviewed her
for Best of Both Worlds, Lorena offers what I think
is wise advice for people preparing for a parental or
other extended leave. She advised that they pack a round

(01:10):
trip ticket. I love that metaphor. Most of the time,
we don't buy a plane ticket to another city without
having a plan for how we're going to get home.
You should take the same care with planning for any
leave from your job. You probably make a plan for
how you'll transition out, so make sure you also make

(01:33):
a plan for how you will transition back in. Lorena
pointed out that people, I mean, at least the sort
of folks who listen to my podcasts, are often very
responsible about preparing for leaves. They make sure all their
projects will be covered effectively in their absence, and they
tell their colleagues everything they need to know to avoid

(01:56):
mishaps while they are out. This is wise. You don't
want stress or drama, and you don't want your colleagues
and clients to be in a bad place while you
are gone. But Lorena points out that people also need
to think through what their return trip will look like.
She says it's important to be intentional about your re

(02:16):
entry before your leave even begins. When you are preparing
to leave, you will brief key colleagues on the status
of your projects and the people involved in them. You
may even write up notes. So on your return, how
will you get up to speed on what happened in
your absence? Will anybody be writing notes for you? You

(02:38):
probably wrapped up major projects before you began your leave
and provided instructions about your other projects and priorities. How
will you identify the top priorities you need to focus
on as soon as you return. You communicated with your
colleagues and maybe clients or customers to let them know
about your leave. How will you reconnect with the people

(02:59):
you work with and resume your work together when you
get back. In addition to thinking through how you will
address the tasks associated with your return, also realize that
it just takes time to pick back up after an
extended leave, so be realistic and block time those first

(03:19):
couple of days or even weeks for re entry activities.
Planning for the return trip is essential for an extended leave,
but even for shorter vacations, it pays to pack a
round trip ticket for yourself. I suggest blocking as much
as possible of the first day back for meetings, except

(03:40):
maybe a meeting with your assistant or your boss to
understand what happened when you are gone. This will give
you time to get caught up on what happened and
set priorities for the week ahead. It's helpful to pack
a round trip ticket on the personal front too. Be
sure you have groceries and clean clothes for your first
days back. Schedule time is needed for laundry or cleaning

(04:04):
the house, or grocery shopping or processing mail. Even if
you don't usually use grocery delivery or a lawn service
or a cleaning service, that might be helpful right after
time away. When you prepare for your re entry professionally
and personally, whether after vacation or an extended leave, you

(04:24):
avoid the stress that can happen if you re enter
without much thought. You set yourself up for success, and
that is a good thing. How have you planned for
successful returns after maternity leaves, sabbaticals or vacations. You can
let me know at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com

(04:45):
and to listen to my interview with Lorena Ye, go
to my website Laura vandercam dot com and search on
broken rung. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for
listening and here's to making the moost of our time.

(05:07):
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

(05:29):
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.