Challenges in preparing for an extended time out of the office.

The question I first asked myself is – can it really be that hard to prepare for an extended period out of office? Surely it can't be too much more than deciding who is going to handle your existing work and setting an out of office reply to your email and voicemail right?

But when the reason for having the time off is to enjoy time with my first-born child (yes I know you probably want to hear about this but more on that next time!) I realised that preparation was essential to ensure I would be able to be 100% present at home.?

It certainly has been the flick of a switch on an OOO response for me in the past, but now that I run a business unit and provide coverage across others, it’s a lot more complicated.?I started with looking at what I actually do day to day on a really granular level to decide who would (or could) look after each of these tasks if I wasn't here. The result of this initiative was the realisation that I have colleagues who can handle these tasks, just maybe not the entire process from start to finish. So if that’s the case, how do I decide which parts go to which people to ensure that our clients and partners still get the same seamless experience they would get if they were dealing with one individual.

Now is it as simple as choosing the people in my team who have the strengths to handle each part of the process and asking them to look after things while I'm away? Definitely not given that capacity is an obstacle to overcome here. They all have their own work that needs to be completed at the same high level. I needed to find a solution where our clients would still feel both valued and that the use of our service is simpler than doing it themselves.

So how did I handle this challenge? Well the biggest lesson I learnt was don't do it alone, assuming you know what people are or aren't prepared to take on to assist doesn't achieve anything. If you take the time to get others involved you not only get buy in from those people on what they might be doing but also the ability to soundboard any ideas to see if they make sense. You might even find there's a better solution that they can come up with which you never even considered.

The next challenge was implementation. Will this actually work in reality? I used a philosophy here that I like to use in most aspects of my life. Test, test and then test again. By implementing the changes now while I'm still on deck I have the ability to work through any problem points that appear and put plans in place so these are addressed now. Ultimately this means everyone involved gets a chance to work up to their best meaning our clients get the best experience possible and don't realise I'm away. This also means that my peers will not resent me whilst I am on leave as we overcame challenges they may face together and set them up for success.

There was one more hurdle I faced when going through this process. Re-training! Yes that’s right I've spent almost a year practicing with our partners how they refer a client over to us and now I need to change that process with only a few weeks to get it right. Not to mention making it clear that we go back to the original process as soon as I'm back. So to address this I made the process as simple as I could and used the same lesson I learnt earlier don't do it alone. On top of this I've been lucky enough to have some team members volunteer to help manage this process while I'm away.

If you were after the quick answers here's the rundown.

• It's not a simple process
• Test, test and test your coverage plan before you go on leave
• Most importantly don’t do it alone and work with your team to make sure the plan is what makes sense for those still working while you're off

Let me know if you think I've missed any crucial steps or hurdles!

Thanks for taking a read.

Alex.