Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that if you are planning to step away
Speaker 1: from your job for a while, such as for a
Speaker 1: leave or even just for a longer vacation, make a
Speaker 1: plan for how you will re enter. This will make
Speaker 1: life feel more calm and productive for you and for
Speaker 1: everyone you work with. Today's tip comes from Lorena Ye.
Speaker 1: Lorena is a senior partner at Mackenzie and the co
Speaker 1: author of the book The Broken Rung When the Career
Speaker 1: Latter Fails for Women and how they can succeed in
Speaker 1: spite of it. Lorena was recently a guest on my
Speaker 1: other podcast, Best of Both Worlds. When I interviewed her
Speaker 1: for Best of Both Worlds, Lorena offers what I think
Speaker 1: is wise advice for people preparing for a parental or
Speaker 1: other extended leave. She advised that they pack a round
Speaker 1: trip ticket. I love that metaphor. Most of the time,
Speaker 1: we don't buy a plane ticket to another city without
Speaker 1: having a plan for how we're going to get home.
Speaker 1: You should take the same care with planning for any
Speaker 1: leave from your job. You probably make a plan for
Speaker 1: how you'll transition out, so make sure you also make
Speaker 1: a plan for how you will transition back in. Lorena
Speaker 1: pointed out that people, I mean, at least the sort
Speaker 1: of folks who listen to my podcasts, are often very
Speaker 1: responsible about preparing for leaves. They make sure all their
Speaker 1: projects will be covered effectively in their absence, and they
Speaker 1: tell their colleagues everything they need to know to avoid
Speaker 1: mishaps while they are out. This is wise. You don't
Speaker 1: want stress or drama, and you don't want your colleagues
Speaker 1: and clients to be in a bad place while you
Speaker 1: are gone. But Lorena points out that people also need
Speaker 1: to think through what their return trip will look like.
Speaker 1: She says it's important to be intentional about your re
Speaker 1: entry before your leave even begins. When you are preparing
Speaker 1: to leave, you will brief key colleagues on the status
Speaker 1: of your projects and the people involved in them. You
Speaker 1: may even write up notes. So on your return, how
Speaker 1: will you get up to speed on what happened in
Speaker 1: your absence? Will anybody be writing notes for you? You
Speaker 1: probably wrapped up major projects before you began your leave
Speaker 1: and provided instructions about your other projects and priorities. How
Speaker 1: will you identify the top priorities you need to focus
Speaker 1: on as soon as you return. You communicated with your
Speaker 1: colleagues and maybe clients or customers to let them know
Speaker 1: about your leave. How will you reconnect with the people
Speaker 1: you work with and resume your work together when you
Speaker 1: get back. In addition to thinking through how you will
Speaker 1: address the tasks associated with your return, also realize that
Speaker 1: it just takes time to pick back up after an
Speaker 1: extended leave, so be realistic and block time those first
Speaker 1: couple of days or even weeks for re entry activities.
Speaker 1: Planning for the return trip is essential for an extended leave,
Speaker 1: but even for shorter vacations, it pays to pack a
Speaker 1: round trip ticket for yourself. I suggest blocking as much
Speaker 1: as possible of the first day back for meetings, except
Speaker 1: maybe a meeting with your assistant or your boss to
Speaker 1: understand what happened when you are gone. This will give
Speaker 1: you time to get caught up on what happened and
Speaker 1: set priorities for the week ahead. It's helpful to pack
Speaker 1: a round trip ticket on the personal front too. Be
Speaker 1: sure you have groceries and clean clothes for your first
Speaker 1: days back. Schedule time is needed for laundry or cleaning
Speaker 1: the house, or grocery shopping or processing mail. Even if
Speaker 1: you don't usually use grocery delivery or a lawn service
Speaker 1: or a cleaning service, that might be helpful right after
Speaker 1: time away. When you prepare for your re entry professionally
Speaker 1: and personally, whether after vacation or an extended leave, you
Speaker 1: avoid the stress that can happen if you re enter
Speaker 1: without much thought. You set yourself up for success, and
Speaker 1: that is a good thing. How have you planned for
Speaker 1: successful returns after maternity leaves, sabbaticals or vacations. You can
Speaker 1: let me know at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com
Speaker 1: and to listen to my interview with Lorena Ye, go
Speaker 1: to my website Laura vandercam dot com and search on
Speaker 1: broken rung. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening and here's to making the moost of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.