WEBVTT - Ask about colleagues' vacation schedules

0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:09.560
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:17.000
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:22.920
<v Speaker 1>tip is to ask about your colleague's vacation schedules. There

0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:25.799
<v Speaker 1>is no reason to be surprised by planed time off.

0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.960
<v Speaker 1>Smart teams build it into their timelines so they can

0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:36.360
<v Speaker 1>stay on track. It is basically summer as this is airing,

0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.680
<v Speaker 1>which means that lots of people will plan to take

0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.440
<v Speaker 1>some vacation days over the next few months. And that

0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.839
<v Speaker 1>is great. But while we think a lot about our

0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:49.880
<v Speaker 1>own vacation schedules, we might not be quite so well

0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:55.880
<v Speaker 1>rehearsed with everyone else's plan time off colleagues, clients, and

0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:00.280
<v Speaker 1>so forth. That can lead to delays or sometimes to

0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:05.280
<v Speaker 1>work being done on timelines that don't make sense. For instance,

0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.760
<v Speaker 1>you might agree to a tight deadline not realizing that

0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.600
<v Speaker 1>a key team member will be gone for half of

0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:15.400
<v Speaker 1>the intervening days. Or you might plan to get something

0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.040
<v Speaker 1>to a client's on the friday before it turns out

0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:22.120
<v Speaker 1>he's going on vacation, not realizing that there is no

0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:25.760
<v Speaker 1>way he'll be looking at it for another week, so

0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.720
<v Speaker 1>you didn't have to rush quite so much better to

0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.920
<v Speaker 1>be proactive, there are a couple of approaches you could take.

0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.600
<v Speaker 1>The first is that as you are planning out any

0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:40.280
<v Speaker 1>long term project, you bring up time off as you

0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:44.319
<v Speaker 1>are creating the timeline. As in Nelly, it looks like

0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.000
<v Speaker 1>I'll be giving you the draft slides by June fourteenth,

0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.040
<v Speaker 1>given your planned time off, does that timing still work

0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.240
<v Speaker 1>for you to get the slides to the graphic designer

0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.240
<v Speaker 1>before everyone is out of the office for the holiday

0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:00.440
<v Speaker 1>starting July third. Now you might think that people would

0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.320
<v Speaker 1>naturally think about what other commitments they have during a

0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.880
<v Speaker 1>project timeline, but my own experience and what listeners tell

0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:13.480
<v Speaker 1>me suggests they may not. People sometimes think, oh, that

0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:17.680
<v Speaker 1>deadline is four weeks away, this project is definitely doable

0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.160
<v Speaker 1>in four weeks, without taking into account that they will

0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.240
<v Speaker 1>be out of town one of those weeks and working

0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:26.919
<v Speaker 1>remotely another week while their kids are in between school

0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:32.040
<v Speaker 1>and camp. By explicitly connecting timelines or deadlines to plan

0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:38.440
<v Speaker 1>time off, you can avoid surprises. Another approach to communicating

0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.240
<v Speaker 1>about time off is to routinely check with colleagues and

0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.840
<v Speaker 1>clients about their vacation days, not just in relation to

0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:50.480
<v Speaker 1>specific deadlines. At meetings, ask about plan time off and

0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.000
<v Speaker 1>put that information into your meeting notes. This is a

0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.920
<v Speaker 1>good routine all year long, and even more important around

0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.200
<v Speaker 1>the summer and winter holidays. You can simply ask ask

0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.720
<v Speaker 1>any upcoming time off we need to be aware of

0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.960
<v Speaker 1>at the end of each meeting, then include a list

0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.120
<v Speaker 1>of plan time off in the meeting notes and the

0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.880
<v Speaker 1>agenda for the next meeting. This doesn't need to be elaborate,

0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.280
<v Speaker 1>just the heading plan time off and the name of

0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:16.040
<v Speaker 1>each team member with the dates they'll be out of

0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:20.000
<v Speaker 1>the office. By documenting the time off, you create an

0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:25.120
<v Speaker 1>easy reference for everybody. You also gently reinforce the norm

0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:30.000
<v Speaker 1>that you have a responsibility to communicate with colleagues about

0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:35.040
<v Speaker 1>plan time off well in advance. Time off is a

0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.920
<v Speaker 1>good thing. We just need to communicate it and plan

0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:43.040
<v Speaker 1>for it so we can meet deadlines and avoid delays

0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:48.560
<v Speaker 1>in frustration. By asking about colleagues vacation schedules, you can

0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:55.000
<v Speaker 1>increase the chances that everyone stays on track in the meantime.

0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.920
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura, Thanks for listening. Here's to making the

0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:11.160
<v Speaker 1>most of our time. Thanks for listening to before breakfast.

0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.480
<v Speaker 1>If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:25.200
<v Speaker 1>me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:29.520
<v Speaker 1>is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:33.640
<v Speaker 1>please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:34.920
<v Speaker 1>listen to your favorite shows.