(E24) What to do before your summer break / AKA how to prep for a successful 2024 pt 2
Today’s episode is that surprising mid-year review - or more accurately, it’s that what do I really need to be doing over the next few weeks before everyone packs it in for the summer review.
This will be the last episode for a little while as I take a summer break, but fear not I’ll be back in September.
Whether you are taking a break over the summer or are planning to use the time to get ahead OR most likely catch up, this episode will help you work out what to focus on in order to make the second half of the year as impactful as possible.
The stock-take
It’s the perfect time to look at what you’ve been doing this year so far and be honest with yourself about what that’s meant.
No judgement here when you look back at your goals at beginning of the year - if you set any even - I’m the queen of setting ambitious goals only to realise I’d wildly underestimated the time it would take, or the different inputs I’d have to rely on who perhaps weren’t working to the same time and speed as I was.
But this mid-year review is a reality check - what did I think or want to happen and what actually happened.
It might be disheartening to see how off-plan you are … but knowledge is power - the more you know about what worked, what didn’t work, the more realistic you can be.
This is a lesson in objectivity - and as leaders we should try not to take things too personally anyway.
Cut yourselves some slack - shit happens. New priorities crop up. Things you thought were going to be important turns out not to be. And let’s be honest when you work in an organisation - especially a large one - people are changing their minds all the time. And stuff happens outside of an organisation too - the election and a new government coming in means that a whole load of people and industries and organisations are going to have to adapt.
Look at what you wanted to focus on and achieve and then using whatever metrics are at your disposal be honest about where you’re at. What went well. What didn’t go well. What have you learnt as a result. That’s all anyone can ask of you.
What do you want to be achieving by the end of the year?
Now you have an understanding of where you’re at take some time - and you don’t have to do this all in one go - to think about how you want the rest of your year to be. That might be calendar or financial year.
Don’t feel burdened by the goals you set at the beginning of the year. Decide which ones are done (either completed or no longer relevant) and park them. Focus on where you want to be at the end of the year. When you do an end of year review what would you like to be thinking, feeling and doing. What do you want to be celebrating? How are you going to know that you’ve got there? And start to identify what is the gap I’m trying to close - what steps am I going to need to take to get there.
I find it helpful to note it all down and then take a moment to revisit my overall vision - the anchor of why I’m showing up doing what I’m doing. This gives me a lens to view all those ‘things’ against - if it helps me achieve my vision it stays, if it’s not aligned it goes.
Personally I don’t just do a business / organisational goal review - I see this as a 360 life audit - because they impact and influence each other so much. So I focus on what do I want to achieve in my work, what’s important to me personally, and where do I want to be developing as a human (this could be personal or professional development, again I find these things overlap and impact each other).
The spring clean
The third thing that I think this time of year is perfect for (and again at Christmas) - is that metaphorical spring clean.
I’ve tried every productivity hack imagined. I’ve used all the tools and apps to try and stay on top of all the things that need to be done. And I can guarantee you that no matter your system - your to-do list will be wild at this point. You might not even have a to-do list. It may just be a random jumbling of notes, and papers and thoughts taking up physical and mental space.
Rather than fretting about it - sort it.
This year I’ve actually scrapped all my planning tools and went back to basics. I’d read Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman* and it lit a fire under me. Why am I trying to keep finding the next hack, when the reality is there is always going to be more work to do, more emails to reply too. Once I accept that and recognise my boundaries around time, it’s been so much easier to deal with.
I have three lists now - the urgent and essential things I need to action, there’s never more than 10 things on this list and that’s where I focus my time and energy. The other list is the to-do list in waiting - when one of my 10 actions is completed and removed I can transfer an action from this list. The third list is the on-hold / future actions. I’ve noted it as something I may want to do in the future, but it’s not made it to the future to-do list yet and it may never do, and I’m ok with that.
For me, when I started working in this way, I was able to be honest about actions and if they were really going to get done.
And that’s what we need to be as leaders - honest about how we’re using (or abusing) our time.
When I work with my clients, we might review all the things they think they need to do and look at it again through the lens of ‘can only I do this or can it be delegated to one of my team’ and also the lens of ‘does it need to be done now, or can it be deferred’.
For some leaders, we’ve worked up a way that their PA can be the one in charge of managing the to-do list. Using a really simple process in Trello to improve coordination and communication.
There is no right or wrong way of organising yourself. But you need to be honest about what time you have and what really only you can do.
Another area to spring clean is your calendar - this is so often overlooked. And in every coaching conversation I have with a client who bemoans a lack of time, when we take an objective look at their calendar we realise it’s a lie we’ve been telling ourselves. It’s a mis-prioritisation of time. Not a lack of it.
Ask yourself the question of where have I been spending my time and who with?
It might seem a bit arduous, but go through your calendar, take note of who you’ve been meeting with, what meetings you’ve attended and how often.
Be critical - how much of this could have been an email / someone else could have attended?
How many of these commitments have been aligned with your priorities and vision?
The people you’ve been meeting with - are they important stakeholders in your map? If you haven’t listened to episode 12 where I talk about nurturing your networks, this is a good one to go back to to help you figure out WHO you need to be spending your time with and not feel guilty about re-routing people who are time drainers.
From this, you will - I am certain of it - identify things you didn’t need to do, meetings you didn’t need to attend, people you didn’t need to meet with. And so, look ahead in your diary and make sure you’re not repeating the same mistakes again. Make those changes now.
Create space
And whilst you’re at it - take action now to create and hold space in your diary. 20% of your time needs to be protected for the big picture stuff, the strategic thinking and planning that only you can do. Go ahead and block it out now before someone else claims it.
And you might want to think about where you do that big picture thinking - a lot of CEOs I work with have found staying the office too disruptive - people thinking they can come in and interrupt, people not respecting the boundaries. Also, there’s something about changing your setting to create a different energy to allow that thinking to happen. One CEO holds a morning every week to work from home, another goes to a local coffee shop because they like the buzz but know they won’t get interrupted or distracted. Figure out what conditions allow you to do your best thinking and put it in place.
Once you’ve spring cleaned - or deep cleaned - your diary, you’re going to have a much better picture of the actual time you’ll have to deliver your priorities. So it’s always a good idea to go back over that list of goals and review them with that reality check in mind.
How are you going to re-engage with others?
When you’re doing all your planning for the second half of the year - make sure you think about how you are going to re-engage with people when they come back from their holidays. You might have had time and space to plan, but that doesn’t mean everyone is at the same starting point as you.
What do we know - first half of year you’ve already set operational direction, budget, reviewed what happened the year before (lovely annual report and AGM prep). A lot of people will have had their appraisals and PDPs in that first half of the year. It’s hard trying to close down and gear ourselves back up. We know summer can provide the respite - people need a break - activity slows down cos poeple are away. But we also know what’s up ahead - September / October lot of people starting new jobs, other people have that new school term energy and decide they want to look for a new job. So you see a lot of changes. You then have winter prep in the UK - some sectors know how hard winter hits and so they try to get ready for that in advance.
You have all this knowledge as a leader and the plan for yourself can’t be in isolation.
How are you going to gee people up if work has been relentless - even if people are off on holiday, most likely they’ve been chasing round after kids and see return to work in September as a rest.
It’s a good time - with clarity in your own priorities - to revisit your communications and engagement plan. Update your messaging. Take stock of where the organisation and your people are likely to be at and reflect that.
Don’t take it for granted that your energy will be matched.
Spend time getting to know your organisation
The summer is a good time to get to know your team and organisation - try different things, get out and about informally, try different ways of working. It can help build connection and understanding. It will give you different perspectives and insights. And it will set you up well for the autumn.
Really take the time off
The final thing I’ll say is that if you are taking time off no matter how long or short - make sure you’re really taking it off - you don’t need to always be on.
Think about the precedent you’re setting through your actions if you’re still checking and replying to emails. Think about how you might be undermining your deputies if you’re still meddling from afar - I’ve seen it all too often, team members leap frogging the person on the ground, in charge, to see if they’ll get a response from the emails. Or worse still conflicting emails bouncing around as two people are trying to run the show. It can cause a lot of tension and will create issues for you later on.
You also aren’t really switching off - if you’ve agreed to do something for your organisation or check-in at certain points then invariably your mind is going to be thinking about it. You check your emails and you see something that irritates you and you fester on it for the rest of the afternoon. You’re not giving yourself the mental break you need and you’re probably not being a nice person to be around either.
Emails will still be there when you get back to work. Meetings will still happen. Business keeps on businessing. And as much as we like to think we’re indispensable, we’re probably an easily replaceable commodity - you only have to say you’re leaving an organisation to realise how quickly people adjust and move on.
But those moments with your family, your friends, yourself even - those aren’t replaceable.
And if you think the organisation just wouldn’t cope without you - then I’m afraid that says more about you and your prep, your development of your teams and your boundaries. And you and I probably need to talk!
*affiliate link - I may make a small commission if you buy via this link, but it won’t cost you anything more.
Resources and helpful links
Whatever you have happening over the summer I hope this episode has given you some helpful pointers to consider. If you’d like a bit more accountability and support to get your shit sorted for the second half of the year, my 1:1 intensive strategy days are the perfect solution. I’m currently booking these for September and October, so if you’re interested drop me an email lwi@sundayskies.com or click the button below:
