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Here’s how to spend quality time with your family and support your team while out of the office.
If you are an advisor who uses surge, you’ve probably been driving in your highest gear for several weeks this spring. Now that surge is over, it's time to hit the brakes, gear down and change directions.
But how do you channel your enthusiasm into productive activities without becoming destructive?
You can focus your energy in several directions that would be a good use of your time. But focusing on family time post-surge helps me stay grounded and recharge. My family also needs that time with me, as they’ve been surging too.
On paper, spending time with family is the easiest way to unwind, but that can be a struggle. Your family needs quality time together – chilling on the couch in sweatpants binge-watching Netflix doesn’t count. And your team needs to stay productive and not panic while you’re gone.
Here are six tips to help you make the most of your time away, both personally and professionally.
Extended time off: the personal side
Embrace the buffer week
I can’t jump from spending an entire day in surge meetings to being an idyllic father in 24 hours. I need to unwind from surge professionally before becoming a full-time family man.
For that first post-surge week, I wake up at 5 am, wondering why everyone else is still sleeping at 5:02 am. Then I spend the rest of the day disrupting their routines, and I’m not a good husband or father.
A buffer week gives me time to come off that top-performance high and return to reality without disrupting my family. During that week, between surge and taking time with my family, I’ll coordinate expectations with my team and tie up loose ends at the office to fully commit to my family time.
Make a list of things to do
Even on vacation, you need to choose your activities intentionally – and this is where family time blows up for me. I run out of ideas for things to do, and start nitpicking at things to fix.
I’m always full of ideas when we're busy. But when we’ve worked through the list and aren’t sure what to do, I can never think of anything worth doing, and things spiral from there.
I started keeping a running list of activities and adventures we could do as a family on the Notes app on my phone. I’ve included simple things on that list to keep me busy while my family works on their homeschool projects.
Without simple tasks and projects to occupy my mind, I slip into work mode and play office. Going into work mode turns into checking in on my team, which decreases their productivity and takes away from my goal of being a present husband and father.
Do what works and communicate
When spending time with your family, do what works for you and your spouse.
If you know you’ll be a grump on day three of your vacation, either keep your vacations short or find outlets to reset and recharge.
This could include going on your own adventure for a few hours while the family plays at the pool, or renting office space and getting some work done. It doesn’t matter what you choose to do. So long as you’re intentional with your time, do what works and communicate with your spouse.
Extended time off: the professional side
One of the questions I’m asked the most is: How do you unplug professionally and still support your team?
I unplug entirely from the grid every year for several weeks at Moose Camp. I’ll have a satellite phone for life-or-death emergencies but won’t use it to check in on my team.
Even though my team expects me to leave to go hunting, they still get a bit antsy about my pending absence. But I empower my team to run the firm while I’m away in a few ways.
Fear setting
Before I unplug, I sit down with my team to discuss their concerns – and I’ll admit that validating their worries is hard for me. This exercise isn’t a chance for me to debunk their fears but rather to address them and create action plans so that they feel prepared for the worst-case (and least-likely) scenarios.
During these sessions, we create checklists and scripts for team members to follow if a client dies, a client needs more money, or if the SEC audits us while I’m away.
Outline projects
I’m guilty of returning from Moose Camp and wanting to dive back into work. My team could have completed a thousand tasks, but I tend to turn over rocks, hunting for anything they missed. I’ll start pulling threads, looking to find things that weren’t done.
Before I leave, I clearly outline everything I expect to be completed with measurable success while I’m gone. When I return, this list is the only thing I use.
“Be ready for surge” is not a measurable result, nor is “prepare the next value add.” Those open-ended projects need to be broken down into measurable steps. Define the value add they’ll be working on, which clients will receive it, and what data needs to be collected. Specifics such as this provide clear marching orders for your team that you can grade when you return.
Out of the office but still on the grid
This is the most challenging time to step away from the office, as there are no clear-cut boundaries. Once you’re off the grid, no one can reach you. But you’re only a text message away when you're still connected.
Compartmentalize your work from your personal time by pre-scheduling check-in times with your team. Remind them to follow your communication process and that you’ll only respond to their inquiries during your scheduled meetings. Otherwise, your phone will buzz with “quick questions” all day.
Being a great leader is a lot like parenting; it's easier in the moment to take the easy way out, but it’ll cost you a thousand times more in the long run if you can’t enforce your boundaries. Save yourself the frustration and be systematic regarding team communication.
Action Items
If you’re still rolling out of bed and reacting to whatever happens, start a morning-success ritual. This week, create a ritual of success based on your ideal, productive morning and share it with your spouse.
Your morning success rituals will be 10x more critical when you’re out of the office, so develop one that will set you up for success.
Micah Shilanski, CFP®, is a financial planner who achieves the impossible. Micah is recognized as a leader in the concept of lifestyle design for financial planners and has spoken at conferences across the country. Micah is an advisor with Shilanski and Associates, a founder of Plan Your Federal Retirement, and a co-founder of The Perfect RIA.