Dear Reader,
One of the things I always paid attention to as a CEO was whether people actually took their leave.
Every quarter I would check in with my leadership team, not because I wanted to know where they were going, but because I wanted to know whether they were taking regular breaks. If someone kept postponing leave, we would talk about why.
I also tried to lead by example.
At the start of every year I blocked leave into my own calendar, made sure there was always a clear deputy in place and, apart from the occasional genuine emergency, I went offline.
Living and working in Africa, there was a strong culture of taking leave over Christmas, often for several weeks - it is our summer after all. I loved it. The organisation genuinely slowed down, people spent time with family and friends, and everyone returned in January ready for what was usually a demanding start to the year.
But I was equally determined that people didn't save all their leave until December.
Rest is not something that should only happen once a year.
When unlimited isn't always liberating
Recently I found myself thinking about this again after two conversations with leaders working in organisations with unlimited leave.
One had barely taken any time off because she wasn't sure what was considered reasonable. Nobody was saying no, but nobody was really saying what was enough either.
The other was worried because so many people had booked the same week off before an important deadline. Unlimited leave had somehow become confused with unlimited flexibility.
Both conversations made me realise something.
A good leave policy is only one part of the picture.
People also need:
Clarity about what healthy behaviour looks like.
Planning so teams continue to function well.
Permission to genuinely step away.
Unlimited leave should never mean unplanned leave.
Then I realised something rather ironic
I now have unlimited leave myself.
No approval process.
No HR policy.
No forms to complete.
Yet, looking back over my first year of running Volante, I've taken remarkably little leave. I've also worked through plenty of public holidays because my clients are spread across different countries.
Without really noticing it, I replaced one habit with another.
Instead of putting the organisation first, I started putting clients first.
Different context. Same behaviour.
The advice we give others
It reminded me that leaders often find it much easier to encourage healthy behaviours in other people than to practise them themselves.
We tell our teams to delegate while holding onto too much ourselves.
We encourage boundaries while answering emails late into the evening.
We tell people to take breaks while convincing ourselves we'll do it after the next project, the next board meeting or the next client deadline.
There is always another reason to wait.
So I've finally booked the leave
A number of client engagements finish at the end of August, and I've blocked out three weeks in September, another week in November and, as always, proper time off in December.
Part of me still thinks that sounds indulgent.
The other part knows exactly what I would have said to one of my own team.
Rest isn't something you earn once everything is finished. It is one of the things that helps you lead well in the first place.
A question to leave you with
👉 What advice do you consistently give your team that you are not currently following yourself?
I'd genuinely love to hear your answers. I suspect most of us have at least one.
Warmly,
Liz
Strategic Advisor | Former CEO | Founder, Volante
Based in Kenya, available globally
