Being on Holiday...

I spend quite a lot of time working with and mentoring senior managers in law firms, chambers, and commercial organisations. There are often two main things that I start by trying to get across - the importance of having some time to think, and the importance of having time to relax and recharge.

At this time of year, it is the second that I concentrate more on. In August, many of us are either on holiday or are about to go on holiday. If you are on holiday, my main point at the moment would be this: why on earth are you reading business blogs when you are on holiday! You have probably followed a link to the blog from an email or from Twitter, of you have some sort of notification that lets you know a new blog entry awaits. Again, however, why on earth are you reading this sort of thing while you are on holiday?

Most of us work rather hard and managers in organisations - particularly law firms and chambers, where few professional managers exist, and where the leadership team are managing the organisation part-time - and so it is vital that we take some time to relax and re-energise so that we can carry on the good work.

So - being on holiday. In order to be on holiday, there are a couple of things that you can do in advance that will help.

The first is to have a conversation about emails - with your secretary, with your assistant, or with your clerk. Are you going to look at emails at all over the holiday? Are you going to look at them once a day? Are you going to trust your secretary/assistant/clerk flag particular emails and only read those? Or are you going to be like Cory Doctorow (link here) who is reported to set up an autoreply when he is on holiday that says:

"I'm on vacation until x/x/2010. When I get back, I'm going to delete all the email that arrived while I was gone, so if this note is important, please send it to me again after that date."

Personally I think that approach is a little brave. My point is that it doesn't matter which of those you opt for, you should have the discussion in advance so that everyone in the office/chambers knows what your particular deal is - that way no-one is surprised that you haven't read their email for example.

The second thing you can do is have another discussion with the same people as above on the subject of contacting you while you are away. "Call me if something important come up" is hopelessly vague - you must agree what 'important' means otherwise you will either get calls to let you know that they have run out of coffee on the second floor and don't know where the petty cash is - or you will return to a smoking ruin of a building and someone saying "Oh we didn't like to bother you...".

Finally - let your most important clients know that you are going away and what the deal is about contacting you. You might say that your phone will only be on for an hour in the early evening so that you can check messages or you might prefer to tell them that you are going somewhere that has no phone reception (whether you are or not). Again the point is to set a rule and let everyone know what it is. You will be surprised about how accommodating clients usually are - after all, they go on holiday too.

Have those three discussion and it will go some way towards making sure that your holiday is as restful as possible.

Have a happy - and restful - holiday.

Beginnings

Beginnings are great times.

I had a meeting yesterday in which I introduced an old friend to a new acquaintance and managed to bring in some other new great contacts.

The subject was email encryption. I do a little bit of consulting about technology - but mostly in the area of user interface or in helping a firm to build a specification for the system they want. This does mean that I meet a few IT people and see some good software. Email encryption is the last great 'necessary' that has to be addressed. Almost no-one uses it because it is a real pain. Law firms have a regulatory duty to secure information they send - but they can get away with 'best endeavours' because dual key encryption is so confusing. The system offered by mKryptor uses no add-ins and no shared keys - and yet manages to offer instant, secure, communications to and from anyone. Superb.

A new colleague/acquaintance/friend had mentioned email encryption and I in turn mentioned the good people at mKryptor (see here). I set up a meeting for Simon and Beatrice to meet my new friend and was happy that the wonderful Paul Rodger from Bull Rodger (more details here) had come along. I've known Paul for a few years and he is a wonderful design/brand/marketing/communications guru (and I hasten to add that I haven't yet got round to getting him to re-design my own branding. Isn't that the way with old friends! So all the design mess you see here and on my website is my fault, not his). He is one of those people who can listen to you describe something and then offer a totally unique insight - and then find a way of describing your own USP in a brand and design. It's a special skill.

It was wonderful to see someone else 'get' mKryptor. That moment in which they suddenly understand the difference and what all the fuss is about. The moment in which they realise that this is all really rather special.

I hasten to add that I have no formal connection to either company - I just happen to think that email encryption is necessary and that mKryptor is, by far, the best way of doing it. I also think that Bull Rodger (who did all of mKryptor's design and branding - so have a look and be impressed) are the best at what they do.

This is the way of business amongst independent organisations - a loose network of expertise. Have a look  - I'm sure you will be impressed too.

Holiday Time

It's that time of the year again - the time to rush out of the office two hours late, into an over-packed estate car with various family members, and to endure a long car journey to your holiday destination. Having arrived, much later than planned, tired and stressed, your first action will be to take your Blackberry out of your pocket as see if you get signal - thereby upsetting your partner to the point of being able to get the first row of the holiday out of the way there and then.

There is an alternative. It does, however, require a little planning. That's why I suggest it now. So - sit back, read carefully and find a way to actually enjoy your holiday - from the first day.

1. Plan your last day. Think about all the appointments you have that day and establish a realistic time to finish. If you have a 5pm conference, arranging to meet your family outside the office at 6pm is a recipe for stress. Much better to meet later, but without having to rush.
2. Arrange a single point of contact. If you have a secretary, then she is a good person to control contact with you during your holiday. There should (where possible - many bosses are less keen on the idea...) be only one person who is delegated with contacting you if necessary and who has the full details of your trip, including hotel numbers, airline details etc. Check in advance if there is a mobile signal - if not, then you may choose to have a land-line chat every couple of days with your contact-person instead.
3. Have the "emergency" conversation. Sit down with your contact-person and talk about what sort of incidents and events might constitute the sort of emergency that would require your input. You don't want to be contacted two or three times a day because it has been difficult to find a client - but, equally, you don't want to return to the office to find a smoking ruin and an assistant saying "...well, we didn't want to bother you..."
4. Talk with your team. Speak to the people who work for and with you. Make sure that they know that you are going on holiday - and that they know that they will not be able to contact you other than through your contact-person (se above). Make sure that they understand your deadline on your last day (and I'd recommend that you tell everyone you are leaving some hours before you actually hope to.
5. Update. If you are going away from the office for a while - two or three weeks, say - then arrange to have a written update emailed to you at the end of each week. This should be a short-ish document (2 or 3 pages) bringing you up to date with the important issues. Obviously this needs to be written by someone you trust to tell you the truth, to understand the important issues and to tell you that your input is required only if it really is.
6. Tell your clients. I know that this is contentious, but it really is better than they can think of you as human. Say who will be heading their case/matter/issues and tell them about your primary contact-person.
7. Have the email conversation. Let's be honest - you're probably going to read your emails. Set a time at the beginning or end of the day - but make sure that someone else has been though your emails and flagged the important ones that you might be able to look at briefly in that 5-10 minute period. Note that you are not guaranteeing to read email every day - you are guaranteeing that you will not read emails other than during a narrow window. After all, you've already arranged what will happen if there really is an emergency...
8. Have some time alone in between finishing work on your last day and coming home as a "holiday person". You need to change your perspective and you need to positively think about being away from the office, about being on holiday rather than at work, and you need to prepare to be available to your partner / children / dogs from now on.

So now you can relax. You know that the work is being done, everyone knows what to do and that both you and your office understand when contact is necessary.

It is important to have a proper holiday. You and your family deserve it and your team deserves to have you at your best (and, to be honest, they may enjoy you being out of the office).

Relax, chill out, play silly games, walk in the sea, count clouds, pick flowers, talk at length with the people you love, chat with furry animals, sleep. It's what holidays are for.

Planning for Holidays II - smaller firms

In response to my earlier posting about heading off on holidays (see here), I was asked how this would apply to much smaller firms - to the 1 to 5 partner firm in particular.

In general, much of the advice is the same. What changes is that, in this size of firm, there will be fewer people to do the work for the partners and so they will need to get more involved in the actual "do-ing".

Task 1 in my first email was to do with planning. That still needs to be done. It should go without saying that the partners will have discussed holiday cover amongst themselves and will be aware of each others' ongoing matters. Everyone still needs to agree what an emergency is. One quick route to partner fallout would be one partner deciding to try to deal with an angry client who is usually dealt with by someone on holiday. Having the discussion before you go away about what constitutes an emergency.

Task 2 is valid for any size of organisation. Tell your colleagues and co-workers when you will be checking your emails and try to have someone back at the office deal with the simple ones for you.

Task 3 applies to every size of firm. Tell your clients - admit to being human and needing a holiday.

Task 4 possibly applies even more to partners in a smaller firm. These people tend to be the more entrepreneurial type who will have difficulty in being away from work for an extended time. Try to remember that there are other people in your life - partner, spouse, children and friends - and that they should have some of your time too. Remember, too, that you deserve time just for you, doing the things you probably used to do before you decided to start or join a small law firm. Now is the time for all those things. Switch off your phone/iPhone/Blackberry other than at the designated times. Dare to disconnect from the internet. You may find you like it.

I updated my first post with a reminder to talk with your team about enjoying their holiday in the same way. In small partnerships it is vital that all the partners - and everyone involved in the firm - gets the best from their holidays. If your fellow partners haven't planned their tome away from the office yet, then help them to have it now. Everyone will benefit in the end.

Planning for Holidays

Holiday time is coming. It's nearly the end of July, the schools are breaking up and many people are about to go on holiday. Even partners in law firms, and other senior executives...

Now is the time to start planning your time on holiday. By that I mean that, with a little bit of planning, it will be possible both for you to have a relaxed holiday and for you firm to continue with "work as usual". I know that planning your time on holiday sounds both rather depressing and a bit nerdy. I am sure, however, that I can offer some advice that will help to keep you as calm as possible during your time away from the office. You will benefit, your family will benefit and your firm will benefit.

Task 1: Define an emergency

How many of us have waited until the day before our holidays to make any arrangements before rushing out of the office saying "call me if there is an emergency" to our assistant or PA or secretary? So what's an emergency? There is a danger that your office feels there is an emergency three or four times a day - or that they don't call you at all, and you return after a fortnight away to a smouldering burnt-out wreck of an office and someone saying "well, we didn't like to disturb you..."

So - have the discussion. I will assume that your assistant or PA will be in the office while you are away. I certainly hope this will be the case but if not (and why not), then make sure that there is one person who is covering for you and who will be taking messages. Discuss different scenario with them to make sure that you have broadly the same view of when they should get in touch.

I am reminded of an incident when I was interviewing prospective MBA students at London Business School. I was sharing interviewing duties with a guy and, in between interviews, his phone rang. He listened briefly before saying "Let me stop you there. When I said you could ring if it was important - I meant you could ring if it was important to me" and hung up. There was a man who was not afraid to have the discussion - but should, perhaps, have had it before leaving the office.

Task 2: Have a timetable for checking emails

I'd love to be able to say that you will be on holiday and so shouldn't check your email at all. We all know, however, that this is not an option. So - take control. Say that you will check your emails once a day in the evening (or morning or whenever) and that you will only respond to urgent problems (see above). Make sure your team know that you might deal with emails by forwarding them to your team. Above all make sure that your assistant or PA is dealing with as many emails as possible - perhaps flagging those emails that you should be looking at in the short time available. Make sure, too, that your assistant knows how to get hold of you in an emergency (see task 1 again).

Task 3: Tell your clients

I have a colleague who regularly would moan about clients calling him at all hours of the day and during his holiday. He had not, however, mentioned that he would be on holiday (and would reply to calls and emails at midnight - thereby giving the impression that it was, therefore, working time).

It's ok to have a holiday - really. So tell your clients and give them the contact details for your assistant or PA (see task 1) and tell them your timetable for checking emails. Make some time to speak with clients before you go away - and timetable some time to catch up with them when you get back. Your clients will appreciate this effort, and you will not be disturbed.

Task 4: Relax

You will be on holiday - stop thinking about work. If you find this a problem (and I often do) research some techniques to help. There are many many sites out there, but the BBC's is one of the most straight forward.

Assuming that this is a family holiday - negotiate (before you go away!) some time just for you to do the things that you love to do. Whether it is a round of golf, sea kayaking or working on your own in the garden - negotiate with your partner (and children) so that you get the time to do this. Obviously you will ensure that your partner gets the same opportunity, as do your children.

Enjoy your holiday. Pamper your partner, play with your children - and relax. You deserve it.

Update

As a partner in the law firm, or any other kind of executive, please make sure that you have a conversation along these lines with your team. They deserve a holiday too, after all. Speak with them about contact during their holidays - and remember not to contact them unless it's an emergency (see task 1!).