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.

We will explore:

• How to stock-take your year so far
• Re-setting goals for the next half of the year
• Doing a deep-clean / spring clean (ie sorting out your to-do list!)
• Re-prioritising your time (ie sorting out your calendar!)
• Re-engaging your teams
• Getting to know your organisation
• Really switching off (and what it says if you don't)

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 visit my website sundayskies.com.

Resources and helpful links

• Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman (aff link)
• Why leaders need to curate their networks - leaders with impact (E12)

About leaders with impact

Want to know the secret of great leaders? In Leaders with impact we'll be exploring what makes an impactful leader; sharing stories of success and strategies that set them apart.

If you are ambitious for your organisation but are struggling to identify what you can do differently as a leader to deliver the right improvements, then hit subscribe to learn how you can get clear on your strategy, implement some self-leadership and connect with those you serve.

New episodes are released every fortnight.

Get in touch

If you enjoyed the episode please leave a review on Apple podcasts (or your app of choice) and let me know what you thought on LinkedIn or instagram.

I’ll be back with the next episode in two weeks so in the meantime remember to sign up to my newsletter to get notified of new episodes, guest appearances and further insights on how to lead with impact.

Lee Griffith: 00:00:02

Not to be the cliche of where's my time gone

Lee Griffith: 00:00:05

this year, blah, blah, blah. But it does feel like I blinked in

Lee Griffith: 00:00:09

January. And now suddenly I'm here, half a year down. I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:00:13

wondering what's happened. It's not just me. Today's episode is

Lee Griffith: 00:00:17

that surprising mid year review, or more accurately, it's that

Lee Griffith: 00:00:21

what do I really need to be doing over the next few weeks

Lee Griffith: 00:00:24

before everyone packs in for the summer review. I'm Lee Griffith,

Lee Griffith: 00:00:29

a former communications director who now coaches leaders to shrug

Lee Griffith: 00:00:33

off the stereotypes and find their own way of leading with

Lee Griffith: 00:00:37

impact on the leaders of impact podcast, I talk with real

Lee Griffith: 00:00:40

leaders about what shaped their approach, I chat with experts

Lee Griffith: 00:00:44

who will challenge your thinking, and I share my own

Lee Griffith: 00:00:48

strategies for success. If you enjoy the show and want to shake

Lee Griffith: 00:00:52

things up with your own leadership development, then why

Lee Griffith: 00:00:56

not recommend me to work in your organization? Is it

Lee Griffith: 00:00:59

Sundayskies.com Or drop an email to LWI@Sundayskies.com. Enjoy

Lee Griffith: 00:01:03

this episode. I don't know about you, but I am really ready to

Lee Griffith: 00:01:07

enjoy the summer. Okay, the weather, certainly at the time

Lee Griffith: 00:01:11

of recording anyway. And the weeks and weeks and weeks

Lee Griffith: 00:01:14

beforehand, may not have got the memo about the sun. I've

Lee Griffith: 00:01:18

literally just come back from glamping in a festival field,

Lee Griffith: 00:01:22

which was all the elements and I realize I'm a fair weather

Lee Griffith: 00:01:26

camper. But I'm still hopeful for summer. And it doesn't mean

Lee Griffith: 00:01:30

that I can't use the time as I intended to drink to eat and do

Lee Griffith: 00:01:34

all the fun things. When I look back over my time when I worked

Lee Griffith: 00:01:38

in corporate because I didn't have children, I would be the

Lee Griffith: 00:01:42

one that was still showing up all through summer. And I found

Lee Griffith: 00:01:46

it a bit like Christmas. Because there were fewer people around,

Lee Griffith: 00:01:50

I could get a lot of stuff done. And I'd feel very small group

Lee Griffith: 00:01:54

myself when I went off on my holidays in September. But I did

Lee Griffith: 00:01:58

get FOMO of having a summer holiday. And when I started my

Lee Griffith: 00:02:02

business, I told myself that I would make sure I took summer

Lee Griffith: 00:02:06

and Christmas off because I could and because Why shouldn't

Lee Griffith: 00:02:10

I enjoy the nice weather and the overpriced activities. But three

Lee Griffith: 00:02:14

years in, I've not really made it happen. And I think part of

Lee Griffith: 00:02:18

that is because I'm still shaking off that corporate

Lee Griffith: 00:02:21

conditioning. Also, honestly, because I've let business creep

Lee Griffith: 00:02:25

happen. At the beginning of this year, though, when I had a bit

Lee Griffith: 00:02:29

of a personal reset. I said to myself no more. I'm going to

Lee Griffith: 00:02:33

take the summer off as promised, no excuses. And so you're

Lee Griffith: 00:02:37

hearing me talk as I'm wrapping up work for the summer, my

Lee Griffith: 00:02:41

summer sabbatical as I keep calling it. I was going to keep

Lee Griffith: 00:02:45

publishing podcast episodes over the break. But then I remembered

Lee Griffith: 00:02:49

that creep from previous years. And I know for all the forward

Lee Griffith: 00:02:53

planning I might do and always scheduling in advance, I would

Lee Griffith: 00:02:57

still be checking the episodes had gone live, I would probably

Lee Griffith: 00:03:01

still be making edits of some sort, or would be going and

Lee Griffith: 00:03:05

checking in and feeling like I've got to promote stuff on the

Lee Griffith: 00:03:09

socials. And also, I thought you guys probably want to have so

Lee Griffith: 00:03:13

many things you want to catch up and listen to you don't need to

Lee Griffith: 00:03:17

be listening to a business podcast over the summer. I've

Lee Griffith: 00:03:21

been listening to him shout on the floor of my wedding, which

Lee Griffith: 00:03:25

is very unbusinesslike. But a lot of fun. So that's my podcast

Lee Griffith: 00:03:29

recommendation if you want something a bit different,

Lee Griffith: 00:03:32

probably also tells you a lot about my sense of humor anyway,

Lee Griffith: 00:03:36

I thought this year Nope. A break is a break, I'm going to

Lee Griffith: 00:03:40

be taking a break. So this is going to be the last episode for

Lee Griffith: 00:03:44

a little while. Fair not I will be back in September. But I am

Lee Griffith: 00:03:48

going to be taking six, seven weeks off. I'm not quite sure

Lee Griffith: 00:03:52

actually how it works out diary wise. Now whether you're taking

Lee Griffith: 00:03:56

a break over the summer, or like I used to do you're planning to

Lee Griffith: 00:04:00

use that time to get ahead or most likely catch up. I wanted

Lee Griffith: 00:04:04

this episode to help you work out what to focus on in order

Lee Griffith: 00:04:08

that you can make the second half of your year as impactful

Lee Griffith: 00:04:12

as possible. It's a process I use myself and it helps me to do

Lee Griffith: 00:04:16

that check in against my plan and do the course correct before

Lee Griffith: 00:04:20

it's too late. And it also means this year, I can go away on my

Lee Griffith: 00:04:24

summer sabbatical with the same smug feeling of having my shit

Lee Griffith: 00:04:28

sorted. First things first, the stocktake This is the perfect

Lee Griffith: 00:04:32

time to look at what you've been doing this year so far and be

Lee Griffith: 00:04:36

honest with yourself about what that's meant. Now, there is no

Lee Griffith: 00:04:40

judgment here. When you look back at your goals at the

Lee Griffith: 00:04:44

beginning of the year. If you've set any even I am the queen of

Lee Griffith: 00:04:48

setting ambitious goals, only to realize I'd wildly

Lee Griffith: 00:04:51

underestimated the time it would take or hadn't really thought

Lee Griffith: 00:04:55

through the different inputs I'd have to rely on. And those other

Lee Griffith: 00:05:00

people perhaps won't work. into the same time and speed as I

Lee Griffith: 00:05:03

was, I see this mid year of you as the reality check, what did I

Lee Griffith: 00:05:08

think? Or want to happen and what actually happened? And

Lee Griffith: 00:05:11

yeah, it can be disheartening sometimes to see how off plan

Lee Griffith: 00:05:15

you are. But my reframe is knowledge is power, the more you

Lee Griffith: 00:05:19

know about what worked and what didn't work, the more realistic

Lee Griffith: 00:05:23

you can be going into the months ahead. So for me, this is a

Lee Griffith: 00:05:27

lesson in objectivity. And as leaders, we shouldn't be taking

Lee Griffith: 00:05:31

things too personally anyway. So let's cut ourselves some slack.

Unknown: 00:05:36

Stuff happens, new priorities, crop up, things

Lee Griffith: 00:05:40

that you thought were going to be important turns

Lee Griffith: 00:05:42

out not to be. And let's be honest, when you work in an

Lee Griffith: 00:05:45

organization, especially a large one, people change their minds

Lee Griffith: 00:05:49

all the time. And it's frustrating. Stuff happens

Lee Griffith: 00:05:53

outside of our organization to we've literally just had an

Lee Griffith: 00:05:57

election, we have a new government coming in. And that

Lee Griffith: 00:06:00

means there's going to be a whole load of new and different

Lee Griffith: 00:06:03

stuff. And people and industries and organizations are going to

Lee Griffith: 00:06:09

have to adapt to that. So even if you were wildly on track with

Lee Griffith: 00:06:14

your plans in the beginning of the year, the reality is, things

Lee Griffith: 00:06:17

are going to have to change anyway. Because the context in

Lee Griffith: 00:06:21

which we're working is changing. Let's just be clear, what is it

Lee Griffith: 00:06:25

we wanted to focus on and achieve? And then using whatever

Lee Griffith: 00:06:30

metrics are at our disposal? Be honest about where you're at

Lee Griffith: 00:06:34

right now?

Unknown: 00:06:35

What went well, what didn't go well,

Lee Griffith: 00:06:39

what if you learn as a result, that is all anyone

Lee Griffith: 00:06:43

can ask if you

Unknown: 00:06:45

now you've got an understanding

Lee Griffith: 00:06:47

of where you're at, take some time, and you

Lee Griffith: 00:06:49

don't have to do all of this in one go this whole episode, you

Lee Griffith: 00:06:53

can chunk it up, you might want to keep coming back to it. As

Lee Griffith: 00:06:56

you reflect on different pieces, you might want to do some of

Lee Griffith: 00:06:58

these exercises more than

Unknown: 00:07:00

once, it's completely up to you just take chunks

Lee Griffith: 00:07:04

of time to think about how you want your rest of

Lee Griffith: 00:07:07

your year to be. And that might be the calendar or the financial

Lee Griffith: 00:07:11

year, it's up to you don't feel burdened by the goals you set at

Lee Griffith: 00:07:15

the beginning of the year, decide which ones are done,

Lee Griffith: 00:07:19

either because they've been completed or they're no longer

Lee Griffith: 00:07:22

relevant and park them, they no longer needs to be taken up any

Lee Griffith: 00:07:25

space in your brain. Focus instead on where you want to get

Lee Griffith: 00:07:29

to by the end of the year. When you do an end of year review,

Lee Griffith: 00:07:33

what would you like to be thinking and feeling and doing?

Lee Griffith: 00:07:37

What might you want to be celebrating? And how are you

Lee Griffith: 00:07:40

going to know when you've got there? And then start to

Lee Griffith: 00:07:44

identify what's the gap that I'm trying to close? What are the

Lee Griffith: 00:07:47

steps I'm going to need to take in order to get to that final

Lee Griffith: 00:07:51

point, I find it really helpful to note all of those things

Lee Griffith: 00:07:55

down. And I'll probably have quite a long list. And then I'll

Lee Griffith: 00:07:58

take a moment to check in and revisit my overall vision. This

Lee Griffith: 00:08:04

is my anchor of why I'm showing up doing what I'm doing. And it

Lee Griffith: 00:08:08

gives me a lens to view and filter all those things against.

Lee Griffith: 00:08:16

If it helps me to achieve my vision, it stays if it's not

Lee Griffith: 00:08:19

aligned, it goes simple.

Unknown: 00:08:23

Now, personally,

Lee Griffith: 00:08:23

I don't just do a business organizational goal

Lee Griffith: 00:08:27

review, I see this almost as a 360 life audit, because they

Lee Griffith: 00:08:32

impact and influence each other so much. I focus on like, what

Lee Griffith: 00:08:38

do I want to achieve in my work? What's important to me

Lee Griffith: 00:08:42

personally? And then where do I want to be developing as a

Lee Griffith: 00:08:46

human? Like this could be personal or professional

Lee Griffith: 00:08:49

development. Again, I think these things overlap and impact

Lee Griffith: 00:08:53

each other. I don't always feel the need that I need to be doing

Lee Griffith: 00:08:56

the next business course when I could do a course in creative

Lee Griffith: 00:09:00

writing, which might help me be a better storyteller, for

Lee Griffith: 00:09:04

example. The third thing that I think this time of year is

Lee Griffith: 00:09:08

perfect for and again it Christmas is that metaphorical

Lee Griffith: 00:09:13

spring clean. It might be literal as well. I've seen some

Lee Griffith: 00:09:16

really dirty office places. But it's that declutter Marie Kondo

Lee Griffith: 00:09:22

of your work five I'm going for now, I am someone who has tried

Lee Griffith: 00:09:28

every productivity hack imagined I've used all the tools and the

Lee Griffith: 00:09:32

apps to try and stay on top of all the things that need to be

Lee Griffith: 00:09:34

done. And I can guarantee you that no matter your system,

Lee Griffith: 00:09:38

unless you're some kind of productivity genius, in which

Lee Griffith: 00:09:42

case you're probably in the wrong business. Or you're

Lee Griffith: 00:09:44

working too many hours a day and we can have a separate

Lee Griffith: 00:09:47

conversation about that. your to do list will be wild at this

Lee Griffith: 00:09:51

point. You might not even have a to do list. It may have given up

Lee Griffith: 00:09:54

the ghost at some point. It may just be a random jumbling of

Lee Griffith: 00:10:00

notes and papers and thoughts taking up your physical and

Lee Griffith: 00:10:04

mental space. But rather than fretting about it and letting it

Lee Griffith: 00:10:08

overwhelm you, now's the time to sort it. This year, I've

Lee Griffith: 00:10:13

actually stepped away and scrapped all my planning tools

Lee Griffith: 00:10:18

and have gone back to basics. I read and I don't know if I've

Lee Griffith: 00:10:21

mentioned this on the podcast before, but I read at the

Lee Griffith: 00:10:24

beginning of the year 4000 weeks by Oliver Berkman, and it lit a

Lee Griffith: 00:10:29

fire under me, I had this moment of clarity of why am I trying to

Lee Griffith: 00:10:34

keep finding the next hack, when the reality is, there's always

Lee Griffith: 00:10:38

going to be more work to do more emails to reply to. And once I

Lee Griffith: 00:10:43

accepted that, and recognized my boundaries around time, it has

Lee Griffith: 00:10:48

been so much easier for me to deal with. So my personal

Lee Griffith: 00:10:51

system, I'm not saying this is for you.

Unknown: 00:10:54

But I thought it'd be helpful to share,

Lee Griffith: 00:10:56

I've got three lists, now, I have an urgent and

Lee Griffith: 00:11:00

essential thing that I need to action, there is never more than

Lee Griffith: 00:11:03

10 items on this list. And that is where I focus my time and

Lee Griffith: 00:11:07

energy. The other list is a to do list in waiting. So when one

Lee Griffith: 00:11:13

of my 10 actions is completed and removed, I can transfer an

Lee Griffith: 00:11:17

action from this list on to it. And the third list is the on

Lee Griffith: 00:11:21

hold, slash future actions list. So it's something that I've

Lee Griffith: 00:11:27

noted down as maybe I want to do that in the future. But it's not

Lee Griffith: 00:11:32

made the future to do list yet. And it may never do. And I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:11:35

okay with that. But it's somewhere it's like the carpark

Lee Griffith: 00:11:38

for thoughts and ideas. For me, once I started working in this

Lee Griffith: 00:11:43

way, with three lists very clear in the purpose of lists, but

Lee Griffith: 00:11:47

only one that took up my here and now mental capacity, I was

Lee Griffith: 00:11:53

able to be really, really honest about the actions I was taking,

Lee Griffith: 00:11:56

and if they were really going to get done. And that's what we

Lee Griffith: 00:12:00

need to be as leaders honest about how we're using or abusing

Lee Griffith: 00:12:05

our time. When I work with my clients, we might review all the

Lee Griffith: 00:12:09

things they think they need to do. And then look it again

Lee Griffith: 00:12:13

through the lens of can only I do this? Or can it be delegated

Lee Griffith: 00:12:17

to one of my team? And also we look at it through the lens of

Lee Griffith: 00:12:20

does it need to be done now? Or can it be deferred? For some

Lee Griffith: 00:12:24

leaders, we've worked up a way that their pa can be the one

Lee Griffith: 00:12:27

that's in charge of managing the to do list, using a really

Lee Griffith: 00:12:31

simple process in Trello, to improve their coordination and

Lee Griffith: 00:12:34

communication with each other. There is no right or wrong way

Lee Griffith: 00:12:38

of organizing yourself. But you do need to be honest about what

Lee Griffith: 00:12:42

time you have, and what really only you can do. Another area to

Lee Griffith: 00:12:47

spring clean is your calendar. And this is one that is so often

Lee Griffith: 00:12:52

overlooked, usually because we delegate that responsibility to

Lee Griffith: 00:12:56

our PA and then don't give them the rules or the boundaries in

Lee Griffith: 00:13:00

which we want to work. Or we give them too many conflicting

Lee Griffith: 00:13:05

priorities and messages which makes their job impossible. In

Lee Griffith: 00:13:09

every coaching conversation that I have with a client who bemoans

Lee Griffith: 00:13:14

a lack of time, when we take an objective look at their

Lee Griffith: 00:13:18

calendar, we realize it's a lie that we've been telling

Lee Griffith: 00:13:21

ourselves. And when I say we, I mean they not be it's a miss

Lee Griffith: 00:13:26

prioritization of time, not a lack of it. Give this a go. Ask

Lee Griffith: 00:13:31

yourself the question of where have I been spending my time and

Lee Griffith: 00:13:34

who with this year so far, it might seem a bit arduous, but go

Lee Griffith: 00:13:38

back through your calendar, take a note of who you've been

Lee Griffith: 00:13:41

meeting with, what meetings you've attended, and how often

Lee Griffith: 00:13:45

and be critical. Like how much of this could have been an email

Lee Griffith: 00:13:49

or someone else could have attended on your behalf? How

Lee Griffith: 00:13:52

many of these commitments have actually aligned with your

Lee Griffith: 00:13:55

priorities, envision the people that you've been meeting with?

Lee Griffith: 00:13:59

Are they important stakeholders in your map? If you've not

Lee Griffith: 00:14:02

listened to I think it was episode 12 where I talk about

Lee Griffith: 00:14:05

nurturing your networks, then this is a good one to go back

Lee Griffith: 00:14:08

and listen to again to help you figure out the who you need to

Lee Griffith: 00:14:12

be spending your time with and not feel guilty about rerouting

Lee Griffith: 00:14:16

people who are time drainers for you. From this you will and I am

Lee Griffith: 00:14:21

certain identify things you didn't need to do meetings you

Lee Griffith: 00:14:26

didn't need to attend people you didn't need to meet with. And

Lee Griffith: 00:14:29

with that clarity, look ahead in your diary and make sure you're

Lee Griffith: 00:14:34

not going to be repeating the same mistakes again, and make

Lee Griffith: 00:14:37

those changes now. And whilst you're at it. Take Action hour

Lee Griffith: 00:14:42

to create and hold space in your diary 20% of your time needs to

Lee Griffith: 00:14:47

be protected for the big picture stuff, the strategic thinking

Lee Griffith: 00:14:51

and the planning that only you can do. Go ahead and block it

Lee Griffith: 00:14:55

out now before someone else claims it. You might want to

Lee Griffith: 00:14:59

think about out where you're doing that big picture thinking.

Lee Griffith: 00:15:03

A lot of CEOs that I work with found that stain in the office

Lee Griffith: 00:15:07

was too disruptive for them, because people think they can

Lee Griffith: 00:15:10

come in and interrupt. People don't respect the boundaries.

Lee Griffith: 00:15:14

Also, there's something about changing your setting to create

Lee Griffith: 00:15:18

a different energy to allow that thinking to happen. One CEO I

Lee Griffith: 00:15:22

know holds a morning every week to work from home, and never

Lee Griffith: 00:15:25

goes to a local coffee shop, because they like the buzz of

Lee Griffith: 00:15:29

being around people. But they know they won't get interrupted

Lee Griffith: 00:15:32

and distracted there by people they know. So figure out what

Lee Griffith: 00:15:35

conditions allow you to do your best thinking and put it in

Lee Griffith: 00:15:39

place. And once you've spring cleaned or deep cleaned your

Lee Griffith: 00:15:43

diary, you're going to have a much better picture of the

Lee Griffith: 00:15:46

actual time, you'll have to deliver your priorities. So it's

Lee Griffith: 00:15:49

always a good idea to go back over that list of goals and

Lee Griffith: 00:15:52

review them with that reality check in mind. Now, there are

Lee Griffith: 00:15:56

two other things I recommend you think about over the summer

Lee Griffith: 00:15:59

period. Firstly, when you're doing all your planning for the

Lee Griffith: 00:16:02

second half of the year, make sure you think about how you're

Lee Griffith: 00:16:06

going to reengage with people when they come back from their

Lee Griffith: 00:16:09

holidays. So you might have had the time and space to plan. But

Lee Griffith: 00:16:14

that doesn't mean everyone's in the same starting point is you?

Lee Griffith: 00:16:18

What are the things we know we know the first half of the year,

Lee Griffith: 00:16:21

you've probably already set your operational direction your

Lee Griffith: 00:16:24

budget, you've reviewed what happened the year before. Oh,

Lee Griffith: 00:16:28

the lovely joys of the annual report and the AGM prep, things

Lee Griffith: 00:16:33

I definitely don't miss about corporate life. A lot of people

Lee Griffith: 00:16:37

will have had their appraisals and PDPs in the first half of

Lee Griffith: 00:16:41

the year, there's a lot of things that have started that

Lee Griffith: 00:16:45

people will be thinking about and what that might mean for

Lee Griffith: 00:16:48

them for the second half of the year. And it can be really hard

Lee Griffith: 00:16:51

when you're trying to close down and gear yourselves back up. We

Lee Griffith: 00:16:55

know summer can provide respite, and people need the break. And

Lee Griffith: 00:16:58

we know activity can slow down people are away. But we know

Lee Griffith: 00:17:02

also what's up ahead. In September and October, a lot of

Lee Griffith: 00:17:06

people start new jobs. Other people had that new school term

Lee Griffith: 00:17:11

energy and decide that now's the right time to start looking for

Lee Griffith: 00:17:14

a job and they begin to check out of your organization. So

Lee Griffith: 00:17:17

you're gonna see a lot of changes. And then you've got in

Lee Griffith: 00:17:21

the UK, we start prepping for winter, some sectors know how

Lee Griffith: 00:17:25

hard winter can hit. And so they tried to get ready for that in

Lee Griffith: 00:17:28

advance. You've got all this knowledge as a leader, and the

Lee Griffith: 00:17:33

plan for yourself can't be in isolation. So how are you going

Lee Griffith: 00:17:38

to GP pull up if work has been relentless, particularly if they

Lee Griffith: 00:17:43

haven't had a break. But even those that have been on a break,

Lee Griffith: 00:17:47

they've probably been chasing around after kids and seeing the

Lee Griffith: 00:17:50

return to work in September as arrest, they might only be

Lee Griffith: 00:17:53

getting around to doing their planning in September and

Lee Griffith: 00:17:55

October when you're ready to go. So it's a good time. Once you've

Lee Griffith: 00:18:00

got that clarity in your own priorities, to revisit your

Lee Griffith: 00:18:03

communications and your engagement plan, update your

Lee Griffith: 00:18:06

messaging and take stock of where the organization and your

Lee Griffith: 00:18:09

people are likely to be at and reflect that in all that you do.

Lee Griffith: 00:18:13

Don't take it for granted that your energy will be matched. And

Lee Griffith: 00:18:17

the second thing that the summer is good for is to simply use the

Lee Griffith: 00:18:20

time to get to know your team and organization. Try different

Lee Griffith: 00:18:25

things get out and about informally try different ways of

Lee Griffith: 00:18:28

working. It can really help to build connection and

Lee Griffith: 00:18:32

understanding. It's going to give you a different perspective

Lee Griffith: 00:18:35

and insight into both the place and the people. And it's going

Lee Griffith: 00:18:40

to set you up really well for the autumn. Now the final thing

Lee Griffith: 00:18:44

I'll say is that you if you are taking some time off, no matter

Lee Griffith: 00:18:47

how long or short, please make sure you're really taking it

Lee Griffith: 00:18:51

off, you do not always need to be on. And I say that with with

Lee Griffith: 00:18:55

Barney is. Think about the precedent you're setting through

Lee Griffith: 00:18:59

your actions. If you're still going to be checking and

Lee Griffith: 00:19:02

replying to emails whilst you're away. Think about how you might

Lee Griffith: 00:19:06

be undermining the people you've put in place to deputize for you

Lee Griffith: 00:19:09

if you're still meddling from afar. I've seen this you know

Lee Griffith: 00:19:12

far too many places I've worked where team members leapfrog the

Lee Griffith: 00:19:17

person on the ground who's been left in charge to see oh, I'm

Lee Griffith: 00:19:21

gonna get a response from that person on the emails so I won't

Lee Griffith: 00:19:25

bother with them. Or worse still, there's been instances

Lee Griffith: 00:19:28

where conflicting emails and instructions and messages are

Lee Griffith: 00:19:32

bouncing around a team because two different people are trying

Lee Griffith: 00:19:36

to run the show. And it can cause a lot of tension and for

Lee Griffith: 00:19:40

you as a leader is going to cause issues for you later on.

Lee Griffith: 00:19:43

But also, you know, postural meddling with work stuff, you're

Lee Griffith: 00:19:47

also not really switching off. If you've agreed to do something

Lee Griffith: 00:19:51

for your organization or check in at certain points, then

Lee Griffith: 00:19:53

invariably your mind is going to be thinking about it.

Lee Griffith: 00:19:57

If you check your emails and then you see something that you

Lee Griffith: 00:20:01

rotate you, which we will normally do, you're gonna fester

Lee Griffith: 00:20:04

on that for the rest of the afternoon, you're not giving

Lee Griffith: 00:20:07

yourself the mental break you need. And you're probably not

Lee Griffith: 00:20:11

being a very nice person to be around either. And I say that

Lee Griffith: 00:20:14

firsthand who's as someone who's felt she's had to work whilst

Lee Griffith: 00:20:18

off. And I say that someone who lives through someone who's also

Lee Griffith: 00:20:22

been the same, it disrupts your brake and off like no argument.

Lee Griffith: 00:20:25

Emails are still going to be there. When you get back to

Lee Griffith: 00:20:29

work, meetings will still happen. Business keeps on

Lee Griffith: 00:20:32

business in. I'm not sure that's a word, but whatever. As much as

Lee Griffith: 00:20:35

we like to think that we're indispensable. We're probably an

Lee Griffith: 00:20:39

easily replaceable commodity. And you only have to say you're

Lee Griffith: 00:20:42

leaving an organization to realize how quickly people are

Lee Griffith: 00:20:46

just move on from you. But those moments with your family, your

Lee Griffith: 00:20:49

friends, yourself, even those are not replaceable. And if you

Lee Griffith: 00:20:53

think the organization just wouldn't cope without you then

Lee Griffith: 00:20:56

I'm afraid that says more about you and your prep your

Lee Griffith: 00:21:00

development of your teams and your boundaries. And you and I

Lee Griffith: 00:21:03

probably need to talk whatever you have happened in over the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:07

summer. I hope this episode has given you some helpful pointers

Lee Griffith: 00:21:10

to consider. If you'd like a bit more accountability and support

Lee Griffith: 00:21:14

to get your shit sorted for the second half of the year. The my

Lee Griffith: 00:21:18

one to one intensive stretch days are the perfect solution.

Lee Griffith: 00:21:21

I'm currently booking those for September and October. So if

Lee Griffith: 00:21:25

you're interested drop me an email LW AI at Sunny skies.com

Lee Griffith: 00:21:28

or visit my website Sandy skies.com. All the links are

Lee Griffith: 00:21:31

going to be in the show notes as well. I hope you get the chance

Lee Griffith: 00:21:35

to take some time off. I have a no plan plan for my summer

Lee Griffith: 00:21:38

sabbatical. But I know it will include lots of reading, writing

Lee Griffith: 00:21:42

not work related, I hasten to add, and I'm attempting to be a

Lee Griffith: 00:21:46

bit more of a local tourist after realizing I don't really

Lee Griffith: 00:21:49

know the place that I've lived for over a decade. I will see

Lee Griffith: 00:21:53

you back here in September. Have a good one. If you enjoyed the

Lee Griffith: 00:21:56

episode, please leave a review on Apple podcasts and let me

Lee Griffith: 00:22:00

know what you thought on LinkedIn. You can find me at Lee

Lee Griffith: 00:22:03

Griffith. I'll be back with the next episode in two weeks time.

Lee Griffith: 00:22:07

So in the meantime, sign up to my newsletter at Sundayskies.com

Lee Griffith: 00:22:10

for monthly insights on how else you can lead with impact. Until

Lee Griffith: 00:22:14

next time,