- Gopal Shenoy is VP of product at Wiser Solutions, which gives brands and retailers performance insights.
- He examines how his team steps up when he takes PTO to determine whether he’s hired the right people.
- He says constantly checking in during vacation can stem from overworking, micromanagement, or bad hiring.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gopal Shenoy, who works as a vice president of product at Wiser Solutions. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I usually find vacation an opportunity to judge if I’ve hired the right team.
Every time I’ve come back, I’ve felt the folks I’ve hired are the right people; they’ve stepped up, and they know they can make decisions.
I try to lead by example and take three to four weeks of vacation a year. When I’m taking PTO, I only respond to Slack or my work email if there is something burning that I want taken care of or brought to somebody’s attention.
I tell my colleagues if the house is on fire, call me. If I’m overseas and I’m not reachable, then reach my boss. If it is urgent, make the decision or talk to my boss and make the decision.
I do the same when my direct reports are on vacation: I make sure they know they’re expected to be unplugged. I tell them, “I don’t want see you on Slack.”
If they’re going on vacation in a few weeks, some of our people will change their Slack status to say they’ll be out of office from such and such date. That way, it’s in people’s faces so if they need something from that person, they’ll reach out in time. Some of them send an email saying, “I’ll be out touch these dates. If you need anything from me before that, please reach out.”
I’m a strong believer that you need to prepare a person to succeed you in your current role. So when I’m going on vacation, I ask myself, who can I direct people to instead for questions they’d normally ask me?
When I hear people say they have to check in while they’re on vacation for things to get done, three possibilities come to mind.
First, you might be a workaholic. Second, there’s something missing in terms of trust, and you want to micromanage your people. Or third, you just don’t have the right team.
Now, there may be occasions where you may want to check in because there’s something important, but I can’t think of a reason you shouldn’t be able to mostly unplug on vacation unless perhaps you’re a CEO.
Make a list of things you want taken care of when you’re away and assign it to the appropriate people. Make sure they know the chain of command in your absence and that they can make decisions if they have to; they don’t have to ask for my permission. Make sure they build that decision-making muscle because again, for succession, you need to make sure people aren’t scared making decisions.
Let’s say you have one or two people on your team you’re concerned about while you’re going to be on vacation. Spend more time with them and be very explicit about all of the things that have to get done. If those things still don’t get done, then you have bigger problems: performance issues.
You can’t expect to be there managing everything all the time. I don’t like to be micromanaged; if I have to micromanage someone, then it is not because I want to do it, but I have to do it in order for things to get done.
You hire people to get help, to get things done, so if you have to worry about what they’re doing, then why have them if you have to intervene or do all of it? That’s why I keep going back to: If you’re constantly checking in on vacation, is it because you have micromanagement tendencies or because someone is not performing?
I’ll also have a meeting with a direct report a day or two before they leave for vacation so they can brief me on what I need to keep an eye on; when they come back, I have a list of updates for them so they can hit the ground running.
I regret working so much earlier in my career. My kids have grown up and left and I should have spent more time with them.
Now, I tell people that work is always going to be there. You can always take time off.
You just have to plan for it.
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