Dear Sean,

With the summer months approaching, I’m hoping to step away and take more time for myself. How can I prepare my team and clients for the transition? And given that the summer is historically a slower time of year, what can we be doing to stay on top of work as employees take their own time off?

Sincerely,
Out of Office

Dear Out of Office,

The importance of taking time off—and preparing your team and clients for everyone’s vacations (yours very much included)—is a topic of enduring appeal, one that I have covered before. I would like to focus on your last question (how to provide coverage for employees when they go away) and add another: How can you inspire change when times are slower?

For employees who plan to unplug, the aim has to be that what can move should, and what needs their expertise must pause. That’s much easier said than done of course. However, I firmly believe that you should insist that each of your employees write (yes, write; and yes, they can use AI) a plan that will cover what work lies ahead for them, what can be done in their absence and by whom, and what needs to be paused while they are away. As for work that must be done, there should be a written brief about the task, deadlines and expectations of the employee, the firm, and the client or vendor. This should be done at least two weeks before the employee’s vacation and updated if anything changes in the interim. To the extent the employee is client-facing, the plan needs to be delivered to clients and vendors at least 10 days prior to the vacation.

Why the formality? Because I am of the camp that when you are gone, you are gone. No checking anything. Vacation is never just a time to rest and refresh—that is the old factory model. For me, it is also a time to reflect, be curious and ultimately recommit. I have been around long enough to know that checking in or being responsible for anything during your time off is almost always counterproductive, but also a hard habit to break. If you insist on the formality I am speaking of, everyone can step in to offer support during a team member’s time away so that it can be truly time away.

As for what to do when times are slower, how about some summer reading of older but still awesome books? I’d recommend Loonshots by Safi Bahcall (2019); Think Again by Adam Grant (2021); and Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara (2022). Then everyone on your team—yes, everyone—can come up with at least three and no more than six actionable ideas that will make the firm better. Anything goes: It could be how to improve renderings, communication with clients, purchase orders, or lunch orders. Everyone will pitch their ideas at individual meetings (one employee at a time, in front of the whole team) over the course of 18 minutes. (If a TED Talk can change the world in that amount of time, so can you and your employees change yours.)

At the end of each meeting, the team will choose the best idea from each employee who presented. When everyone is done, there will be a final meeting where each will pitch their best idea again. At the end of that meeting, there will be a final vote, and then that idea (or the top two ideas) will be given a set time and budget to be tested and put into practice. The compensation for the winning idea(s), especially if they result in significant change, is entirely up to you.

If your firm is too big for individual employees to do this, create teams; if your team is small, it can all be done in one meeting. The point of the exercise is to open the team to new possibilities that can improve the firm—perhaps even dramatically—and engage everyone in the endeavor.

I have done this exercise with many of my clients, and I am always amazed at not just the results but the engagement and renewed enthusiasm it brings. It is all about the old adage: “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” More than 100 years later, it is more true than ever. No one said you can’t have fun while you are forging ahead, though!

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Sean Low is the go-to business coach for interior designers. His clients have included Nate Berkus, Sawyer Berson, Vicente Wolf, Barry Dixon, Kevin Isbell and McGrath II. Low earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and as founder-president of The Business of Being Creative, he has long consulted for design businesses. In his Business Advice column for BOH, he answers designers’ most pressing questions. Have a dilemma? Send us an email—and don’t worry, we can keep your details anonymous.