When you need to take some emergency time off work, you can turn a crisis into an opportunity if you have the right mindset.
An illness or accident that forces you to take unplanned time off can be disturbing and unpleasant. But such situations are powerful learning opportunities for you and your team, says Shannon Waller, coach and program designer with Strategic Coach in Toronto.
How your team handles a crisis demonstrates its strengths and highlights areas that need improvement. More often than not, the sudden absence of a leader shows how capable a team really is.
Waller offers this advice to keep the panic at bay for you and your team during an extended leave of absence that you didn’t prepare for:
> Take care of immediate concerns first
If the situation permits, prioritize the tasks that need to be done.
If you’ve been in a serious accident and are isolated in hospital, Waller says, there’s not much you can do. But if you are taking time off for a less debilitating situation, such as helping an ill family member, you can focus on finishing the tasks that need to be done immediately and only by you. Leave everything else to your team.
> Trust your team
Count on team members to know how to run your practice just as well as you do.
“If you’ve hired the team,” Waller says, “you believe that they’re capable.” Give team members the space and the trust to do their jobs alone, even if that means making a mistake or two.
> Keep the situation in perspective
Remember, at the end of the day, its only work. There are bigger things to worry about.
“If you’re away from your business it’s probably life or death,” says Waller. Whatever you are handling, whether it’s your health or that of a family member, that’s what’s most important and what you should focus on.
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