Take A Holiday So You Know What's Wrong with Your Company
I am currently on a short holiday. For the record, I do not like going on holiday, I rather stay in the trenches with my team. However, it is a holiday that I must take. By going on a holiday, I will learn what's wrong with my company.
During my absence I learned that:
- Customers still prefer to talk to me than my team.
- Suppliers still call me on customers issues. My team cannot handle such conversation yet.
- When a customer confirms the order, I am still the person who do all the paperwork.
- There are still gaps in my team's knowledge and understanding of the business.
- Compared to last year, my team is performing better during my absence. Especially on customer service, the training that I gave to the team is working.
- I still need to train my replacement so that I can move on to a more strategic position.
- One of the team lead have stepped up and lead, without needing me to give instructions.
Overall, this is good feedback on knowing what I need to work on after returning to work. Sometimes, we need to get away to gain a better understanding over the situation.