The Holiday Season

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

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I am sure that – like us – you are running your business with fewer staff members than normal as the peak of the holiday season draws upon us

At what can be one of the busiest times of year, it isn’t always easy to manage when members of your team are away on holiday, and the temptation as business owners is not to go away ourselves. However, this isn’t the way forward, as it can actually hinder our growth and development as SMEs.

I have never held back on going away on holiday, despite the pressures not to! I remember in the early days of the business, there was always some catastrophe or other as soon as I left the country, whether this was a van involved in an accident or a member of staff resigning. It almost became a joke; what was going to happen this time?

Fortunately now there are enough capable members of staff to deal with most problems. And this year we seem to be getting through them before I go away next week. Only two days ago an agency driver filled up one of our new 3.2 litre diesel vans with petrol!

There are three very good reasons to ensure that you take enough holiday. And I mean going away on holiday – not staying at home and checking your e-mails every 30 minutes.

1) As human beings we need rest and recovery in order to be effective when we are working. The judeo-christian society is based on a culture that had around 10 weeks holiday per year and a year off in every seven. We’ll struggle to reach these levels, but it is something to aspire to!

2) Often it is getting away from it all that inspires us to get perspective, vision and ideas that are more difficult to get when we are in the middle of things. Also, immersing ourselves in other cultures and seeing how businesses operate in different countries can give us great ideas to use when we come home.

3) Finally, and possibly most importantly, our going away on holiday often means other managers and members of staff have to take responsibility for parts of the business that they don’t normally deal with. I’ve seen individuals improve tremendously when they are forced to challenge themselves as a result of me or other managers being away. This improves the likelihood of them being promoted in the future.

So, if you’re going away on holiday this summer, enjoy your time away. And if not, why not?!