Industry Confidential

INDUSTRY CONFIDENTIAL

Check in every issue for the unfiltered thoughts of our guest writers and contributors as they discuss the hottest topics in sports tourism.

In this issue, our guest writer discusses the subject of respecting time.

“Hey, I know you are on PTO, but …” Raise your hand if you got that email at least once over the holiday break. Raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten it halfway through a family day at the beach.

Somewhere along the way, we as a society have completely lost respect for the idea of someone being inaccessible for a set period of time. Somewhere along the way, we all became too important for the world to survive without us (you catch the humor there?).

This is not a rant where I hold myself unaccountable for adding to this mess. This article was actually inspired by my typing the words above, not receiving them. This is not a statement about how we need to do a better job of not reaching out to our colleagues on vacation (Ok, maybe it is a bit). Instead, it’s a memo about how we’ve gotten away from planning that people may be out of pocket and unreachable for a few days. The pace of business now operates assuming that anyone needed to get something done can drop what they are doing and attend to something else. Even scarier is that this mindset is only getting stronger while many are operating with smaller teams and/or being asked to find staff efficiencies.

This is most evident when staff is called while on vacation to attend to something. However, it creeps into our everyday work with same-day communication expectations and task requests.

The lack of respect for one another’s time is not something that will be fixed quickly; however, as we head into a new year, it could be a consideration you take with you into this next chapter.

If you are starting out in your career, be that employee who preps your colleagues when you’re out with what they may need. Be a part of building healthy systems that allow the team access to essential documents, workflows, etc. Build value in your role, but also help drive a team culture where multiple people can cover vital actions and team members consult with one another on timelines to ensure all involved parties are available.

If you’re in a leadership role, lead by example. Take time off and ensure the team has what they need to accomplish things and make non-critical decisions. Work with team/department managers on organizational structures that can cover gaps and needs when team members are away. Be diligent with your company’s rules around time off. Build a culture from the top down where timeline decisions include consultation with team leaders of involved departments on current team workloads or gaps.

The world is fast, and it’s only getting faster, and while we must keep pace, taking the extra time to build projects and timelines that consider staff schedules and workload will pay off and should be a consideration in 2024.