The most common phrase I hear, maybe even consider an excuse, anytime someone has been out of the office is “I’m just trying to catch up on email.”  Somehow, despite our continual connectivity and tendency to stare at our phones constantly, we cannot keep up with email while traveling.  Thus, when we get back, a tremendous amount of time is spent doing stuff.

The last 4 weeks have required me to travel at least one day each week.   So naturally, once I got home there were multiple things that had stacked up.  There was mail to open, yard work to be done, work tasks that I did not get to, etc.

However, the number one thing my kids wanted from me, was just to spend time together.  They could care less what I had gotten done or still needed to do.

This also reminded me that we commonly use the phrase “catch up” in  when planning to get together with friends after a long time apart.  Let’s get together and catch up.  This never means tasks; it always means spending time in conversation.

As a leader, I want to shift my thinking about catching up, not as performing a multitude of tasks, but as spending time with people.  If I committed to spending time just listening to my team after a long absence, it would probably add more value to them as people and the organization as a whole than those tasks.  Just listening to what happened while I was away, their accomplishments, challenges and unanswered questions would give me the opportunity to praise their accomplishments and empower them to take actions on next steps that couldn’t happen during my absence.  Armed with this encouragement and new answers, they will likely be even more empowered for my next absence.  Multiplying this across my entire team would take some time.  However, the best use of my time is always spending it on the things that maximize the value I can add to the organization.  The tasks will wait.  They need to be done and the urgent cannot be totally ignored, but maybe don’t deserve the first position, where I tend to put them.

The same applies to my family.  Just taking time to spend with my wife and children is much more valuable and valued than the tasks that are left hanging.  Eventually I need to do those things, as I cannot ignore the mail and yard work forever.  My wife’s patience would eventually run out if I wasn’t getting anything done.

It is definitely a different perspective on catching up and one I never would have learned had it not been for my kids.  One that I find less stressful.  One that I find more rewarding.