The View From the Other Side of Annual Leave

A few weeks ago, before heading off on annual leave, I wrote about the importance of stepping away. Not because work isn’t important. Quite the opposite.

When you care deeply about what you do, switching off can feel uncomfortable. There is always another email to answer, another meeting to attend, another problem to solve. Leadership can easily become a continuous cycle of doing.

Then annual leave arrives and, eventually, something interesting happens. The world carries on without you. The inbox still fills up. Decisions still get made. Services still operate. Colleagues still step forward. Life goes on.

That isn’t a criticism of our own importance. It is actually a reminder of something far healthier. Good organisations should never depend on one individual. If everything falls apart when one person takes two weeks off, that’s not a sign of strong leadership. It’s a sign of fragility.

Returning after leave always brings a mixture of emotions. There’s the familiar dread of the inbox. The challenge of catching up. The sense that events have moved on while you’ve been away.

But there is also something else. Perspective.

When you’re in the middle of work every day, it’s easy to become consumed by the urgent. Problems appear bigger. Disagreements feel more significant. Risks dominate your thinking. The daily rhythm narrows your field of vision.

Stepping away creates space.

You come back able to see patterns rather than individual incidents. Trends rather than transactions. Opportunities rather than just problems. The issues that felt overwhelming before you left often don’t look quite the same when viewed from a distance.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the years is that leadership is not about being permanently available. It’s about creating the conditions for others to succeed.

During my leave, colleagues across Oldham and our wider health and care system continued delivering for residents. They made decisions, solved problems and kept moving things forward.

That’s exactly what should happen.

The best teams don’t pause when a leader disappears for a fortnight. They flourish because leadership is distributed, relationships are strong and people trust one another to act.

Coming back, I’m reminded how fortunate I am to work with people who do exactly that. I’m also reminded that rest has a purpose. Not as a reward for hard work. Not as an occasional luxury. As a leadership discipline.

The challenges facing public services remain significant. Demand continues to grow. Resources remain constrained. Expectations continue to rise. Meeting those challenges requires energy, judgement and perspective. None of those things improve through exhaustion.

So as I return to work, I’m carrying back more than a refreshed calendar and an overflowing inbox.

I’m bringing back a renewed appreciation for colleagues, a clearer view of what’s really important and a reminder that sometimes the most productive thing a leader can do is step away long enough to see clearly again.

The work matters, but so does the space needed to do it well.