Corporate Strategy
Corporate Strategy
PTO Coverage Playbook
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We go from theme-park chaos to a practical talk on how teams handle time off when a key person disappears for two weeks. We share what employees can do to protect their work, and what managers can do to build redundancy without burning out the team.
• debating what happens when a critical specialist takes time off
• giving enough notice and setting expectations before PTO
• using signatures, statuses, calendars, and handoffs for clear communication
• documenting workflows and access so coverage is possible
• cross-training and runbooks as a path to promotability
• manager options: step in, delegate as growth, or coach better planning
• avoiding “I’ll do it my way” coverage that creates hidden chaos
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Cold Open And Dog Names
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to Corporate Strategy, the podcast that could have been an email. I am Antonio. Joining me today is my lovely, beautiful co-host, Bartholomew.
SPEAKER_03Excuse me? Wait a second, that's not right. Michael. Wait a second. Bartholomew. My wife and I uh were debating getting another dog this summer. Oh no. And we were talking about names. I feel like Bartholomew is a great dog name. You know that's uh Bart Simpson's Christian name. Yeah, yeah, it's uh it's like a uh a formal name, you know. That's the way I like to say like if we had a cat, I think I'd want its name to be Maurice as its formal name, but then as its short name, you can just go Mo. What if I what if I want to hear?
SPEAKER_02I mean it is cool. It is cool, I like it. I like it. You I mean, are you gonna call Bartholomew Bart? Are you you're you're gonna like okay? So why not just ditch Bartholomew and go Bartleby?
SPEAKER_03I feel like that's aggressive.
SPEAKER_01No, not at all. Hey Bartleby, come here. Bartleby, sit Bartleby, plan the uprising. Come on, come on, Bartleby, plan it, go plan the uprising. Let's go. Are you saying Bartleby? Bartleby. Bartleby. Bartleby. Yay!
SPEAKER_02P-A-R-T-L-E-B-Y. Some sounds like A when neighbor's in the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Bartleby. It's an Irish A. It's an Irish A, thank you. I've been I've been trying to tell people that for years. They don't believe me. People don't understand. They don't understand the Irish A. No one gets it.
SPEAKER_03They're just not cultured like you are.
SPEAKER_02They really, or you who knows about the Irish A.
SPEAKER_03Bartle B.
SPEAKER_02Bartle B Bartle B. Hey, speaking of Bartleby, how you doing? How you doing? How's life?
SPEAKER_03Good. Yeah? It's it's rolling. Life's rolling. Like a stone. Q1 is over. We're into Q2.
SPEAKER_02Q1 in the bin and done. Q2, what's new?
SPEAKER_03I don't know. What is new?
SPEAKER_02I I'm asking you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's good. I'm trying to think. We had a fun week. Corpus Strategy had a
Roller Coaster Tycoon Stream Recap
SPEAKER_03fun week. Did we? If you missed it, if you missed it, we live streamed Roller Coaster Tycoon on YouTube. So go back, watch it. It was a lot of fun. We sat right behind Mr. Antonio here and we played Roller Coaster Tycoon. You can actually see your your little desk mat right here, your keyboard and mousepad.
SPEAKER_02That's right. I wasn't joking when I said I have a roller coaster tycoon desk mat.
SPEAKER_03It's legit. It's so good. But I think we did pretty good. We got a lot of views on it. A lot of people said I did pretty good, which I'm pretty shocked at because it was it was quite terrible in the beginning. But I think we did a good job. We made a good team and we made a good park and it was it was thriving. You know, big rock twist will never be forgotten.
SPEAKER_02What about drip drop drop? Drip drip drop. And don't forget Sonic Boo. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03The Destroyer. We're just giving you the Destroyer, Wild, Wild Ricochet. We just had some awesome names.
SPEAKER_02Roboat 1, Hot Dog Stand 1. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And we gave out free hats and free balloons to everybody just to raise the NPS as high as we could. And it was awesome watching those dudes running around with colorful balloons and little hats. Who can forget Tube Ben Jim?
SPEAKER_01Who can forget him?
SPEAKER_02Two bin gyms. He had one job doing it was cleaning two bins. He literally just had one little foot area. Two bin. One little foot area. Two bin gym. Did it well? That was a lot of fun. If you didn't see our roller coaster type tycoon stream, let's say you're a listener of the pod and you've only ever uh listened through pod platform, do check out our YouTube. It's YouTube at corporate strategy. Is it? I don't know, actually. It might not be. Well, find our find our channel on YouTube that you know how to find things. I don't need to spell it out for you. Use AI. Watch this stream. It was a really good time. First time we've done something like this, and it was it was super fun.
SPEAKER_03It was awesome. I'm so excited to do more of those. Like after we did that one, we were like, I am pumped to do a ton more of these as frequent as possible.
SPEAKER_02So the next two.
Jurassic Park Or Hospital Management
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Subscribe to YouTube. And then I want to hear from you. Not you, Michael, uh, father of Bartleby. I want to hear from our audience. If you're not in our Discord, get in our Discord. We got two options to force Michael to project manage something next time. And I want you to pick. So you've got a choice of make Michael manage Jurassic Park or a hospital. So take a pick. Uh go on Discord, make your voice be heard. We want to know what he will manage next. So that's that's up to you. Just realize. In both cases, lives are on the line, which is just another one.
SPEAKER_03I chose I chose software engineering to have very low risk in my career and not to hurt people. And you're putting me in these situations, and I don't appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02What what is okay, okay, okay. So let's just dig into this for a second. What is theoretically worse? Managing a park where the dinosaurs potentially kill people, and you you have that on your hands, right? Like I manage the park, the dinosaurs killed the people, but I didn't kill the people. Or managing a doctor's office where we're trying to help people, but sometimes helping kills people, also.
SPEAKER_03Like, what would you rather have way on your conscience? I I sit like very, very far on the Jurassic Park side. Okay, yeah. Because I mean, dinosaurs just doing what dinosaurs do, right? Yeah, and I mean, also it's a miracle that a dinosaur is even here, right? It's like, you know, you gotta risk it sometimes for the biscuit.
SPEAKER_02When you go to Jurassic Park, you are signing a contractual waiver with yourself saying there is a possibility I get eaten by a dinosaur. There is there is this possibility, so yeah.
SPEAKER_03A hospital, it's like you're genuine genuinely trying to help somebody, yeah. And then it might not happen, which would be awful. I would hate that pressure. But also, anybody who does that, thank you, because we could not live in this world without you, and we appreciate you. And I don't want your job.
SPEAKER_02Also, shout out to the people who empty the trash bins of the hospital. Yeah, a lot of two, a lot of two-bin gyms out there doing some real disgusting work in a in a place full of sick. Y'all are the real heroes. We appreciate you.
SPEAKER_03100%. Those people who just monitor that one floor, all the trash bins, you are the best.
Medical Massage And Cupping Explained
SPEAKER_03How are you? How was your week?
SPEAKER_02I am doing yes. Yes, okay. I am doing so yes right now. Uh, I just got back from a medical massage. Uh, I want to clarify it was a medical massage. I it was painful, right? Like it was it was focused on my neck and my traps. They did some cupping. I'm completely red on the back. Hey, if anybody wants to see it, he's taking his shirt off right now. I am. Log into the YouTube to see that happen in real time. Uh I am I am a little combination of like tired, relieved, and happy. It's almost the weekend. So I'm in a very, I'm in a very interesting spot right now. But I'll tell you this much, I don't hurt, which I did earlier today. So improvements. Improvements all around. Was this scheduled or was this an emergency massage?
SPEAKER_03Was the massage scheduled? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So you weren't like you didn't wake up this morning and be like, I need this. Let's get it in the box.
SPEAKER_02I needed it on uh Monday, which is when I texted and was like, hey, do you have any availability this week? Uh need help. So yeah, it's been is it like a chiropractor or is it like a massage massage? It's an actual massage therapist. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Interesting. Yeah, good for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh well, I've never I've never really had a real massage. I've had like a neck massage, never done like a full back massage before. Never done cupping, but it's not a good thing.
SPEAKER_02Cupping is intense. It's intense. Yeah. The uh this actually hurt the most I've ever had cupping done, but I asked for it too. Like I wanted the intense one. I I mean, like the the way I would describe it for those okay, step back. For those that don't know, between your skin and the rest of your body is this like magical layer called the fascia. And I'm not a doctor, so that's as far as I'm gonna get on that description. Basically, the fascia is it it can get tight and it is very important for your body. And the idea behind cupping is these these cups they they look like cups, but they're kind of silicon squeezy type things. They'll put them on your back and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze all the air out of it, very, very tight. Like your skin gets like pulled up into the cup, like a blister, and it feels like you're being pinched. That's the best description I can come up with. It's just it feels like you're being pinched, but the pinch can move. That's what they do. They like they grab a bunch of your skin and fascia and they move it up and then move it down and then move it up and move it down, and they put on your your your weak spot and they let it sit there for like five minutes. And then when they massage it afterwards with positive pressure, because cupping is negative pressure, massage is positive pressure, it it helps loosen things up, it helps them get more deeply into the muscle. And for me, it just makes me feel uh much less tense in the shoulders, where the traps where I carry my attention. So it's great, it hurts, hurts so much in the moment.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I bet. But it's good, you're feeling better now. But I can I can totally see how something like that is more exhausting than relaxing. Yes, and you kind of you kind of look like an octopus after, don't you? Like you just got a big old tentacle slapped across your back.
SPEAKER_02It is funny because I come in there and I'm all, and again, you can only see this on the YouTube. I come in there and I'm all like crunched. So I'm like, I've been I've been hunched over my laptop all week, my shoulders come forward. I'm I am the extended man. And when I get up from the table afterwards and and get dressed and come back out, she'll be like, Oh, how do you feel? I'm like, can you not tell? I am light years better than I was when I came in here. So it for me, I need it. It's a maintenance thing. Um, I've tried going without it, and what ends up happening is I just get really, really knotted up and stressed. So I think it's just it's the price we pay to have hunched over-the-desk jobs that bring a lot of stress, sadly.
SPEAKER_03100%. You you remind me of like when you know when you were a kid and you had like a suction cup thing, yeah. Like either to put something on a wall or whatever, yeah. And it would always be funny because like you'd slap it against your forehead, and you'd be like, hey, check it out, it's just over my forehead, but then you take it off your forehead and it leaves like this massive mark, and you're like, Oh yeah, what did I do? This might be there for days.
SPEAKER_02It is there for me. I usually have the marks for about a week.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So my my shoulders would be red for a week.
SPEAKER_03I remember times like when I was when I was a kid and this happened, like my friends would do it, and they would have this mark on their forehead for like a day or two, and it was the funniest thing in the world because just no one expected it, and it was hilarious.
SPEAKER_02You're bringing up that fascia, you're you're unloosening it, right? Uh, which is which is great, feels great, just hurts.
SPEAKER_03That's good. Highly recommended. I've never done one. I think I'm due because I I hold all my tension inside my shoulders and neck area too. I think it's time. I think I gotta do it.
SPEAKER_02I have been to quite a few massage therapists. Uh it took me a while to find one that I really, really, really like. Um, I've got one. If you want one, I can hit you up after the stream, get you some info. Yeah. Can we do it together on a stream? Uh I'd I'd rather. I mean, if it's if it's for content, I guess, sure. Yeah. We'd have to.
unknownObviously.
SPEAKER_03If we get a Patreon members, we're doing this. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Patreon exclusive. Watch us get massages.
SPEAKER_03Enough people pay, we'll make anything happen.
SPEAKER_02No, what I mean, what you really want to see is the Pachakarma. I've talked about this before, but when I went up to that uh retreat, which you know, Pancha Karma is a type of massage that uses buckets of oil, and they were pouring like boiling hot oil all over my body, and uh just like I looked I looked like a greasy worm by the end of it. Two hours of that.
SPEAKER_03It's like you just came out the womb. That's what you look like. I I look I look prenatal. Yeah, it's uh it's great. This is just getting disgusting. I don't know. Sometimes this podcast takes these turns. I don't know how we got there. You asked how I was doing.
SPEAKER_02This is this is this where we go. Every time you ask me how I'm doing, you will regret it. I'll teach you never to ask. I will teach you.
When A Key Person Takes Off
SPEAKER_02Hey, so I was thinking about Tube and Jim.
SPEAKER_03Remember Tube and Jim? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. From like 30 seconds ago, from like two days ago. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do you remember Tubein Jim? So I was thinking, what would happen if Tubein Jim was like, hey, I'm taking two weeks off work?
SPEAKER_03Specifically in our scenario? Yeah, what happens? What happens if Tube Bin Jim takes a couple weeks off?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, in that case, you just have trash cans that are overflowing. And then what do you do? The NPS scores start going down because people are like the park is very dirty.
SPEAKER_02Do you does that happen? If we if we said two bin gym take two weeks off, would those two bins be overflowing?
SPEAKER_03I think it depends. I think if we were a functional corporation, where we would have redundancy. We would have redundancy. You'd have someone else, maybe like I'm trying to think of another good name, and I can't do it. One bam jam? One that doesn't even make sense. What is a bam? Why is it jamming? I I couldn't come up with anything better than two bin gym. It's it's so good. One one bin one one bin Kim?
SPEAKER_02One bin Kim, yeah. But she only manages one bin. So is she gonna fill in for two bin?
SPEAKER_03She might have to. She might have to go double duty. But that's that's what I think a functional organization would have is they'd have redundancy, they'd have a plan, and two bin Jim would leave his duties in a written, instructed format so that anybody could follow it and do his job. That is that is what you would hope, right?
SPEAKER_02Is that is that what usually happens? No. No. What happens? What happens when tubin Jim takes two weeks off work? And I don't know why Tubein Jim only does things in twos, by the way, but this is how this guy operates. When he takes two weeks off work, what happens as manager what happens?
SPEAKER_03Has two cars, yeah, to bin gym. He's got two wives. You know, unfortunately, it's what I started with is the bins start overflowing.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_03And until it becomes a serious enough problem, no one really does anything about it. They're like, eh, I guess this is just isn't gonna be done for two weeks until something very serious happens. Like trash on the ground and someone slips, and then someone, you know, files a suit against the park. And now you gotta worry about well, who didn't clean it up, who's responsible? And that's when everyone starts jumping into action when there's a negative repercussion.
SPEAKER_02What if I told you, Michael, this is not a hypothetical, and I am actually three team member Tony, and there was two days this week where all three of my team members were either traveling, moving, or off. That's miserable. What did you do? Nothing? Uh, you know what? I handled it like a boss, both literally and emotionally. Because I know what my team does, they know what I do. In the same circumstance that I left, they'd be able to fill in for me, I'm able to fill in for them. And because I knew they were going out, we planned ahead on what needed to be filled in, where, why, and how. And it got me thinking, you know, it was it was funny when we were doing the roller coaster tycoon and Ika suggested we call the guy two bin gym. I was thinking about like this, this is this is kind of weird. Like, we've got these specialized, we've got this specialized garbage man here. My specialized team is is a wall, one for the entire week. And I've been in I've been in both sides where you have a specialist out and it is just an absolute nightmare because no one can fill in for them, or you've got a specialist that's out, but they give you instruction. They set up, hey, this is what I need to get done this week while I'm gone. Uh, everything else can wait. If you get me emails, just you know, unless it's an emergency, let it sit. There's two approaches to this, but I feel that it's worth digesting both from the manager side as well as the employee side, how you can make this as painless as possible. 100%. Where do you want to start? Employee side? Let's do employee
Employee Tips For Taking PTO
SPEAKER_02side. I think that's the that's probably the more interesting one to the non-managers out there. So, in in my humble opinion, IMHO even, uh, I always would suggest at least giving a two-week warning when you're going to be gone for any period of time.
SPEAKER_03Right. You you hit the nail on the head. It's what do you not do? Is you can't be mad if the day before you're trying to be out for a week, you say, Hey, manager, I need to take next week off. And if you get the answer no, you can't be mad about that. You did not set anyone up for success, and you did not give them a heads up. You gave no one time to prepare or look at what's coming. You're really just leaving everybody hanging. And your team might be great, they might be able to pull full through for you, but it's just the wrong thing to do. And giving adequate warning, like you recommended, is the first thing to do. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02And when you don't do that, not only does your manager lose stock in you, but your team does as well. Because they're gonna have to fill in for you, probably, unless your manager's capable of doing it on their own. It's it's a total sinkage for your brand in the biz.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, 100%. I've worked with some really great communicators on my team, too, because that's an area that I'm not great at communicating well and having a really well thought out plan and more of like a burn the ships and let's move forward and do as minimal communication as you need, but get the work done. And so I always hire people that are really, really good at it, and that always serves me well because they keep me in check. But one thing I love that that they used to do is they would give the the long heads up. If they planned a cruise or something, it's like a month ahead, they would have in their signature upcoming out of office this date through this date. So everybody knows that everybody they communicated to would know, hey, this person's gonna be out. And if you missed it and there's something urgent that comes up, yeah, that's on you. That's a really good tip. Yeah, I've never seen that before, so it was in their sig. It's in their signature, yeah. They updated their signature to have it, even on their little like Slack or team status, they would have like a status to say, Oh, coming out of office. So though that's just great communication. That is pro-communication. Let everybody know that you're gonna be out of office.
SPEAKER_02For for me, my team will generally put an out of office for you know, they'll they'll their outlook calendar will say out of office for this week. Um, because I'm the manager, I have to approve the time off, which is nice because it gives me like, oh yeah, you know, Greg is out for two weeks, and you know, Janice, she's only out for a couple of days, but like I can know. Planning is the biggest part of being gone, which is interesting because you would think, you would think and assume that just the work will be there when you get back, and that is true for the most part, but the thing you can never plan for is what comes in uh during that time of absence. Because I think people are generally pretty good at like, hey, I'm gonna take two weeks off, don't worry about it. All my projects are on track, I've got my goals on schedule, like there's no there's no re-rush there. But it's when someone needs something from them while they're not there, how do you handle that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's it's tough because I've had, like I said, pro communication tips, give your outside.
SPEAKER_04Another ghost.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Make sure all those people they were great about days before they were gonna be out saying, Hey, here's everything that's going on my calendar, here's who have it. They sent it to me as a manager. They said, This is who on my team is covering it. And I just felt so reassured because I knew like they've got it figured out, everybody on their team is covering things for them, and they'll call out to say, like, hey, I could really use your help here, here, and here. And so, like, that's that's incredible. Like, you can't do much more as an employee, but set up everybody for success by doing that. And then everybody knows to be like, wait, hold on a second, I didn't know about this, or maybe we should push this out to your back. Like, gives everybody a chance to respond. So, those are some really, really pro tips. Well, if you can suck. No, no, no, hit it for. In the pro tip. Keep
Docs, Training, And Being Promotable
SPEAKER_03going.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Okay. So I was going to say the one thing we haven't really talked about is training. And this is something you can't do two weeks before you're gone for two weeks. This is something you have to do months in advance and plan on this. And this is, I think this is actually a really good look for you if you do this. And say, hey, either to your boss or your teammates. You know, there are there's something, there is some things about my job that some might find either complex or if I was gone, difficult to manage. Maybe there's certain logins, certain access, certain requirements, etc. I've got a confluence page up. It is basically just a in case you need this while I'm gone, you can refer to this page, and I don't get you access to anything you would need to get access to that I am managing and controlling. And if it's even more complicated than that, it might be hey, I just want to schedule a 30-minute meeting with a team just to say, on the off chance, I get hit by a bus tomorrow. Here's how you all can continue doing what I'm doing if I'm gone, right? Like not do my job, but just be able to maintain uh some semblance of job, right? And doing that is such a big brand booster because it's kind of telling, it's telling others, like, look, I can be succeeded, which means I can also grow, right? If if I'm able to train other people to do my job while I'm gone, and when I come back, you know, if nothing breaks, that means I've got it working pretty smoothly, things are going pretty well. Management, like me, notices that. I'm like, oh yeah, you're making my life so much easier by doing this. Thank you. Uh and that that's really promotability right there. Because that says you are ready to manage a team of people if you're doing this and you're thinking this way already.
SPEAKER_03Right. I've never thought about it like that, but that's so true. It's like by you making yourself redundant, you are putting other people at giving them the ability to do your role. Right. And that is a sign for management. Like that is the best thing to be like, oh yeah, if this person's out, like we got it covered. And it's not, I think a lot of people would think, but by making myself redundant, doesn't that mean like my role is not that important, or like there's nothing special or unique that I bring? And and the answer is no. It's like you're you have a job, and making yourself redundant makes you a better and more responsible corporate citizen. But the uniqueness and what you bring in the intangibles, the soft skills, things like that, like that is unique, and that's why they hired you. They probably could hire a monkey to do your job. I know they could hire one to do mine, but it's the intangibles to hire you for you know being a good person to work with and helping bring value in ways that we probably never even thought of before, and to do the job that they probably hired you for. But there's so much more to being a corporate citizen that grows and is going to be a prospect for future growth in the company.
SPEAKER_02And good management knows that redundancy is never a bad thing, it's a great thing. You live for it. And let's say, you know, Tube Bin Jim. Tube Bin Jim's gone for two whole weeks, but those bins still manage to get cleaned while he's gone because Tubein Jim made sure to tell uh one bin Kim, like, hey, sorry, you gotta be three bin Kim this week. Here's my two bins, here's how I clean them. Please just make sure you check that once a day. We don't want trash overflowing in the park. The customers get real upset and it affects our NPS score, and we're gonna see it in the thought bubble. And when we click that top right button, when two and gym comes back and everything's business as usual, his management, i.e. you and me, look at him like, man, Tube and Jim's doing the good work, right? Like, I love the fact that Tubin Jim got some time away and nothing fell apart. Tubin Jim's doing good, right?
SPEAKER_03Like, redundancy is great. It's interesting too, like when you think about it, and we've talked about this on the podcast before, like, when you get into executive level roles, it's so much less about you. And I feel like doing that at an individual contributor level is getting you prepared to do that, to say, hey, I am preparing someone else or anybody else to be successful in my job. So, yes, I'm ready for management, but also, you know, I'm getting the value of my role still, even though I'm not even there, and I can go do other things while other people tackle my job. Like that's that's what the executive level role is about. It's you can't be the person doing everything anymore. Yeah, you've got to let go, separate yourself from that, and say, I'm a people leader, I train my people, and my people are gonna be able to do my job or anyone else's job, and like my team is going to be what shows the whole company that I am doing well. If my team doesn't do well, it doesn't matter how good I am doing individually. It has to be my team who's doing well for me to do well. And I feel like even though that's like a small step to get to that level, I think that's the latter, right? Like, I think think back to like what we did. I didn't even put two and two together until now, but even when we were, you know, working as small little software engineers, we were doing that. We're like, let's document everything, let's have everything in a good spot, organized. Like we were doing that without knowing it could lead to something like that later on. And I think it helped us through those management transitions.
SPEAKER_02I I thought you said I'm a people eater, and I was just like so lost for a few seconds there, like, oh, revelations on the stream.
Manager Moves For Coverage And Growth
SPEAKER_02Uh so speaking of eating people, let's talk about the management layer, right? Because it is different.
SPEAKER_03You want something. Yeah, we didn't finish the thing you asked of like, okay, the person's gone, and you know, they're the only person who can do this. What do you do? That's like that is just meaning someone failed. No, someone didn't say, Hey, two bin gym, make sure you have a plan, make sure you delegate to one Ben and Kim. She needs someone to do it. Like, no one guided you to do that. And if you're a self-starter, you're gonna do that automatically when we talk about. But if that question gets asked and then they're calling you up in the middle of your vacation, it is more than likely your fault.
SPEAKER_02Yes, you have failed. Well, and that's why I think it's important to talk about the management side because let's say two bin gym is not to be him is not a proactive person. This happens, right? Like, hey, when he's here, those bins is clean. But the second tube and gym ain't here, them bins is nasty. So as management, we have to look at that and say, okay, Tubein Jim is not a proactive person. That's fine. Tube and Jim does his dog, his job, never gonna get past being tubin gym, sadly. But as the manager, I gotta make sure when he's gone, we're able to fill in for this. So it's then it's a question of do I talk to Tube and Jim about being proactive, about growth opportunities, about creating the best brand for themselves, or do I accept the fact that Tube and Jim is just kind of a Tube and Jim is quiet quitting on his job. All right, like those bins is always gonna be clean while he's there, they ain't gonna be clean when he's not. And in that case, as a manager, I have to step up and say, okay, I gotta go talk to Kim. I gotta say, listen, Kim, two ben's gonna be gone, didn't give us a lot of notice. I'm really sorry this is gonna impact you negatively. Um, but this is a this is an opportunity for you to prove if you are able to do this. Uh, think about how you could expand this or make this easier. Perhaps this is a growth opportunity for you, one bin Kim, to maybe even take on an extra bin long term and then maybe even another bin manager.
SPEAKER_03Wow. The career growth is phenomenal here. I'm loving it. More every word in your head. Two bin Kim. Maybe even three bin Kim. Maybe three bin Kim.
SPEAKER_02You know what I mean? Kim manager of bin Harbingers.
SPEAKER_03Ooh.
SPEAKER_02Harbin. Harbiners.
SPEAKER_03I'm dying. This is it's interesting too, like when you think about that. That's one way to do it. Is go to go ask your team to step up and say, hey, you gotta cover it. Another way to do it is say, I've been there before. One bin Kim may not be able to do this on her own. I'm gonna step in and I'm gonna do the duties for two bin Jim. That's another way to do it. That's what I did this week. Pros and cons to doing that. That's what I did this week. I was gonna say, like, I think let's talk about the pros and cons of that. Pro, it kind of makes you look like a hero to your team to say, hey, our manager is willing to step down and help with whatever needs to get done. It promotes, and I said that in a bad way, it promotes a positive team culture, was really what I was going for. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, in in my case, in real life, my two bin gym, um, I was filling in for them this week, mostly just doing email communication and managing some of their projects. And it just made me appreciate the heck out of them. And I I already did, I already did, but it's like, man, I'm so glad I have this person. Because even though they they told me, like, look, here's all you gotta do while I'm out. Um, it's not much, but like it is this. It just made me realize like if they weren't here and I had this extra on my plate, I would have so much more gray hair than I have right now. Yeah, so there is that angle too, right? Is it it's an opportunity to kind of show here's the value I bring. When I'm not here, here's the value you're missing, right? Like that's an angle too.
SPEAKER_03It's true. I actually like that. Of like that, also brings the appreciation for what your team does when you may have gotten out of touch with it. I think to do something like that, you have to be someone who actually can do that job. You know, there's some managers who have never done the role, they're just a manager of the team. They can't, they don't have the skills to do that thing. Yeah. And so, like, for some people that's not an option. But I do think the better way to approach it is what you said of like, go talk to the team and be like, hey, it's not that I can't do it. I could do it if I wanted to, but I need to help motivate my team as a potential growth opportunity for them to see, like, can they handle more of a workload? That's a big brain move right there for a manager. If that person, if you know truly that person is trying to like prove themselves, they're trying to grow. Now, if the person just wants to check in and check out and they're 65 and about to retire, probably not the right move, right? It's like just let just let one bin Kim do her thing. I'm gonna step in and help just because that's what the team needs, and I there's no reason to put that pressure on Kim. I do think the other big brain move is to to coach to Bin Jim to be like, Jim, you got to put together a plan. You know, if you're gonna be out, what's the plan? Who's gonna help cover your duties? How are you gonna set us up for success? I do think that's the the bigger brain move of coaching your team to do that because it's good for them and it's good for you as the manager so you don't have more work to do.
SPEAKER_02I love that because it's also good for them long term. Because when you teach someone how to coach, they will then teach someone how to coach. And again, you're you're setting them up for long-term success because they're learning, hey, I gotta think about more than just me when I'm here. And again, when you think that way, that's upper level leader in management, not HR manager, where it's just like, oh yeah, I manage this team. No, that's leader level, right? I think that is the difference between a leader and a manager is a leader is thinking about things, all of the parts of the machine and how it fits together, how they can help make it better, uh, not just how do I make the parts work and walk away.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think that's that's where a lot of people get caught. And I think the signs are if your manager, you're the let's say you're the manager, and your manager comes to you and be and is like, hey, two bin gym is gonna be out. Like, what are you gonna do? If they are coming to say that to you, it means you have not proven that you can manage those situations. Yep. I can tell you, like earlier on when my team had a lot of high priority stuff to do a universal, my manager did come to me because they were worried. They're like, hey, this thing is super important, you guys are on it, this person's gonna be out for two weeks, they're critical, you got it covered. But like over time, I built that confidence to be like, they never even ask. They know it's like, hey, if I got five people out, it doesn't matter. I'm not gonna go talk to them. I got it, my team will figure it out, and we're not gonna let any any ball drop outside of that. So when your management is not coming to you asking, like, what are you gonna do? It means they trust you and you've handled those situations before and proven as a leader, you can handle a larger team to be able to do something like that. So there's a lot of benefits, honestly, even as an individual contributor, that you could look at somebody being gone to say, How can I step up? Like, if I'm one bin Kim and I want to grow, I think a great thing for an employee to do is being like, hey, one two bin Jim, how can I help cover you know a bin for you in this next week? And then you guys both go to your manager and be like, hey, one bin Kim is gonna come two bin Kim. One and half bin Kim. Half bin Johnny is gonna come through a half bin over here too, and we're gonna be just fine. It'd be half been Hank, okay?
SPEAKER_02Half been Hank. Oh my god. I'm gonna miss that layup. Oh well, there's one, you know, you just you just keep me into one more positive in all this. It was it was in your own story of like your your early career. When you are capable of doing this, an upper level manager doesn't have to worry about you because you know, hey, if if half been Hank is out, maybe half been Hank has found another job and he's moving on. I got a plan. And I know exactly what I need to fill in and hire for to replace half-bin Hank. So there's a lot of pieces that can be used here, both to managerial benefit as well as individual contributor. And it's it's so funny because it all ties around absence, right? Like being able to manage and understand what happens when an employee or a manager is out, how to fill in for them, that only creates growth opportunities long term, whether it's someone leaving, whether it's just going on vacation, whether you're managing a team, like there is real opportunity for growth in these strange little situations where someone's not able to do the job.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's it's a big piece to being able to manage people and a team and projects like management is being able to handle situations like this. It's a little bit of adversity, but it's more of just how do you manage getting your work done with the resources that you have available? And I mean I'm not trying to equate humans to resources, but it's like the same thing. It's like you got this much time, you got this many people, you got this project deadline, you've got to figure out how to make it happen. And it's the this problem-solving equation that you really have to do as a manager of like, I'm gonna move the pieces around, I'm gonna deprioritize this, I'm going to let this person know that this project's gonna be two weeks late because I know I got all these vacations, so we need a little bit more time. Like all those proactive things that go into setting you up for success, where you know, the big big rock twist doesn't fall over, you know, when someone's out for two weeks. Hey when that happens. I think that's all it is.
SPEAKER_02You know, it it would happen less. The big rock twist would fail less uh if it was adequately balanced with riders. Just a suggestion, just a gentle. I I think there was a solution to get more people on Big Rock Twist. I think there might have been.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02There might have been something we could have done. I disagree.
SPEAKER_03I think I think if you were to disrupt the careful balance that the Big Rock Twist was having throughout that whole equation, the whole park might have burned to the ground.
SPEAKER_00Well, it just about you know, it almost did burn to the ground when you installed uh the destroyer or whatever the heck it was. No, you mean Tyranimo.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry. I'm sorry, and again, if you haven't seen our Rolico's Tycoon stream, just go watch it. I guarantee you, if you think it's gonna be boring, you are so wrong. This man is a madman. Like, on on these, I'm the goof. And there, I was like, what is happening? He's literally he he's out goofing the goof.
SPEAKER_03I couldn't I couldn't keep up. Couldn't keep up. And we look away for a split second, and there's this giant explosion, right? Oh no, what did we just do? It was a real shame we didn't just open it. You know, like that we might not have ever hit our goal. Thank goodness for the 80 hour test that we did, there's nobody on that route. Yikes! That would have been that would have been fun.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think I think that I think that sums it up pretty nicely, don't you?
SPEAKER_03I think that was great. I think you covered we covered all the points. It was a good topic too, because we haven't really talked about that. But yeah, I think look at it as an opportunity. Yeah, you should be aware of your surroundings, who's gonna be out, and just just don't be like, oh great, I got so much more work. Look at it as that opportunity to grow. I think that's the best way to look at it. As a manager, look at it as that way to flex your team, to challenge somebody, to structure in a way where you're not going to have to do more work, or you can spread the load amongst everybody so your team is well balanced and you can create a team culture to be like, hey, I'm gonna step in because you need me to. I think the key thing is like when you're stepping in, make sure that you're doing it the way Tube and Jim, if he was doing well, is doing it.
Cover The Work Without Chaos
SPEAKER_03Don't just hop in and do it your way. Because especially if that's working with a team, like I've done that before, where a product owner is out and I'm like, I'm just gonna step in. I'll show them how it's done, and I do it my way. And I think it goes really well. And then afterwards, I hear everything is just in total chaos behind the scenes because they're like, didn't get the requirements we needed, he didn't put it in the format that we wanted, like all these things that I should have spent more time with the tube in gym to be like, hey, how do you how do you do this? What is your team comfortable with? Okay, great. I understand. Like, let me help in the way that makes sense, not just jump in like I could do it in the first place. I love it.
SPEAKER_02And I love that you did it your way, your way or the highway. Uh, I think uh I think that's it. I think we did it. It was a lot of fun. I think we did. I think we did it was a lot of fun.
Subscribe, Discord, And Patreon Pitch
SPEAKER_02Um, hey, what what can people do if they want to help us out here?
SPEAKER_03There are just so many things you can do. One, go and watch the stream, subscribe to YouTube. It was a lot of fun. I don't know what minute marker Toronto is in, but once you get to Toronto, you'll have a blast watching that stream. We did we did pretty pretty well.
SPEAKER_02We need a t-shirt that says uh I survive Toronto.
SPEAKER_03That'd be so good. A little like corporate strategy logo, I survive Toronto on the back.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, or one that just says Sonic dot dot dot and on the back it goes boo.
SPEAKER_03I love this. I would wear that merch every day of my life. I think. Yeah, like, comment, subscribe, ring the bell, share the podcast. Please. Hey, please, we need and we have Patreon.
SPEAKER_02We do, and you know what? There's something pretty cool on Patreon right now. Isn't there? What's that? Something a little spicy. Something a little spicy, just a little spicy. Uh we talked about something we would never ever talk about on this podcast. We want to, but we wouldn't. Because I am still employed at a real company. So we do that kind of stuff in the dark, in the underground, like the Teenage Moot and Ninja Turtles. And you too can be a turtle if you sign up for our Patreon. So go to the Patreon, the link is in the notes. Uh, we have a $1 tier, we got a $10 tier. Every piece of dollar that we make, because dollars do come in pieces, uh, goes towards the pub the podcast uh operating funds. We actually have goals set. If we hit cash flow positivity, the first thing we are going to buy is a uh is an automatic tripod, selfie stick monopod device that would allow us to really amp up our our exclusive content. So, hey, if you want to see us talk about something we would never talk about here, it's a dollar, it's a dollar a month. Like you spend more money on toothpaste. I promise you. A dollar a month for corporate strategy is not a big ask. Uh, and it would only create more cool and awesome and super secret spicy content for you if you sign up.
SPEAKER_03So maybe check it out. I just texted. I just texted Anthony this morning with a topic that I'm like, this has to be an exclusive one. But it's gonna be spicy, it's gonna be real to the workplace, and you're gonna want to hear it.
SPEAKER_02I think uh once Michael realized we could, you know, go real off limits, taking taking the phone into the the walking path, then it was like, oh, floodgates open, we're gonna talk about everything now. So uh if you want to hear that kind of stuff, go to our Patreon, even if you don't want to pay, uh, sign up because it it helps our visibility. There's a chat, there's all kinds of things that you can find on the Patreon. Links to the podcast, links to this, everything. So check it out. It's a good place to keep up with all things corporate strategy. Agreed. Well said. No, you did.
SPEAKER_01No, you. No, you. Always, it's always you. It's always been you.
SPEAKER_02I love it. I think that does it. I think I think we've hit uh the end of our rope for yet another episode of Corporate Strategy podcast. Could have been an email. Uh please join our Discord, hang out with us. And uh until next time, stay safe, put on your ride restraints, and when they do that tug to make sure you're snugged in, slip out. Give them the old, give them the old one two slip and really give them a run for their money. Ride attendants love that. Until next time, I'm Anthony. And I'm Michael. And you're on mute. We'll see ya next week.
