What August actually shows us

August gives you something the rest of the year doesn't. Two or three weeks far enough away from the normal rhythm to see how the business actually works. Without you.

What moved, what waited, and what needed your confirmation or sign-off before it actually went.

And more importantly, what pulled you back in when you were supposed to be away. Including your boss.

The time off doesn't create any of this. It's how you have been leading for the last eleven months.

Because all year, the same things happen at a speed that lets you deal with them.

A range sign-off. A margin or pricing call. A supplier issue. A team challenge. A customer request. A decision your team has already made but wants you to confirm.

Each takes ninety seconds - so you take them in your stride and don't see it as a problem.

Stop for a fortnight and the usual flow has nowhere to go. And it stacks up where you can finally see it.

When I was running global merchandising at Quiksilver, I could easily come back from two weeks in August to eleven decisions sitting in a queue with my name on them.

Two genuinely needed me.

Real commercial consequence. No one in the team could take the decision because it sat with me. Normal.

The other nine had a right answer that someone in my team already knew. They knew it. And I knew it.

Maybe they waited because nobody had ever really told them that they didn't have to wait.

So in my mind the tasks had moved. In their world the sign-off hadn't.

And that's where a lot of delegation breaks.

You hired someone strong. You built a great second layer. You told the team to make the call without you.

They did the work.

Then sent the decision back for your sign-off.

Not necessarily because they lack confidence. If nobody knows where their authority begins and ends, asking you is bloody rational.

And sometimes the pressure comes from above.

You can create all the autonomy you want below you, but if your boss still expects you personally in every important decision, you're still the bottleneck. You've just changed where the pressure comes from.

That's why August is useful.

Not because your holiday teaches you that you're tired. Let's be honest, you knew that on day two.

It stress-tests how decisions actually move through your business.

And the cost isn't the ninety seconds it takes you to clear each one when you come back.

The cost is the momentum the business should be having when you step out.

The cost is the impact it's having on your team's growth, and on the very business you are asking them to drive.

And it's the impact you're not having, because too much of your time is spent being involved in things that shouldn't need you.

So before September puts everything back at full speed, look at what August showed you:

1. What moved without you, and what waited unnecessarily?

2. What came back for your sign-off?

3. What pulled you back in? And how soon did it happen?

If you are making calls, answering emails or calling in to meetings when you should be on the beach, by the pool or hanging out with your humans, that's information. It's showing you a pattern.

And if the same pattern is still there in September, it's worth fixing before another year disappears while your team doesn't grow into the team you need them to be.

Andrew