Conscious Pause

This post is the fourth in a series of ten that are currently being featured on LinkedIn in honor of the Crossland Group’s 25th Anniversary.

A few years ago while on a much-too-short and much-too-full vacation, I started thinking about the shortcomings of traditional “time off” from work. Short breaks often become full of “should dos” or spent rushing from one place to another. Many times, I’ve returned to work feeling less than revitalized and sometimes even more stressed than refreshed. 

Our company, The Crossland Group, has long focused on self-care–both for our clients and for ourselves–and are often thinking of new ways to deepen that practice. So, it was on that rushed vacation that I came up with a radical idea: what if we closed down the business for a full month each year, enabling everyone to take a true extended break? Naturally, skepticism set in; if we did this, could we continue to serve our clients with the high level of investment and care that we always had? Together, we created a six-month plan to restructure our work so that the entire month of August would be free for us to officially “close.” Once we announced our plans, we were immediately heartened by the support and encouragement we received from our clients–and pretty much anyone who heard about it.

Our first full August off took place in 2023, and while there were some learning curves, our entire team was transformed by this spacious permission to turn our energies toward ourselves, our families, and our other passions. There was something radically different about extending this time off to a full month. For one, we decided this month would not count toward anyone’s regular annual leave. Second, we signaled to our clients that we were taking our own well-being seriously, just as we advise the leaders we work with to do. We vowed that the intentional month-long pause would become a part of our business model and we now run the business on an eleven-month schedule. This experience was a transformative moment for Crossland—and has become one of many “out of the box” ideas that we’ve found a way to implement despite our initial doubts and fears. We know not everyone can take a month-long break every year, but we encourage everyone to consider how they might incorporate a more meaningful pause in the rhythm of work.

#Crossland25