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Hi, this is Karan Bajaj and today we’ll talk about how to ask your work for a sabbatical. And I’ll speak from my own experience.
First getting a sabbatical with the Boston Consulting Group for six months and then with Kraft Foods for one whole year. The first thing you’ve to realize is that this is a difficult conversation to have. And when I first started researching the internet a couple of years ago, when I was about to approach Kraft for a sabbatical I found a lot of advice there and none of it was very useful. People said things like tell them how you would end up growing, as a result of taking a year off to travel. But we all know that corporate America, corporate India doesn’t really care about what will happen one year from now. And whether you’ll grow up or become a better person.
They want to know what’s going to happen now and your going for a sabbatical is a significant resource crunch for the organization. So in that environment how do you make it work, right? So here goes my tips.
My first tip is actually beyond just the sabbatical conversation. If you want a sabbatical you have to be someone who’s just exceptional at your job and to be exceptional to your job means that not only do you do your own work well but you are stretching beyond your role. And you are constantly being the person who becomes a conduit for the best things that are happening in the industry for things that are happening outside the company. If you are kind of that eager-beaver person who’s just not doing their own job well but is constantly on the top of the most important industry trends and brings it back to the organization. And if you are that kind of an exceptional person then your job will become much easier because people will not only want you back but they’ll also actually care about you a lot. So that’s my first tip is be very, very exceptional to your job if you know you’re about to have a sabbatical conversation. Become even more exceptional for the six months or so leading up to it. But in general, just have that mindset that you have to be very good at your job. So that’s kind of the first idea. Now getting to the actual sabbatical conversation.
- My first advice there is to be very clear on your goal and be extremely specific about that goal. Your chances of getting a sabbatical are much lower if you have a general goal that I want to take some time off or I want to travel the world. That’s not a very inspiring goal that you can kind of rally somebody else behind. So for instance, in my case when I went to Kraft I said, look I have three goals. For three months I want to learn to become a yoga teacher. So you know yoga a very important part of my life and this is my one time to really go and deepen my own practice. My second goal is to walk the Camino de Santiago which is a 1000 mile hike which has been a personal pilgrimage that I’ve always wanted to do. And my third goal is that I want to write my next novel. So to have those very specific clear goals was extremely useful for the conversation because it allowed somebody to fully understand me as a person and get behind and help support the goal. So I would say if you’re asking for a sabbatical be extremely specific about the goal. Is this, for instance, I have you know, all my life I wanted to you know climb Mount Everest? So I want to take three months to climb Mount Everest. Or I wanted to do a dog sledding race in Alaska and this is the only chance that the dog sledding race is available. So if you are very specific about the goal and ideally it has some kind of urgency to it. That you know the Mount Everest can only be climbed in these three months of the year. Then you have a much, much higher chance of getting people to rally behind that goal. So that’s my first step, have a very specific goal.
- My second tip is to be very, very clear on the timing. Don’t just generally say that I want to take a year off or I want to take some time off because the company will always come back to you with a smaller window. So in my case, for instance, I was very clear with Kraft that I wanted at least ten months off. And then they came back and said they could do three months. But then I was like no, I really want these ten months because one month will go in planning and three months in writing in Portugal. And it’ll take me three months to hike for 1400 kms, which was the Camino De Santiago and it’ll take me three months to complete my yoga teachers training. So the more specific and clear you are on your timing the more it gives the organization a feeling that you have a very strong purpose that you’re going for and that you do intend to come back after that purpose is done. Versus it being a loose, free, you know, free fall which is, I don’t know when I’ll come back’ and ‘I don’t even know if I’ll come back’ sort of a feeling that you should not communicate.
- I would say is start talking about a transition plan. So if you are very clear saying that what I’ve been thinking is that if for these six months that I’m gone if Gregory who doesn’t have a role yet can do this role and then when I come back I can take the role back or I can do Gregory’s role. Because I’ve always been interested in that role. Or I could take John’s role. If you start mapping out a little bit of a plan then once again the organization, it helps in two ways. A’ the organization gets a sense that you are actually very keen on coming back. And this is not your free pass to go into the world and look for another job. So they sense that you are very passionate and clear about coming back. And secondly, basically helps your manager plan their resources better.
So with these three tips, I think having a very, very clear tangible goal or setting a time frame for that goal and thirdly having a transition plan you’ll be able to communicate to the organization that you’re serious about the time off and that you do intend to come back. And as I said in the beginning if you’re exceptional at the job and an exception in the sense of being above and beyond your job, going above and beyond your job. I have no reason to doubt that you’ll be successful in asking your organization for a sabbatical.
I wish you the very best. I hope you have considered sabbatical, if not speaking from our own experience, I can tell you that was the best thing we ever did. Our one year spent in learning yoga, meditation then writing was worth, I would say five to seven years of trying to do those activities on the side and if I could help you as always reach out to me, karan@karanbajaj.com for any questions at all and I’ll be very, very glad to help.
Good luck and thank you for listening to me.
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