”Sabbatical is the new black,” I said earlier this year, and I’ve been told that a sabbatical is also the new “status symbol.”

More importantly, sabbaticals are a new way to reinvigorate employees, and their workplaces are the eventual beneficiaries.

Compass Point  provides some proof in a new study of nonprofit leaders  who took three months of sabbatical leave. 

I shared this with Elizabeth Pagano of YourSABBATICAL  (a priceless resource if you’re dreaming about a sabbatical, or if you’re a visionary corporate leader interested in offering sabbaticals to your employees).  In turn, she sent me her company’s white paper on corporate sabbaticals.  Drop her a line (epagano@yourSABBATICAL.com) and she’ll send you a copy, too.

I think it’s risky for employers to do this – just like it’s risky to offer coaching to employees. What if the employee decides to chuck this job as a result of my generous offer of sabbatical time (or coaching)?  I have chosen to offer the services of professional coaches to people on my team.  It’s a gamble. Perhaps they will discover that “finding themselves” means leaving my employ.

Would I really want to hold anyone back from their greatest happiness and opportunities for personal and professional fulfillment?  No, I would not, even if it’s inconvenient for me.  I’m committed to helping people tap their untapped capacity. It would be hypocritical to stunt someone’s growth for my own selfish reasons.

I seriously contemplated not putting that in writing.  If it’s this difficult for me to do, I can imagine what a challenge that will be for a corporate manager in this economy.

Sabbaticals will continue to be “status symbols” until the culture undergoes a powerful change.  YourSABBATICAL and Compass Point are agents of that change. 

I’d join them, but, you know, I’m on sabbatical.

When I mentioned I’m on one, some people began telling me of their fabulous sabbaticals, and nearly everybody else told me how much they want one.

So take one! Why not, even if you can only stay for a minute? 

Yesterday, I told you the most important step in getting to take a sabbatical: plan for it.  Schedule it, make appropriate arrangements, and take it.  Commit to doing the difficult work of letting go of something in order to create the time and space for your sabbatical. Within appropriate boundaries for you, quit, postpone, say no to, delegate, share, or in some other way offload an activity that would prevent you from taking the time.

Maybe today you could choose a specific period of time you will call your sabbatical.  It could be a number of minutes per day, or a day, or whatever would work for you. Commit to that time. What would you do if you were taking a whole year?  Start doing that.  Or do something else. Or do absolutely nothing. 

If you commit to your sabbatical as I committed to mine, honor the time by making note of it. By the end of the year, you may find that you gave yourself a surprisingly long sabbatical!  

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to doing nothing.  I’m not very good at it yet so I need to keep practicing.