--- title: "Episode #159: A Christmas Policy that Benefits Both You and Employees with Craig Andrews" description: Discover how Craig Andrews' leadership approach of holiday shutdowns fosters loyalty, productivity, and work-life balance, inspired by his team's resilience during his six-week coma. image: https://pod.allies4me.com/hubfs/Podcast/Episodes/Craig_Andrews-R-3.jpg --- [![Allies4me](https://pod.allies4me.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Allies4me_May2022/images/logo.svg "Allies4me")](https://allies4me.com/) Menu - [Home](https://allies4me.com/) - [Grow](https://allies4me.com/grow/) - [Financial Advisors](https://allies4me.com/grow/financial-advisors/) - [Foundations Courses](https://hub.allies4me.com/courses/course-signup/) - [Podcast](https://allies4me.com/podcast/) - [Have Craig Speak at Your Event](https://hub.allies4me.com/lp/speak/) - [Be a Guest](https://pod.allies4me.com/podcast-guest/) - [Get Started](https://allies4me.com/get-started/) - [Have Craig Speak at Your Event](https://hub.allies4me.com/lp/speak/) - [Community](https://allies4me.com/about/community/) - [Downloads](https://allies4me.com/downloads/) ## Episode #159: A Christmas Policy that Benefits Both You and Employees with Craig Andrews December 23, 2024 by [Craig Andrews](https://pod.allies4me.com/podcast/author/craig-andrews) Craig Andrews shares a deeply personal and professional story of resilience and leadership. After a life-threatening six-week coma, Craig woke to find his business thriving in his absence—a testament to the trust and empowerment he had instilled in his team. This episode dives into his unique approach to leadership, emphasizing rest and family time. By instituting a policy of hard shutdowns over major holidays, Craig fostered a culture of loyalty, productivity, and work-life balance. Craig challenges leaders to question the true productivity of holiday workweeks and highlights the long-term gains of giving employees time to recharge. His forward-thinking strategies not only enhance team performance but also build lasting legacies. Craig’s philosophy proves that leadership isn’t about micromanaging but empowering teams to excel independently. Connect with Craig on LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-andrews/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-andrews/) **Want to learn more about Craig Andrews' work at allies4me?** Check out his website at [https://allies4me.com](https://allies4me.com). Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply at [https://podcast.allies4me.com/podcast-guest/](https://podcast.allies4me.com/podcast-guest/). ## Key Points with Timestamps - **\[00:00:00-00:00:30\]** Introduction: Craig Andrews’ life-changing experience and the story of his team's resilience. - **\[00:00:51-00:01:16\]** Leadership and legacy: Setting the tone for impactful policies. - **\[00:01:16-00:02:29\]** The value of taking time off: Why Craig’s company observes two-week holiday shutdowns. - **\[00:02:30-00:03:36\]** Empowering teams with clear boundaries: No emails during holidays. - **\[00:03:49-00:05:21\]** Productivity through rest: The ROI of downtime on work quality. - **\[00:05:35-00:06:06\]** Building trust: A leadership style that inspired a thriving team during his absence. - **\[00:06:06-00:07:06\]** Closing remarks: The importance of leaving a legacy through leadership. ## Transcript 00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20 Craig Andrews I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career. 00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10 Craig Andrews My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show. 00;00;51;10 - 00;00;58;18 Craig Andrews Hey, this is Craig Andrews. We are not doing a normal podcast with a guest this week. 00;00;58;18 - 00;01;02;08 Craig Andrews This is Christmas week. And, 00;01;02;08 - 00;01;07;24 Craig Andrews basically, I didn't really surmise episode because probably listeners are going to be, 00;01;07;24 - 00;01;16;15 Craig Andrews a little bit less listenership will be less, but I wanted to share some ideas with you. And so I obviously recorded this podcast in advance. 00;01;16;17 - 00;01;30;15 Craig Andrews We shut down for two weeks over Christmas. And so in the concept of leaders and legacy, sharing lessons about how to run your business, I want you to think about shutting down, just doing the hard shutdown, 00;01;30;15 - 00;01;32;05 Craig Andrews for part of Christmas 00;01;32;05 - 00;01;35;12 Craig Andrews and maybe New Year. We do it for a full two weeks. 00;01;35;12 - 00;01;37;00 Craig Andrews We have a few more vacation. 00;01;37;00 - 00;01;38;03 Craig Andrews They are, you know, a few more, 00;01;38;03 - 00;01;50;00 Craig Andrews scheduled holidays, than most companies, but not a lot more, you know? So what we do is instead of, if you look at our vacation schedule or our holiday schedule, we do, Memorial Day, 00;01;50;00 - 00;01;57;02 Craig Andrews 4th of July, Labor Day, and a week off during Thanksgiving and two weeks off during Christmas. 00;01;57;04 - 00;01;58;25 Craig Andrews There's no other scheduled, 00;01;58;25 - 00;02;25;20 Craig Andrews holidays. And so, you know, from there, it's just a matter of taking vacation and did that for a couple reasons. You know, the origin of it was, I remember one Thanksgiving, I was working through Thanksgiving, I was traveling to visit family and and I come back from Thanksgiving and I'm just exhausted. And the the quality of my work, 00;02;25;20 - 00;02;29;14 Craig Andrews following that was just not, 00;02;29;14 - 00;02;30;13 Craig Andrews up to par. 00;02;30;15 - 00;02;44;18 Craig Andrews I wasn't productive, and I was burned out. And so I decided I was like, I'm going to take two weeks off for Christmas. And I did. And when I came back from Christmas, it was the most productive period, 00;02;44;18 - 00;02;51;10 Craig Andrews that I'd had in a long time. And I realized, you know what? I'm going to make this company policy. 00;02;51;12 - 00;03;09;23 Craig Andrews And I tell my employees, do not check your email during these shutdowns. You know, we're dead serious when you're off work. We want you to be off work. What that does is, you know, we recruit a lot of people that have families. 00;03;09;23 - 00;03;35;28 Craig Andrews And that lets them spend time with their family during Thanksgiving and Christmas. And so when I'm looking at, you know, recruit and people try and recruit them away, that becomes really hard because nobody else offers this, or very few other people offer this where it's just standard, no, don't work Thanksgiving week, no don't work Christmas week or New Year's week. 00;03;36;05 - 00;03;49;08 Craig Andrews And please don't even check your email. That's rare. And so that lets them spend quality time with their families. And it helps me with retention. 00;03;49;08 - 00;04;00;17 Craig Andrews But it helps me in more ways. So as we're going through, you know, we know that we're shut down these, you know, three weeks in the fourth quarter, 00;04;00;17 - 00;04;06;10 Craig Andrews but we still have a full 12 weeks of work to do, and everybody knows that. 00;04;06;12 - 00;04;12;26 Craig Andrews And so what happens is they still get the work done. They still get the work done. 00;04;12;26 - 00;04;23;18 Craig Andrews And then they take time off. I take time off over Christmas. When I come back, my brain is rested and I'm way more productive, as, 00;04;23;18 - 00;04;35;00 Craig Andrews are my employees. And so as you're thinking about company policies, as you're leading your team, I've got a question for you. 00;04;35;02 - 00;04;57;08 Craig Andrews When you have them working, you know, the day before Thanksgiving or a couple days before Thanksgiving or Black Friday, how much work's getting done when they're working the days, you know, Christmas week, the days leading up to Christmas, how much work are they getting done? I bet if you look around, you're going to see a lot of people talking. 00;04;57;08 - 00;05;21;07 Craig Andrews There's, you know, maybe some food that's been laid out and people are celebrating, you know, the holiday and they spend a lot of time talking and socializing, which is great, but they're not getting a lot of work done. And so what do you have to lose? I think that's really it. What do you have to lose by giving your team more time off during the holidays? 00;05;21;10 - 00;05;35;08 Craig Andrews And then what do you have to gain? I think you have a lot to gain and very little to lose. So in the spirit of leaders and legacies, there's a couple of tips that go into my leadership journey. 00;05;35;08 - 00;05;48;23 Craig Andrews How I lead my team, how I lead my business. And you know the story. When I was in Tacoma unexpectedly and everybody thought I was going to die, they ran the business as if it were their own. 00;05;48;25 - 00;06;06;13 Craig Andrews And, and then other freelancers reached out and offered to do whatever was needed. As long as I was in the hospital. And so I think it's been a winning strategy for me. I hope you'll consider it for yourself. Merry Christmas. 00;06;06;13 - 00;06;33;07 Craig Andrews This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this 00;06;33;07 - 00;06;35;02 Craig Andrews episode on social media. 00;06;35;04 - 00;06;58;14 Craig Andrews Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest, tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything. 00;06;58;16 - 00;07;06;23 Craig Andrews Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me. 00;07;06;23 - 00;09;08;28 Craig Andrews It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. 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