In a previous blog highlighted Lidia how much we love being able to help people make their dreams come true. And if that is a sabbatical, we are happy to support it. As long as we do our best together to find the right balance between freedom and responsibility. In this article, we'll talk to Lidia Swinkels, one of the founders of Summiteers, Jules van Merrienboer and Casper Kemperman, management consultants at Summiteers, about their sabbatical experiences.

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Contributing to growth

“It's great when you can help people achieve their dreams,” Lidia begins. “At Summiteers, we not only want to contribute to the professional development of the team, but also to personal growth. A sabbatical is a valuable way to get a fresh look at life — and work is part of it. And yes, when four out of thirty people are gone, you can feel that as an organization. But with good consultation, it can always be arranged, for example by ensuring that a sabbatical matches an assignment that is ending.”

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Passion

“Travelling and backpacking have always been my passion,” says Jules. “Before my time at Summiteers, I already made a few wonderful backpacking trips, and during my time at Summiteers, I also made great trips to faraway places. The Covid years threw a spanner in the works when it came to traveling. As my fifth anniversary at Summiteers approached, I started thinking about taking a sabbatical. In close consultation with Summiteers, it finally wasn't long before I was able to dust off my backpack again to travel.”

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Roundtrip ticket

“Jules was our first employee and was therefore an important part of Summiteers from the start,” Lidia concludes. “Although we wholeheartedly supported his sabbatical, we did give him a return ticket on his fifth anniversary. At least that way, we were sure he would come back,” she says with a wink.

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Reflect

Casper left at the end of 2023 and returned to the team after three months of travel in April: “My friend Sophia and I have wanted to go on a big trip for a long time. Due to our busy lives and, of course, the corona crisis, nothing came of it. But the itch remained. We wanted to get out of our hectic life, discover new countries and cultures, meet people with diverse backgrounds and come back to ourselves for a while. An excellent opportunity to take a rest and reflect on everything we were doing in the Netherlands.”

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Patience and Acceptance

Jules reflects: “When traveling, things often go differently than planned. You have little control over that and you only have to accept that. Moreover, everything abroad is often a few paces lower than in the Netherlands. Well, I'm not immediately known for my patient nature, so that was sometimes quite a challenge for me. I see this as a parallel with work. Projects are like traveling, with a point of departure and arrival. The trip itself almost always goes differently than planned. It's important to realize that this isn't a bad thing, because you can still get to your destination via a different route. The lesson I learn from this: be more patient, accept more quickly that things may go differently than expected or planned, and also enjoy the journey that takes you to the end result.”

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Balance

Casper: “When you have all the time in the world and can only do fun things, you have to monitor your own energy carefully. By nature, I don't sit still and do all kinds of things, so with a lot of free time, this can result in a schedule that is too full. That's why I sometimes found it difficult to find a good balance between rest, time for myself and the travel activities we wanted to do. That is sometimes just as challenging at work, so you should also divide your time between work, fun and rest. This sabbatical made me even more aware of the importance of this. Life is about making choices, daring to say “no”, and managing your time. Now that I'm back, I'll keep working on this, and I believe it will also have a positive impact on my collaboration with colleagues and customers.”

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Open culture

“When I presented my plans for a sabbatical, Summiteers immediately gave me a positive response,” says Jules. “The great thing is that Dolf and Paul, two of the founders of Summiteers, also took a sabbatical themselves. As a result, they understood my need. They understand the added value of such an experience like no other. This is characteristic of the open culture within Summiteers: when you bring something up, we'll think about it together and design it. My advice to anyone who is unsure about a sabbatical: discuss your plans with your employer and go for it! It's an experience that will last for the rest of your life.”

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Open communication

Lidia nods affirmatively: “Open communication and coordination are essential. When we know what you want, we can support you in achieving it, while at the same time ensuring that this does not have an unnecessary impact on customers or colleagues. And that is invaluable.”

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No time or no priority?

Casper: “I believe that if you want to achieve something, you have to make time for it and draw up concrete plans. No time is not a priority. Sophia and I have wanted to make this trip come true for a long time, and thanks to the support of both employers and our financial situation, we were able to achieve this. We got in together, made time and started preparing. We were really given the sabbatical and several colleagues thought it was great that we were going to do this. At Summiteers, everything can be discussed and the open corporate culture supports this in practice. In addition, there are more colleagues who are going on sabbatical, so that makes it easier to talk about it. By the way, that doesn't just apply to a sabbatical, it actually applies to everything.”

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More than Summarize

Coincidentally or not, Jules and Casper have also become friends in addition to colleagues at Summiteers. “That even resulted in three meetings in two different countries during our sabbatical,” Jules says in agreement. “Amigo y colega”, adds Casper with a wink. Lidia concludes: “We deliberately created an open and informal place where you can be yourself and where people trust each other. A place where people work hard, but there is always room for a lot of humor. And where everything can be discussed. We pay a lot of attention to the fact that, as a person, you are more than just Summiteer. After all, you are also a father, daughter, athlete or avid traveler. What you bring as an individual influences how you function. We pay attention to that. And that's also necessary, especially if you want to help someone grow optimally.”

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