Three Life + Work Lessons I’m Taking Home from Spain
I studied abroad in Sevilla in Southern Spain some years later, and my love for Spain grew even deeper. While I like to think I have an affinity for all-things Spanish culture thanks to great grandparents who hail from Valencia, it’s hard to put into words the feeling of raw happiness and peace I feel when in Spain. The pride in one’s community (and country), architecture and art, tortilla española and tinto de verano, fast-paced Andalucian Spanish, openness for families and kids to be everywhere at ANY time, and history at every turn all likely have something to do with it too.
When it was time to plan a month away from work to recharge thanks to Allison+Partners’ amazing sabbatical program, heading to Spain quickly rose to the top of my list. My husband also spent two stints living in Spain before we met, and we knew it would be an amazing place to spend a month with our two young children to introduce them to international travel for the first time. While it wasn’t new a new destination for us, the experience of travelling there as a family would be.
Like so many, we postponed the trip two times because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the time finally came to head to Spain, where we planned to live among the locals for four weeks. And that’s exactly what we did. Our month split between Cataluña and Sevilla was full of many delicious tapas, dozens of dips in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, 10 p.m. post-dinner visits to packed playgrounds, walking miles a day, daily café con leche, and (almost) daily ice cream. We skipped museum tours and cathedral visits for the most part and just enjoyed our neighborhood surroundings to spend time together as a family. This sabbatical month was everything I hoped for and much more, and it confirmed my love affair with the country still goes strong.
While there, I eagerly chatted with locals about their daily life, including how they conduct business, and I did some research of my own. Here are three takeaways from life in Spain* that I am trying to incorporate more into my life – and work – now that I’m home.
- It’s all about the relationship. While family is the central unit in Spain, Spaniards also deeply value their business relationships and often ensure there is a strong relationship before starting any negotiations or business conversations. This frequently means getting to know each other over a leisurely lunch, coffee or a social outing, as enjoying one’s company and food always comes before getting down to “shop talk.” Since I’ve been back, I’ve tried to keep this in mind – spending valuable time looking to build deeper relationships with my teams and clients, even if it means the emails pile up for a bit.
- It’s OK to slow it down. As Miguel de Cervantes wrote in Don Quixote, “Trust time; it usually provides a sweet way out of many bitter challenges.” Spaniards are famous for taking their time. Have a problem to solve? I’ve learned we don’t always need to try to have an immediate solution to everything, or pretend we have one at all. Morning café culture in Sevilla is pretty amazing, which means many Sevillianos start the workday close to 10 a.m. after a leisurely coffee and tostada with a colleague or friend (they often work later in the evening too since dinner isn’t until after 8 p.m., even for kids). While we don’t often have time for leisurely café mornings here in the U.S., I do aspire to spend more time with colleagues out of the office, getting a coffee, chatting about things beyond the daily to-dos and not meeting at a frenzied pace. In Spain, it can actually be considered rude or presumptuous to hurry a meeting along. And some of my favorite team meetings that end up being very productive in the way of smart thinking actually start slowly and are more social.
- It helps to take a break. When having a tough go, it’s more productive to step away for a minute, or 30. In Spain, this means taking a short paseo (walk) to break up the afternoon, or in some parts of Spain, a siesta. While I’m not a napper, nor do I have the luxury of doing so mid-afternoon, I do think many Americans (myself included) could afford themselves more permission to step away from the laptop, maybe take a short walk and let their minds simply wander. I believe some of the best/creative/out-of-the-box thinking comes when we take a break from the cycle of non-stop email/Slack/Teams replies and explore the world around us. In fact, a Stanford study found creative thinking improves when a person is walking either inside or outside. And a person walking produces twice as many creative responses compared to a person sitting down.
Speaking of breaks, Spaniards, like many others in Europe, really value their vacation or holiday time. Holiday time in Spain is generous – full-time workers can take 22 working days (30 calendar days) of paid vacation time on top of the 14 public holidays. Various research finds taking vacation leads to better health, relationships, outputs at work, job satisfaction and so much more. The Center for Economic and Policy Research famously called the U.S. the “No Vacation Nation,” but we are fortunate to have unlimited PTO here at A+P and it’s highly encouraged to take at least 15 days to unplug and step away from work. For me, I know vacation time is incredibly valuable not only for the memories and experiences that come with the time off, but I always come back to work incredibly motivated, excited to tackle new programs and projects with more refreshed thinking and energy. I especially felt this way when coming back from this Spanish sabbatical, and I’ll forever be grateful to A+P, my colleagues and clients who allowed me to take this break in my ultimate “happy place.”
*I want to note, Spain is a diverse country where values, culture and etiquette varies, so this list is from my personal perspective and not meant to be representative of all of Spain or Spaniards.
I’d love to hear from you – was there a trip or new culture you experienced that impacted how you approach work and life once you got back to your normal routine?
As general manager of the Allison+Partners headquarters office in San Francisco, Meghan helps foster a collaborative, supportive and entrepreneurial environment for staff to thrive. She also oversees strategic communications programs that elevate reputation, visibility and drive business goals for consumer brands.
