Summer is a busy time of year. School is out for children and the warm weather makes it much more inviting to leave the house. For these and many other reasons, businesses cite the summer months as the busiest time of the year, with a few exceptions around the Christmas period.
Business owners and managers have a lot to prepare for as the midpoint of the calendar approaches. More products need to be prepared, marketing campaigns stopped, and store opening hours might even need to be postponed. The better you can prepare, the more potential the summer season has for success.
Your team is an integral part of your business and directly correlates to the performance of your business. This article provides some ideas to help you prepare your team for summer and ways your team can help with the final preparations:
Check your processes for efficiency
Your system might be running at full steam right now, but daylight saving time is very different. If you expect your business to be a lot busier in the coming months, your operations could use some tweaking just to be on the safe side.
Create a checklist that encompasses every aspect of your day-to-day business operations. Take a look at payroll, shift changes, the supply chain, and anything else you can see that might be struggling. Now work out any kinks you find before they really cause problems.
Once you improve your efficiency, the summer season will be a lot easier to deal with. Better yet, you have an improved system that will be helpful throughout the year. You should always keep an eye out for trails improve your efficiency.
Start your onboarding early
Some companies are trying to hire new employees or provide temporary help to deal with the summer craze. This should not be done in mid-July. Start your onboarding too late in the season and you’ll be juggling the chaos of increased customer influx while trying to provide quality training.
Give new hires at least a few weeks to acclimate before throwing them into the mix. Allow them to become familiar with company policies, product locations, on-site technical equipment, or anything else they need to know without supervision. That way they can actually be of use during the busy summer rather than monitoring another variable.
In addition to your onboarding, existing employees could use additional training as well. Make sure they are all up to date on any changes you want to make or difficulties you will encounter. The better you equip your team, the more successful your summer will be.
Clean up and organize now
Another thing you should do before summer comes is take care of your housekeeping. Use the time you have now to do that bunch of menial tasks that you’ve been putting off for a while. While they may not seem big now, they will be incredibly annoying during the peak summer season.
Let’s say your filing system hasn’t been organized for a while. You might be doing just fine right now, but what if you’re trying to land dozens of new customers who are knocking on the door for a summer sale? You’re going to kick yourself if you don’t do it sooner.
This endeavor involves some old-fashioned ones spring cleaning. During the height of summer it will be much more difficult to find the time to sweep the floors and tidy the waiting room. A good deep clean will ensure these cleanses don’t have to be as frequent, allowing those gaps to remain until you catch your breath.
Plan well in advance
While summer is a busy time for businesses, it’s also a busy time for families for a variety of reasons. Many people plan their vacations, family reunions, and other activities for this time of year. You will have employees asking for leave because of this, which can cause excitement. In most cases, you’re better off trying to plan things like employee absences as far in advance as possible.
Most major trips and events are not planned at the last minute. Your team should have a rough idea of ​​what dates they need to take off. Talk to everyone individually so the work schedule can be set as early as possible. That way you don’t have to worry about being understaffed on critical days of the season or feeling like you have to turn down certain requests
There are other things you can plan ahead of time. If you plan to hold meetings, set the dates as soon as possible. Scheduling a last-minute meeting can be a huge headache with everything else you have to do this summer.
Find a way to compromise
You will be making many employee requests, not just asking for vacations. You could spend all your time arguing with them about the details, or you could step back and listen to their distress. The ability to compromise is an important skill for a leader and can navigate you through many otherwise difficult situations.
Let’s talk remote work for a moment. You may have never considered this option for your business. Perhaps one of your co-workers is suggesting working from home in the summer so they can get work done while they take an extended summer vacation. Who responds to a request like this, or a variation you’ve never experienced?
Instead of dismissing the idea outright, consider the benefits of such a move. This employee may work from a desk and can easily complete their work on the go. Give them a test run and you might see the same productivity and production from them even when they’re out of the office.
Add some incentives
To be honest, it’s difficult to stay motivated during the busy season. Working hours feel longer and more strenuous, and lost motivation leads to a sharp drop in productivity. During this time, you’ll likely need to give your team a morale boost.
Attempt set some incentives for your team members. These can be sales targets, incentives for punctual appearance or a raffle weighted according to weekly working hours. This gives your team something to work toward when there’s no obvious light at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be more willing to take that extra call, fill that extra order, or fill that free shift.
Make sure you include everyone in your organization. Group incentives are useful for keeping everyone busy, not just a select few. The promise of a future corporate event packed with food and prizes is enough to energize any team. Don’t be afraid to be extra generous after all your hard work.
Summer won’t be easy, but it can be a productive and beneficial time of year for your business. Start preparing for the busy season now with your team so you can learn and grow instead of sitting back.
Feature image source: Photo by Markus Spiske; Pixel; Thank you very much!
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