The Busy Season

And what to do when you're NOT in it

Many industries have seasonal swings in workload. Academia has a summer break, but that’s exactly when construction is usually most active. If this is largely predictable in your field, you can plan for it. And it can benefit your business if you DO plan for it.

Even when you are in the middle of your busiest time of the year, take a few moments to make notes you can use to remind yourself of some of the ideas you have. Consider how you can use the slow-season to make your team more successful in future busy-seasons.

Focus on factors that can improve your team long-term. For example, I use the slow-season to review and update the materials we use for training each year. If you have seasonal hires, consider ways you could keep the top performers productive during the off-season (if that fits their schedules), so that you can retain those top performers as full-time hires. With the newly-expanded use of remote work and hybrid options, some firms are using the off-season for training. Remote options also change the calculus for geographic expansions, since you don’t need to bring a full team to a new satellite office. Also consider expansions that dovetail scheduling to stagger the busy times for your firm. Companies that have a busy summer season—for example, restaurants in tourist areas—can expand their profitable times-of-the-year by creating an online store that ships seasonal goodies for the winter holidays. Companies that do construction in the summer might find that the off-season is a great time to grow their inspection business. What would dovetail with your team’s skills?

Think outside the box, and you might end up with a much bigger box.

(Photo by Damien TUPINIER on Unsplash)