IF YOU experience a business slump in the summertime, chances are you’re not doing enough to get ahead of that slump. Waiting to regain momentum until the fall means that your organization misses out on 3–4 months of revenue gains. I know this because we’ve seen it with our business, too. At Petra Coach, it took us a few years to realize this, but we were seeing a major downturn in business activity during the summer months. People are on vacation, spending time with their kids, and finally relaxing after a hectic first half of the year—they simply don’t want to do a lot. That left us playing catch up when September rolled around, feeling more panic around what we did or didn’t get done over the summer, and failing to maximize our organization’s potential. Instead, consider these five tips to head into fall with momentum—no matter how many PTO days your teams enjoyed during summer. CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN After taking a look to understand where business lulls might exist for your organization, focus on making adjustments where you can actually have an impact. There’s so much that even the best leaders can’t control, but you know what we can control? Our effort and activity levels. At Petra, we make a big push in April and May. Since summers slow down, we want to book new clients during the months before summer and use those bookings to maintain our momentum through the slower months. If that momentum isn’t happening organically, create an incentive for it! This can look like new-hire sign-on bonuses to bring in top talent in the spring, ramp them up quickly, and support them in driving growth and revenue ASAP. This can also look like offering new clients incentives such as discounts or access to special perks. If you feel like there’s nothing you can do to mitigate slow periods, then you’re not getting creative enough. DISCIPLINE, DISCIPLINE, DISCIPLINE One quote that everyone needs to hear is, “Tomorrow is a mystical land where 99% of all human productivity, motivation, and achievement is stored.” Pushing things off until tomorrow, next week, or next quarter is the easy way out—it’s lazy at best and negligent at worst. Get things done now. Dig deep, focus on finding discipline on a personal level and an organizational level, and you’ll be amazed at what starts to take shape. If we send an employee survey out with a two-week deadline for submission, 85%–90% of people will wait until the day before to complete it. The day before! If we wait on things that add to our to-do lists, work becomes a lot more overwhelming. But if we “ just do it,” we feel that sense of accomplishment and it drives more productivity. The most successful people in the world do two to three times more than everyone else because they’re disciplined. They don’t let small tasks pile up and take over; they get things done quickly so they can focus on more strategic goals. ADJUST YOUR FOCUS TIMES In the same way that some people are more productive during certain hours of the day, organizations will have their own natural rhythm—leaders just have to find that rhythm. At Petra, we have quarterly leadership meetings for planning and strategy, but the meeting in the June/ July timeframe is almost always impossible to plan. Between summer schedules, holidays, and family commitments, we can’t get 12 executives in a room. When we stopped making excuses and started capitalizing on our times with the highest productivity levels, our business transformed. Now, we have that meeting in May. It’s a wide-open month and our leaders are able to give the session the time and focus it deserves. SET REALISTIC GOALS Even with the best intentions, people often overcommit. We see it with clients, business partners, and even colleagues. Because of the pressure to produce, people take shortcuts instead of being honest about what’s possible. One of my favorite playbook exercises is in place to challenge us on timelines and deliverables. It forces us to assess how much time we actually have to get something done. It might look like you have 64 business days to complete a project, but when you take out the July 4th holiday, a week of vacation, and getting your kids back to school, you only have 54 days to work on it. This exercise creates a natural opportunity to scale back deliverables and set goals that leave everyone feeling accomplished. LEAN ON ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS If you can’t hold yourself accountable, you’ll fail. It’s as simple as that. But since we’re human, use tools to help drive accountability. These can look like accountable business partners, accountability dashboards, project tracking software, or even meeting mechanisms. Every morning in our daily huddle, I announce to my team what my top task is for the day. If I say it out loud to everyone, I know I’ll get it done. Accountability is an individual effort first, but it becomes a whole lot more powerful with the force of a group behind it. DON’T “FALL” INTO FALL—DIVE IN HEADFIRST You can keep making excuses about why your business isn’t doing well throughout the year, or you can take charge of the situation and make a change. I recommend the latter—do you have what it takes? | 