How Setting Expectations for Summer Sustains Strong Q2 Results

As the days get longer and warmer, I have often wondered about how I can help you; the C-Suite Leaders of Today and Tomorrow stay on track through the summer. It’s about halfway through the year and I bet you are feeling good about your accomplishments and then progress seems to slow down at the end of the second quarter.? This can be frustrating for you and your team. You need to set the expectation of what will and will not get done so when people return from their vacation, they’re not stressed. I’ve discussed?risk management with you many times and this is the time to leverage those skills in order to sustain strong results through Q2.

Let me pose a few questions to you to help you think about planning and setting these expectations.

• Look at your resources and ask yourself, do you have back ups?
• Did you cross train people to jump in and take over tasks when others are? on vacation? Do you have standard work defined?
• If someone had to interact with a client for the first time, do you have the client persona clearly defined and how to interact with them?
• If you are a small company and don’t have dual resources, have you considered a small shutdown and plan for that so everyone can enjoy the holiday and return back refreshed and in full force?

I was recently asked in an interview what was crisis management and rather than going into how to manage a crisis, I said crisis management is the result of leaders not having the discipline to plan work, identify risks and properly plan for events such as holidays, economic downturns, pandemics, politics. Same thing goes for summer planning. If we plan now for ways of working during the summer, you set your team up for success.

Framework for Setting Expectations to sustain results

• Pause & reflect now to look at the work content, resources and plan for coverage
• Delay or slow down projects with a plan to speed up when you can
• Ask people for their input on how to cover when people are off – engagement
• Don’t start anything new during the summer!
• When people come back from all their vacations, celebrate the time off, rest, refreshed and with renewed energy?

Now is the time for you to collect your thoughts and take action.

I want you to succeed and this framework can enable you to do it yourself.?

However, if you need more help, I’m here for you as the Drop In CEO, CEO whisperer or as a sounding board.?

To hear more about my story about framework, please tune into my podcast that is releasing this Friday 6/1/23.?

Maybe you simply need a support system to apply these new insights. I find leaders need a place to talk through the challenges and that’s why I created The Drop In CEO Collective, a forum for C-Suite leaders of today and tomorrow. To learn more about our next event on June 13th you can visit our page and register.?

Would you rather have a quick 1-2-1 to discuss your specific challenge? Could The Drop In CEO be your support system? Direct Message me on LI or contact me via my website and let’s have a conversation. Until then, I wish you much success.?