Use your winter wisely.

I went cross-country skiing yesterday, and as luck would have it, my earbuds had no charge. I spent a majority of the 3 hour session in silence, save for the sound of my skis gliding across the snow and poles occasionally squeaking. I was reminded, in that relative quiet, about why I enjoy this time of year so much. It's the stillness. This quiet time of year is a chance to step above the daily hubbub and take a new perspective on the world and our lives. If you've got a seasonal business, lets look at some of the benefits you can take advantage of in your 'winter'.

Understand your foundation

Not only does wildlife take a hike (or a nap) in winter, but plant-life too takes a rest. Leaves and flowers drop away, snow settles in and blankets the landscape, and we are given the opportunity to see things that we just can't see in the warmer months. Winter exposes the underlying contours of the earth and the structure of plant-life around us. This bare bones view of the world is similar to the view of our teams and operations we can get once we get a breather from our hectic busy seasons. Take this down time to understand where your processes are succeeding and where they are falling short. Understand the pain points in your systems. Leverage this slow time to listen to your people and customers, so you can better understand the foundation of your business.

Make big changes

When summer is in full swing, it can extremely damaging (and maybe even fatal) to try and reshape a plant. Sure some are resilient and can withstand pruning and shaping, but plants rely on the nutrients flowing to and from their leaves and a significant reshaping may not be something they can recover from, or opens them up to infection and disease. In winter, though, plants tend to withdraw their nutrients, their resources, into their roots and many can be reshaped during this downtime to grow back stronger come next spring.

Similarly, there are some processes or vital systems in your organization that may need to change. Large, transformative change is always a challenge, but its best done in a slower season where you can give re-training and reinforcement more focus, setting up your team to be familiar and comfortable with the change before business ramps back up. Additionally, you can ease into this new way of working and rapidly iterate if you uncover something that just doesn't work as expected.

Recognize your people

Winter conveniently bookends the year (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). This down time is the perfect chance to take stock of the year past and assess your organizations results and, hopefully, successes. Reflect on what went well, how your team performed and give recognition where it is due. On the other hand, if something needs to be improved, winter is also the start of the new year. Use the lessons learned from this reflection to guide development plans and set yourself and your team up to be better in the future.

Winter gets a bad rap. Its cold and its many people's least favorite season. Winter can be rough, but it can also be just what we need to revitalize ourselves, our teams, and our organizations. Take the downtime to understand the foundation of your business, make changes to set you up for long term success, and celebrate your wins.