How To Support Your Team During Peak Times

Sooner or later, every manager has to deal with a super busy time, whether that’s due to increased seasonal demand, a new product launch, or some other foreseeable business reason. However, peak times can be stressful for your employees—but you can’t let stress impact their performance. So how can you effectively support your team during a peak time? Read on to find out how peak times can even enhance your team’s performance.

Preparation is the key

In his SDCExecutive article titled “Five Steps for Peak Performance During Peak Season,” Adam Kline notes that you can use historical data to forecast demand and create a comprehensive project plan. Between eight and six weeks out, call your team together for a strategy meeting on how to handle the busy time based on insights learned from previous years. If you’ll need your people to work longer hours, tell them ahead of time. That way, they can make arrangements in their personal lives, for example by planning in more babysitting hours or dog walks.

You should also plan ahead in the workplace. Determine whether you have the resources you need, both in terms of headcount and tools. If you need additional support staff, start recruiting on time, and if you need more robust software, address the issue with your IT department as soon as possible.

Flexibility and wellness

Handling peak demand isn’t just about working more hours: it’s also often about being more productive than usual during those hours. And while everyone can sustain maximum productivity for short periods, it’s not realistic to expect your team to do so for an extended period of time. That’s why you need to be flexible when it comes to when and how people work. Allow employees to come in earlier or leave later, take breaks to move around, and even work from home now and then if necessary.

It can also be conducive to introduce some wellness features into the workplace, for example chair massages, nap rooms, guided meditation sessions, or even yoga classes.

Peak times are good for business—but if you’re ill-prepared, they can be bad for your team. Keep the above pointers above in mind, and you’ll greatly enhance the chances of your employees not only surviving, but actually thriving during times of peak demand. 

Source:

http://www.sdcexec.com/article/12276907/five-steps-for-peak-performance-during-peak-season