Summer offers opportunities for your team to relax, plan new projects, and recharge in the sun. Taken too far, however, these activities may undermine rather than increase productivity.

Here’s how managers can use the summer to help boost their team’s engagement and productivity:

How Can You Manage Your Team During the Summer Months?

1. Embrace more flexibility in scheduling.

Summer is the ideal season to embrace more flexible scheduling and to practice leading a flexible, hybrid, or remote team. When talking to team members, focus on goals. As teams complete their work, give them more leeway to shift their start and end hours or rearrange their schedules.

2. Encourage team members to bring a little summer into the office. 

Lunchtime walks, ice cream breaks, and outdoor meetings all help your team feel as if they are enjoying the summer, rather than missing it. Bring summer into the workplace so your team gets the benefits of relaxation while still attending to their work.

3. Use the warmer weather to boost wellness. 

Summer is an ideal time to encourage wellness activities among your team. Encouraging exercise through pickup sports and games or a lunchtime stroll is easier in the sunshine. Encouraging social bonding is easier with the abundance of volunteer options in summer as well. As your team builds wellness, they’ll also build more resilience at work.

4. Put team goals in a seasonal context. 

To help your team see the big picture, link their monthly, quarterly, and annual goals to the season. Need a project finished by the end of August? Talk about completing it “by the time school starts.” Want to encourage strong efforts into the next quarter? Talk about “where we’ll be by Halloween.” Seasonal contexts help your team think ahead.

5. Model the behavior you want to see from your team. 

While you’re supporting your team, take time to enjoy the summer. Schedule your own flex time, use your vacation days, or just enjoy your lunch in the sunshine. Your team will follow suit when they see that you walk your talk.

Want the best out of your team this summer? At SMR Group, our recruiters specialize in connecting our clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries with some of the best available sales and marketing talent. To find candidates with the skills you need, contact us today.