Summer is great for strategy

Summer is great for lots of things in the Northeast, where I'm based - food trucks, the beach, golf, strategic planning.

Think about your company this summer. Are people out on vacation? Do the customer calls slow down a little? Are key contacts hard to reach?

The best time to plan is when operations are slow.

Good strategy requires a great execution plan. Good execution can be difficult in the summer and good execution planning can be really difficult in the fall. This means that now - July and August - is the perfect time to get a handle on your priorities by stepping back, revisiting strategy, and start to gear up for September.

Identify your big issues. Stop plugging the dike for problems like sales pipeline leakage, cost of quality, financial reporting, or systems issues. Take the time to do a careful analysis and figure out how to fix these long-term.
Think about where you wanted to be at the end of this year and where you will come up short. This needs to be more detailed than just revenue - what did you want your net margin to be? How many new customers? Sell-through rate? On-time delivery percentage? Days sales outstanding? Overtime hours? Choose a few, diagnose them now, put a resolution plan together, and fix and track them throughout the fall.
Reset your sales operations - processes, data tracking, management tactics, and incentive compensation. Do you know whether sales are going well before they hit your books?
Above all, get a handle on what the company needs to get done - what are your ongoing projects, what projects do you need to add, how much will they cost, who is accountable for them, and when can they be completed?

I find that September through November are the most productive months of the year - operationally at least. It's easy to build momentum into the holidays and it's enough time to get a lot done. But if you start planning then, the planning will be slower and you'll lose time to execute.

So you can do it now! Carve out a few hours a week over the next 6-8 weeks to re-focus on your strategy and put a formal plan together with your management team. Get professional assistance to lay out the plan and figure out how to manage and execute it. You will go into the fall with a crystal clear view of what you need to do, an aligned team to execute it, and discrete operating goals for Q4.

Summer - it's a wonderful, valuable time of year!