July and August have proven to be an incredibly busy couple of months for 3-Space. We started our largest ever project in England’s financial capital in Canary Wharf alongside working on smaller, but no less important, projects local to us in Woking. This has resulted in all 3-Space employees and sub-contractors working their socks off during a time when people traditionally take their summer holidays.

Such resource- and time-pressured periods can heighten stress levels – so what can be done to avoid this happening and to help teams in coping with busy periods?

Firstly, and possibly most importantly, you need to be realistic. Do you have the resources to take on new work? If not, can the time frame be shifted to accommodate the work? If the answers are yes, happy days! If not, you could look at outsourcing the work to maintain your good relationship with the client or you could turn the work down. It is better to do the job properly rather than half-heartedly and risk ruining your reputation. In the end, the client should respect you more for your honesty and will hopefully appreciate that good service is worth waiting for.

Secondly, hold regular team meetings so that everyone is on the same page. This opens the potential for asking for help and delegating tasks to those whose workload is not at full capacity. Scheduled meetings will also ensure that work isn’t being duplicated and, with this in mind, formulating a plan is a great way to make sure that everyone knows what their responsibilities and priorities are.

Thirdly, transparency with clients is paramount. They are busy people too and should understand that sometimes there are unforeseen issues that could affect timelines. This is especially so when you are reliant on suppliers.

Lastly, and this may take some forethought and preplanning, make sure your work environment can cope with additional workload during busy times. This could include introducing flexible working areas which can be adapted depending on the need of the business such as meeting rooms which can be used for preparing presentations or even be used as an interim storage space. A workspace could also include a breakout area for employees to re-energise and gather their thoughts away from their desks or it could as equally be used as an informal meeting area.

However, despite a busy period, it is very important not to become complacent and simply telling yourself that you are coping with busy periods. Sales activities must continue to ensure that the company has a healthy pipeline as the busy period won’t necessarily last. Keep making those sales calls, going to networking events and updating your social media. You need to keep your name out there.

We are enjoying this busy period and can’t wait to see the finished results of our hard work. Keep your eyes on our website to see new case studies and examples of how we could help you.

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