What Summer Holidays Reveal About Your Team
Every summer, the same thing happens.
Projects slow down, key people disappear on holiday, and clients wait a little longer for answers, or you wait a little longer to hear from your clients. During the summer breaks, teams cover for one another; most organisations simply accept this as part of doing business.
But summer also acts as an unexpected stress test as it reveals how resilient your organisation really is. When one person takes two weeks off, does work continue smoothly? Or does everything grind to a halt because only one individual knows how something works? The holiday season can expose the hidden strengths and weaknesses of a team more clearly than almost any employee survey can.
The first area it reveals is Knowledge Sharing. If colleagues struggle to pick up work because information sits in one person’s inbox or head, you have a knowledge management problem rather than a holiday problem. Secondly, it highlights Succession Planning. Every organisation has indispensable individuals. While their expertise is invaluable, over-reliance on a handful of people creates unnecessary risk. Cross-training and shared ownership make teams more resilient and reduce pressure on those key individuals.
Summer also shines a light on Communication. The best teams don’t just hand work over before they leave; they leave colleagues with enough context to make decisions confidently. Clear handovers, accessible documentation and regular communication reduce disruption for both employees and clients.
Perhaps most importantly, summer holidays reveal the strength of your team culture. Do colleagues willingly support one another when workloads shift? Do managers recognise the additional pressure on those covering for others? Or do frustrations begin to surface? These moments matter because clients notice them too. Delayed responses, inconsistent communication or uncertainty about who owns a project all influence the client experience. The organisations that navigate the holiday season most successfully aren’t necessarily those with the biggest teams. They’re the ones that have built resilience into the way they work.
As someone who regularly conducts independent client and employee interviews, I have found that resilience is rarely created through a single initiative. It is built through everyday habits: sharing knowledge, developing people, communicating clearly and creating an environment where colleagues can step in with confidence when needed.
So, before everyone returns from their summer break, it is worth asking a simple question:
What did the holiday period reveal about your team—and what can you learn from it before next summer?
