9 Best Tips for Transitioning Your Team Back Into Work Mode This Fall

As leaves start to change color and students head back to school, clients are returning from hard-earned vacations and work really picks up again. That's why we asked nine members from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“What is the best way to transition into fall after your summer interns have gone back to school and everyone is back in work mode?”

How to Engage Employees Through a Staff Transition

Here's what YEC community members had to say:

1. Focus on Q4 Goals

“Get back to work by focusing on the goals for sales, engagement and growth in the fourth quarter and what needs to happen to accomplish those outcomes. Teams need to work together and evaluate how they're going to get the work done, taking into account upcoming holidays and vacations.” ~ Kelly Azevedo, She's Got Systems

2. Hold a Kick-Off Strategy Session

“Schedule a team-wide strategy session to kick off the fall season. This will help everyone get back into the mindset of focusing on goals and strategies and how to improve your processes to meet them. Ask everyone to come prepared to the meeting with at least three things that need to get done before year-end to help the company grow.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

3. Plan Ahead

“You want to make sure to plan ahead for both summer and fall hires. During the summer, if you have extra resources, set deadlines for the things you want to achieve within that timeframe. If you have a real standout intern, make sure to nurture the relationship so they'll be on board to continue at least part time in the fall and spring.” ~ Carlo Cisco, SELECT

4. Create User Manuals Based on Each Intern's Role

“Ask your summer interns to prepare step-by-step instructions for how they completed their different projects and accomplished their goals. This is the easiest way to execute knowledge transfer. Of course, with these user manuals you can either have existing full-time employees pick up the extra load or hire fall interns to pick up where your summer interns left off.” ~ Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep

5. Offer Freelance Opportunities

“Just because the internship is up doesn't mean the interns may want to leave. In their free time, they may still like to work on projects and make some money while in school to keep that connection to a future job opportunity. So setting them up in a freelance position might be mutually beneficial.” ~ Angela Ruth, Due

6. Prepare for New Interns

“In my line of work, everyone is always in work mode, regardless of the season. The best way I've found to transition into fall when it comes to interns is to start preparing early for the new fall interns. I've also opted to keep/hire interns who really fit with the company and do their job well.” ~ Shalyn Dever, Chatter Buzz

7. Set Clear Goals

“There's nothing like a good set of goals to get everyone on the team focused and working in one direction again. Summer can be a bit of a disruptor depending on what your business focus is, but you don't want to lag behind as September rolls around. If you already have goals, just get refocused on them. Work daily towards their achievement, and keep the momentum up.” ~Ismael Wrixen, FE International

8. Take a Step Back

“If you relied that heavily on your summer interns, there's a major issue. If you need to go “back into work mode” after 25 percent of your year has elapsed, you need to re-evaluate your commitment. Unless you're a schoolteacher, this shouldn't be an applicable question to anyone seriously invested in their business.” ~ David Mainiero, InGenius Prep

9. Differentiate Between Important and Urgent

“Losing many hands on deck can be devastating when you handle a large workload. The first step is to look at all pending projects and tasks and prioritize them by important versus urgent. Once you separate those, look at the urgent tasks and prioritize them based on your available resources. Make sure there's a clear delineation between what MUST get done and what's NICE to do. ” ~ Marcela De Vivo, Brilliance

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This article, "9 Best Tips for Transitioning Your Team Back Into Work Mode This Fall" was first published on Small Business Trends