Summer doesn't slow companies down because of holidays. It slows them down because decisions stall on the people who are away, and nobody knows whether they're allowed to decide instead. Three weeks of waiting for one answer costs more than the whole holiday.
Build a coverage map, not a holiday spreadsheet
You don't care who leaves when, you care what stops when they do. For each area (clients, invoicing, hiring, product) write a deputy name and the limit up to which they can decide alone. Without that limit, the deputy just collects questions and hands them back.
Shorten the rhythm, don't cancel it
The worst summer move is cancelling every meeting. Keep the Monday kickoff, cut it to fifteen minutes, and add one line: who's away this week and who decides for them. Move the monthly close if you must, but don't drop it, or you'll return in September to numbers nobody has looked at for two months.
Sort the work into three piles
Must keep running (clients, cash, commitments), can wait until September (strategy, big process changes), and only possible in summer (cleanup, documentation, templates, tidying tools). The third pile is why summer is worth having, a quieter calendar is the best time for work there's never room for.
Tell clients before they ask
One short note in early July: who's available, what response times look like, who to contact for anything urgent. Nobody gets surprised in mid-August and you save yourself dozens of "is anyone there?" emails.
Don't use summer for a quiet strategy reset
Decisions made in August with half the team away get reopened in September anyway. Big changes belong in the September restart, summer is for preparing them, not for voting on them.
One hour of work, two calm months
A coverage map, a shortened rhythm, three piles of work, and one note to clients. It takes an afternoon at the end of June and it's the difference between a company that's still catching up in September and one that's already running.
Want help building a rhythm that survives the holidays? See our services or email hello@stepface.com.