As summer approaches, many organisations brace themselves for a seasonal slowdown. With employees taking annual leave, projects temporarily paused, and decision-making cycles delayed, the summer months can feel like a productivity dip. But with the right strategy, this quieter season can be an ideal opportunity to upskill your team and strengthen your organisation’s competency framework.
In this blog, we’ll explore how you can prepare for the summer lull by using Comaea to structure development plans, align learning with business goals, and ensure your workforce is ready to hit the ground running in the autumn.
Why Summer Is Ideal for Upskilling
Contrary to popular belief, summer is not a time to “wait it out”—it’s the perfect moment to double down on workforce development. Here’s why:
- Reduced Pressure: With fewer meetings and deadlines, staff have more time to focus on personal development.
- Proactive Planning: Upskilling now sets the tone for the second half of the year and positions teams to meet Q3 and Q4 goals.
- Minimal Disruption: Training during quieter periods causes less interference with client work and internal operations.
By adopting a strategic approach, summer can become your most productive season for long-term capability building.
Step 1: Conduct a Mid-Year Competency Assessment
Before you plan development activities, it’s important to understand where your team stands. Use
Comaea’s Discover module to assess current competencies at the individual, team, or organisational level.
Look for:
- Gaps between current and required competencies
- Emerging skill demands linked to business objectives
- Soft skills that need reinforcement (e.g. communication, adaptability)
This assessment will give you a clear picture of strengths and areas for improvement, allowing you to prioritise learning efforts based on real data.
Step 2: Align Development Goals with Business Priorities
Summer upskilling should never be random. Use Comaea’s Design module to map each employee’s role to your organisation’s competency framework. Then, tailor individual development plans (IDPs) to align with strategic goals.
For example:
- Preparing for digital transformation? Focus on data literacy, cybersecurity, or system integration skills.
- Strengthening client relationships post-summer? Emphasise emotional intelligence, problem-solving, and negotiation.
Comaea makes it easy to ensure that every learning activity is purposeful and measurable.
Step 3: Activate Personal Development Plans (PDPs)
With assessment data and strategic goals in hand, the next step is to initiate summer learning plans through Comaea’s Dialogue and Learn modules.
Here’s how:
- Dialogue enables line managers to hold structured development conversations and agree PDPs with employees.
- Learn links identified competency gaps to internal or external training resources, courses, or mentoring opportunities.
Whether it’s formal e-learning, peer coaching, or on-the-job projects, summer is the ideal time to focus on long-term capability building without the usual distractions.
Step 4: Promote Self-Directed Learning
Many employees appreciate the chance to take ownership of their development. Encourage self-directed learning by:
- Sharing personalised learning paths via Comaea
- Giving employees access to your library of learning resources
- Encouraging reflection through regular check-ins
With Comaea’s intuitive dashboard, employees can track their own progress and stay motivated, even if their line manager or team is away on leave.
Step 5: Prepare for Post-Summer Performance Reviews
Competency-based development doesn’t end in summer—it sets the stage for what comes next. Use this quieter time to prepare for:
- End-of-year performance reviews
- Promotion decisions
- Succession planning
The Insights module in Comaea allows HR teams and managers to track development activity, gather progress data, and visualise skill improvements over time.
This positions your organisation to make data-driven talent decisions when business activity ramps up in autumn.
Bonus: Use Comaea’s Add-ons to Streamline Summer Planning
Comaea also offers several powerful add-ons to support summer development:
- Certification Tracker: Monitor progress on industry-recognised certifications while workloads are lighter.
- Time-to-Competence (T2C): Measure how quickly skills are acquired, helping you evaluate training effectiveness.
- Workforce Planning: Ensure holiday cover doesn’t expose skill gaps by mapping your team’s capability coverage.
These features are particularly valuable during the summer period, when reduced capacity and increased flexibility are both top of mind.
Summer Upskilling Checklist
To summarise, here’s a simple checklist to follow:
- Conduct a mid-year competency assessment
- Align development goals with business priorities
- Create personalised PDPs through Comaea
- Promote self-directed learning
- Track and evaluate learning outcomes
- Prepare for Q3-Q4 performance decisions
- Use add-ons to maximise efficiency
Final Thoughts: Turn Lulls Into Leverage
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking summer is a time to “just get through.” But with Comaea, you can transform that mindset into one of strategic opportunity. By upskilling during quieter months, you not only support employee development—you create a more capable, confident, and aligned workforce ready to thrive post-summer.
Whether you’re leading a global team, managing a public sector workforce, or preparing graduates for onboarding, Comaea helps you stay agile, data-informed, and growth-focused—season after season.
Ready to upskill this summer?
Get in touch to explore how Comaea can support your seasonal development goals, or book a demo today to see our competency management platform in action.
