5 Reasons Why You Should Develop Your Skills in Summer

For many professionals, summer can be a tricky time of year.

In the great majority of office-based roles, the likelihood is that the summer months - from early June to late August or early September - are quieter than the rest of the year as both colleagues and customers take time off and the pace of business often slows down. This tends to contribute to a generally more relaxed, easy-going atmosphere, which can be great for morale and well-being overall, but can also make it a little difficult to stay focused and make good use of time at work. Once you have caught up with the backlog of activities that you may have been putting off during the busier periods of the year, the problem can often be finding a productive use for the extra time that summer often gifts you.

So why not take that time to focus on your professional development?

Here are 5 reasons why you should:

Performing routine tasks becomes more difficult in sunny weather.

A study conducted by a team of researchers at Harvard Business School suggests that people tend to be more productive on bad weather days than good weather days, primarily because the sun acts as a distraction and leads indivudals to work more slowly and make more mistakes.

Though weather conditions cannot be controlled, the researchers suggested that managers should act on these findings by reserving more clerical (routine, repetitive) tasks for rainy days, while encouraging employees to tackle activities that allow for more flexible thinking when it is sunny. Because training falls outside of the "ordinary" and constitutes a very different, often more creative form of work, a sunny summer day is the ideal moment to be in the classroom rather than in the workplace.

More clarity regarding your training budget.

For many organisations, the financial year ends on the 31st of March. This means producing financial statements for the previous year, paying taxes and then looking forward and budgeting for the year ahead.

Though there may be a bit of a lag, by May/June an organisation and its various departments should have a pretty clear idea of how resources will be allocated, if not for the entire year then at least for the next quarter. Learning & development is no exception, and that's why it's an ideal time to ask about the resources available for your training. If you then take advantage of the opportunities straight away, you can invest in your training when you are sure that funds have been allocated for the purpose rather than waiting until a time when resources may have been re-allocated to other initiatives. As it is all too often the case that budgets get cut and shifted as the year progresses, time is of the essence when it comes to seizing your training opportunities: so do it right away!

More time to research and find the right training option.

Though certainly an important factor, training isn't just about getting a return on investment; it's about getting a return on expectations.

Essentially this means that you need to have a very clear idea of what it is that you want to achieve, and preferably even a preference when it comes to choosing between an open course, workshop, e-learning module or what have you. But how do you know what you will respond to best? As unimpressive as it may be, the answer is: research. You need to take time to think about what kind of training you as an individual will respond to, then look for suitable providers and courses. Crucially, you will need to look for reviews from other course participants and probably compare a number of options and weigh up which one is likely to suit you best.

All this takes a lot of time. Time that you don't usually have, but that you are much more likely to find when the summer rolls along. Use it wisely to find a course that doesn't bore you for 2 days running, but actually gives you a level of knowledge and/or skills that you want and expect to get.

Reduced stress levels makes you more likely to try out new skills.

While the sun may make you less productive in terms of detail-heavy tasks that require long periods of sustained attention, it does tend to make the large majority of people a little happier, more positive and more energetic. Combined with the fact that the office tends to be a little quieter during the summer months, you are likely to feel less stressed than you do the rest of the year.

As a result, it can be a great time to try "upsetting" old routines and try out new, more effective working approaches and methods. Most professional development programmes will place a big emphasis on practical skills and the need to try applying those skills as soon as possible, but when you return to a fast-paced working environment where you are under constant pressure to perform, it is easy to forget what you learned and fall immediately back into old patterns. Taking a training course during the summer means that you will probably return to a less demanding, more relaxed environment in which you can actually focus on putting all of the things you took away from the course into practice. This will ultimately ensure you get a better return on your training investment (both monetary and psychological) and are able to produce better results for your business.

More spots and special offers available on open courses.

The summer months mean business is slow (or slower) in virtually every industry, and training is no exception. Training providers will tend to organise fewer courses during the summer months as they are aware of the fact that demand will be lower and want to avoid committing resources to events that may have to be cancelled due to lack of interest.

This means two things: less competition on slots for open courses, and more special offers as training companies try to ensure that every scheduled event is filled up. Of course, you want to ensure that you have the ability to network with other delegates (and you should absolutely check that this will be the case), but while in other periods of the year you may find the perfect course only to discover that it is fully booked, in summer you are more likely to find a spot. What's more, that spot may even be at a better price - meaning that you can make your training budget go further or, if you are feeling generous, make some welcome cost savings for your organisation. Summer has always been the pick season for junior summer schools which carry out a training format that could also be applied to corporate and professional profiles. Summer schools have the right environment and pace for learning and people from all ages should take advantage of this to improve their self development.