Tip: Post-peak “Reset & Capture” Session Within 72 Hours to Harvest Lessons and Preserve Talent

By Express HR Solutions on 2025-09-24 20:30:18

The last festive season shipment has left the building. The sales dashboards are glowing green. A wave of relief and exhaustion washes over your entire organisation. The natural instinct for every leader, from the CEO to the floor manager, is to take a deep breath and immediately pivot to the next quarter's challenges.

This is the single biggest mistake you can make.

In that brief, quiet moment after the operational storm, your company is sitting on two of its most valuable, perishable assets: the raw, unfiltered lessons from the peak, and the untapped potential of your best seasonal staff. Waiting even a week to capture them is too long. The lessons fade, and your best temporary talent walks out the door, their hard-won knowledge walking out with them.

To prevent this, schedule a 90-minute "Reset & Capture" session in your calendar today for the first week after your 2025 peak season ends. It must happen within 72 hours of scaling down operations.

Here’s the agenda.

Part 1: The Process Retrospective (45 mins)

Who: Your key operational leaders (COO, Heads of Supply Chain, Fulfilment, CX).

What: A fast-paced "Start, Stop, Continue" exercise focused on what actually happened on the ground, not what the plan said would happen.

Start: What is one new thing we must do next year? (e.g., "Start using a dedicated returns processing team from day one.")
Stop: What is the one thing that caused the most friction and must be eliminated? (e.g., "Stop using manual spreadsheets for shift allocation.")
Continue: What was a surprising win or a process that worked perfectly and must be protected? (e.g., "Continue the 3-minute daily 'Ops Pulse' huddles.")

The output is not a detailed report; it's a prioritized backlog of what worked and what broke.

Part 2: The Talent Huddle (30 mins)

Who: The same leaders, now joined by your CHRO or HR partner.

What: A rapid talent review of your seasonal workforce. This is your chance to conduct a "stay interview" at scale and build your talent pipeline for next year.

Ask three simple questions:

"Name the top 5 seasonal associates who were the most reliable, adaptable, and productive. Who are the people we absolutely must get back?"
"Who showed unexpected leadership potential or problem-solving skills?"
"What was the single biggest complaint or frustration you heard from the teams on the floor?"

The output is a "Gold List" of proven talent to proactively re-engage and a critical insight into the employee experience that will inform your retention strategy.

Part 3: The Action Backlog (15 mins)

Who: The senior leader in the room (CEO/COO).

What: Review the outputs and assign ownership for the top 3-5 fixes. This ensures insights are translated into action, not just forgotten in a meeting room.

Action: Explore automated rostering software. Owner: COO. Due: Q1 2026.
Action: Create a retention program for the "Gold List" talent. Owner: CHRO. Due: Dec 2025.

This 90-minute session prevents "operational amnesia" and transforms your seasonal staffing from a temporary cost into a long-term, strategic asset. It's the most valuable meeting you'll have all quarter.

Don't let the hard-won lessons of 2025 evaporate. Express HR Solutions can help you facilitate your "Reset & Capture" session and build a strategy to retain your top seasonal talent. Open your calendar and schedule it now.