Allison — Victoria, Canada

A: I bet the thing most of us miss most about school is summer vacation. I know that for me, even now, 20 years after my last bit of formal education, I still have a pang when I see kids riding their bikes freely down the street as I drive off to the office.

Still, there are ways to juggle the work, fun, vacation, and dress issues that routinely come up this time of year while still enjoying the warmer weather. It is definitely a balancing act.

First, employees must remember that it is called work for a reason — it's work, not play. So as we count down the summer months, make sure they keep their eye on the ball and remember that they are there to get ahead and make everyone some money. It is also important in the warmer weather that everyone continues to dress professionally. Yes, it is true that the casual look is becoming more and more acceptable in the work place, and it is also true that ties are no fun in the summer, but professional dress, if it is important to your brand, is one area where you don't want to be too lax.

But that doesn't mean that everyone can't have a good time too. I have a friend who is one of the hardest working lawyers I know. From September through May, he takes no vacation at all. But come June, he has accumulated plenty of vacation time and he uses it wisely. He takes a lot of three-day weekends, for example. And instead of taking three weeks off in a row, he takes a week off each month for three months in a row. By September, he is refreshed and ready to sue again.

I think his is a smart plan. If you can allow staff some extra time off, maybe some three-day weekends here or there, do so. They will appreciate it and usually make it worth your while. The important thing to remember is that as long as their job gets done and they remain a valuable commodity to the business, a little extra time off should be no problem. If you are willing to work around their schedules a bit, they will surely be willing to work around yours.

Another way to make the summer more enjoyable is to organize some extra-curricular work activities. For example:

• If your place of business has never had a group picnic, it might behoove you to organize one.

• Have a girls-night-out once a month with some of your pals.

• Go to a ballgame together.

• Find a charity that you all believe in and create some sort of goofy contest that raises money for it.

The idea is to break things up a little bit. Soon enough, we will all be cocooning again around the fireplace, so now is the time to change the pace.

Today's tip: Ever been in a bad meeting? Of course, we all have. Here are 5 signs — signs to avoid — that a meeting is going down the wrong path:

1. No leader: Leaderless meetings go nowhere.

2. Dictator: Of course, the leader who can't listen is not a leader at all.

3. The meeting has no agenda. Without an agenda, people can't prepare and no one knows where the meeting is going or should be going.

4. Hijacked agendas: The opposite of No. 3 is that, while there may be an agenda, someone hijacks it and moves the meeting down unexpected and unwelcome paths.

5. Pointless: There is nothing worse than a meeting for meetings sake.

Ask an Expert appears Mondays. You can e-mail Steve Strauss at: sstrauss@mrallbiz.com. And you can click here to see previous columns. Steven D. Strauss is a lawyer, author and speaker who specializes in small business and entrepreneurship. He is this year's SBA Small Business Journalist of the Year. His latest book is The Small Business Bible. You can sign up for his free newsletter, "Small Business Success Secrets!" at his Web site —www.mrallbiz.com.