It’s no secret that the holidays can be a busy and distracting time for almost everyone. Keeping your team focused and productive can be difficult as their thoughts turn towards hosting family members, planning to travel, holiday shopping, planning parties, or simply having a break from work.
It’s easy to accept that your team’s momentum will naturally wane down during the holidays. But it doesn’t have to be. Keep the momentum going and finish the year strong without being a Scrooge. Here are effective ways to help your team stay focused and motivated during the holiday season:
Plan Ahead
Communicate with your team in advance about the expectations for the holiday period, including any deadlines or project milestones that need to be met. Encourage your team members to plan their vacation time and schedule their work around it so that everything runs smoothly.
Plan your employees’ time off strategically. While it’s important to give your team members the time off they need and deserve, make sure to stagger time off so it won’t have a huge impact on your operations.
Offer some flexibility
If you can allow your team members to work more flexibly during the holiday season, do it. Your team will definitely appreciate it. Offer flexible scheduling or remote work options, as appropriate, to help employees balance their work and personal responsibilities.
When they see that you value their work-life balance and personal lives, they are more likely to go the extra mile and maintain their energy level at work to keep the momentum going for you.
Recognize that there will be days when people aren’t so productive and ask them how you can support them
With the holiday break looming, it will be a struggle to stay focused and productive. Let your people know that you understand the situation. Sometimes simply acknowledging their situation and saying that as long as they get back on track can motivate them to be more productive.
Take time to listen and work with your team to provide solutions to keep their energy levels up while working during the holiday season. You may want to offer a long lunch once a week during holidays so your employees can have time to do some shopping.
For your salespeople, the holiday season might be a difficult time to get real work done. Be more understanding of the situation and provide them with all possible tools to help them succeed at work despite the challenges brought by the holidays.
Focus on goals and work on development
Keep your team motivated by setting achievable goals and tracking progress towards them. Give them something to look forward to such as a rewards program or by recognizing outstanding performance.
If the workload is lighter during the holiday season, gather your team and discuss new ideas for the upcoming year. This is the ideal time to talk over things that are usually overlooked in busier times.
Hit the ground running in 2024
Navigating the holiday season can be quite a challenge. But by providing clear expectations, focusing on goals, planning ahead, offering some flexibility, and ensuring your team has the support they need, you can keep the momentum during the holidays. On top of that, doing these things, will make it easier for them to get back to routine and hit the ground running after the past month of festivities.
In your service,
Hilary Corna
