Keeping your team focused during the holidays can be incredibly difficult. The holidays can bring a significant change in pace in all aspects of your life. Your home and work life can be greatly affected. As well as your physical and mental state. While the holidays fall on specific days with specified periods off work, your work mentality can be skewed and chaotic throughout the time leading up to it. Additionally, this can make it hard as an employer to keep your team focused. Moreover, here are a few tips and tricks you can utilize to keep your team on track. At the same time, maintaining their excitement for some much-needed time off.
Start each month with a meeting addressing holidays.
To start, it is incredibly important to be upfront with your employees. For many, the holiday time off is one they look forward to for months. They want to know what precisely they have to look forward to from their employers. With this in mind, tackling this at the top of the month can ease your team’s mind of wonder as the holidays grow closer. Your team may need time off. So addressing this with a meeting can be beneficial in the beginning. Communicating to your team that these requests need to be made upfront. You could be saving yourself from even more chaos.
While addressing time off, you should address the workload you may already know your team has ahead of them. Furthermore, letting your employees know what needs to get done for all of the businesses to enjoy their time off can increase their productivity. Also, full transparency always builds a stronger team. You are here as a business to meet a need for your desired market.
Don’t be a scrooge
While many employers believe that if they do not talk about the holidays, no one else will either. Out of sight, out of mind. However, this tactic can often make becoming distracted by the holidays easier. It is essential for your team to socialize, but to a minimal degree. Given that socializing builds trust and communication skills, making collaboration easier. As an employer, if you make the office more festive and fun, it can create more motivation because your team has a reason to accomplish their tasks. Getting into the spirit with your team can humanize you as the employer and increase your business’s mutual respect for one another.
Do not overload your team during a shortened period of work.
The holidays make business month’s much shorter and can create a more significant workload throughout business days. As an employer, it is your job to lead your team to success. The holidays can be incredibly overwhelming for both people’s home and work lives. For many, it is the only time they can plan out time to see their friends and family. Your team can quickly become all consumed in managing their chaotic home lives. Causing their work tasks to be of lower priority. You, as an employer, should maintain great awareness of your team’s mental and physical state. Continuous check-ins with your team can make the chaos go over much more smoothly. This can also be a busier time for businesses. So stay vigilant and be sure only to take on what you know you can accomplish. Easing your team’s mind as well as the customer you serve.
Tackling these tips with a remote workforce
We also know that working remotely is still a very common workspace for many businesses in differing areas. You may think that these tips may not apply because you are not in the same physical space. However, remote work can be one of the most complex work environments to maintain during the holidays. It can be nearly impossible for employers to stand for their team. It is hard enough for many who have only transitioned to this environment within this year. Family and friends can have a skewed sense of reality, seeing that you are home but unable to spend time with everyone during the joyous holiday season. If anything, as an employer with remote employees, you need to be extra vigilant about these three tips and may need to be exercising these more often to keep your team’s focus.
Conclusion
Remember, you are here to meet your market’s needs, just like your market is here to support you and your team as a business. Both have a stake in the relationship you have built. Do not let the holidays create a lapse in service to those that need you most, for they are the ones you need to increase the longevity of your business. Celebrate the holidays and the enjoyment they bring to your team for this time off is necessary for the dedication you have put into your place.