Ensure Projects Remain Active Amidst the Hectic Holiday Calendar

The holidays are the best for taking some space from work and spending time with friends and family. However, oftentimes we must work during days that aren’t the actual holiday dates. For management, this time can be challenging to keep people motivated, focused, and hitting deadlines. In this article, I’m going to outline 5 ways to keep people engaged during Christmas and New Year's.?

Maintaining employee engagement through the holidays is important for a few reasons. To start, it’s mostly important for them. By accomplishing goals and hitting targets, even during the slow season, people feel accomplished and have wins they can brag about to family and friends. Second, motivated staff means that components of projects for the next year get attended to. This means that you enter the new year and Q1 without having to start in the former year on projects.?

Now, there are several challenges we face when keeping people motivated during the holidays. The main challenge is helping people to switch from “holiday/vacation brain” to “work brain.” This is when people are working, but thinking about holiday events, duties, and a little more checked out. To be clear, this isn’t their fault. After all, the holiday spirit is extremely magical (and sometimes stressful), and the energetic vortex can suck us in as the entire society is experiencing a single event, collaboratively talking about the season.?

During this time, it’s vitally important to under the needs of those you work with. As management, this is something you should be taking note of already. However, during the holidays it’s crucial to take note of individual needs and how you can best accommodate them. This works to everyone’s advantage because they are more at peace and you have a happier worker.?

We must recognize the increased stress that the holidays invoke. Even though we know the holidays are en route each year, they tend to sneak up on everyone. So be mindful of the size of family your people have, if travel will be required for them, and how past holidays unfolded. This will allow you to give grace and understanding to those who feel the extra pressure when making personal holiday plans.?

Another tool you might consider using is to take note of who has holiday, personal, or leave time/pay and who’s most likely to use it - based on previous years. This will allow you to plan project expectations accommodating their schedule and the project’s outcome.?

After these considerations, it’s important to plan projects that are fun, flexible, and even optional. I have found that driving a team hard during the holidays does more adverse damage than good. On the front end, you may reach a desired goal. On the back end, however, you can damage morale, project quality, and the remembrance of how they were treated during an important time.?

People value how they spend the holidays more than the work they think is important. Rightfully so.?

Now that we’ve laid some foundations, here are the top 4 ways to stay motivated during the holidays:?

1. Be Flexible: Be flexible in how you approach deadlines that run up to the holidays/end of the year. This takes future planning on your part. If mid-year, you had a deadline for a project as the 31st. You need to move that up in the year to the end of November. This will take pressure off folks during the holiday and enable a more relaxed work approach.?
2. Project Breakdown: Instead of focusing on project completion, give people smaller, more achievable components to knock out before the holidays hit. This creates a sense of accomplishment and continues to move these forward.?
3. Group Projects: Start group projects for the New Year, approaching them in a light and fun way. This will do two things: 1. Spreads the workload team-wide. 2. Gives everyone something to look forward to in the New Year.?
4. Training: Giving free training options to your people during the holiday season will keep them sharp, help them in their work, and help projects become sharper when they are attempted after the training has taken place.??

To conclude, act with grace and understanding. Keep a light and fun vision of things you want the team to accomplish before the holidays arrive. And, above all else, remember that everyone is human and will benefit from you treating them as such.?

Happy Holidays!