Set your team up now for success in 2025

With one month left for the 2024 year and Christmas just around the corner, you might find it’s that familiar slog to rally your team and keep them motivated, focused and engaged as the year comes to a close. With the new year comes new years resolutions, holiday time to sit back and reflect on the year that was, reassess career goals and align priorities for the year ahead. That leads to an increase in people looking for new jobs, keen to make a career change early in the new year.

There are many things you can do now to give you the best chance of retaining your team members into the new year, ensuring that they end 2024 on a high and feel motivated and engaged about their work for the year ahead.

I often see teams focused on just getting through to Christmas, focused on that date, the last day of work for the year. Getting as many things ticked off the to do list so we can wrap 2024 in a nice little bow. What 2025 might look like or the plan for the year ahead becomes a conversation that is held in the new year; the perception being let’s not start those conversations now and add to the workload or overload our people if we don’t have to.

Instead of simply focusing on getting through to the end of year, creating some excitement and momentum about the year ahead can really help to engage your people and get them excited about what’s on the horizon.

Communicate the strategy

Depending on how your business operates from an annual planning perspective (calendar year or financial year), you are either at the start or halfway through the cycle. Upping the communication about where the business is at and where it is going helps the team see the way forward. A lot of businesses have had a tough year and might not have achieved the results they had hoped for, acknowledging this and sharing with your team the strategy for what the next period looks like can help reassure them and understand the bigger picture. Although business performance might not have been where you hoped, there will still be small wins to acknowledge and celebrate. Helping your team collectively and individually understand the plan for the year ahead and how their role plays in to that plan can help engage, motivate and retain them to end the year on a high and have them feeling excited and positive about what their role and career looks like in 2025.

One on One conversations

The start of the new year is a popular time for people to set new goals and of course new year’s resolutions. If your team are doing this over the holiday season, starting the conversation with them now about their thoughts and ideas for what their work and career will look like in 2025 can uncover some ideas and opportunities that might not have been on your radar. Having one on one conversations about what they want more of, less of, or the same of in 2025 can open some really valuable conversations and help plan the year ahead. Understanding what professional development looks like for them, what success looks like, and how you can support them in achieving their goals will help them craft their goals and new years resolutions, hopefully in alignment with the business goals and objectives. Without these conversations, your team members might not think you can provide or offer them what they want in the new year.

Manage the pressure

Many of us create this perception in our own minds that we must have all the things crossed off our to do list come Christmas. It creates a sense of closure on the year and is satisfying, however with that often comes self-imposed increased stress and pressure. This can create angst, tension and make for not a great work environment. Having conversations frequently with your team members about what’s on their to do list, what the priorities are that need to be achieved by that impending Christmas deadline, what would be the nice to have items ticked off and then the items that are really neither here nor there, can help reduce the stress and pressure. If your team member is sitting on the beach, reflecting on the year that was and the year ahead, you can guarantee they’ll be focused on what has happened in the last few weeks and months as opposed to putting as much focus on what happened back in February or July for example. If the last few weeks and months have been stressful, chaotic and unfulfilling you can guarantee that’s what they will be focused on as they sit and reflect.

Looking at how you can close out the year with a balance of getting that needs to be done, done, reducing the unnecessary stress and pressure, while setting the festive tone, boosting morale and creating team bonding opportunities will help you kick off 2025 in the right direction.