Festive focus: How to keep your team on track this holiday season

As the Christmas holidays approach, many employees face the challenge of balancing work deadlines with personal commitments and the distractions of the festive season. This can often lead to a drop in productivity, as individuals juggle competing priorities. It is essential to find ways to keep morale high, ensuring you (and the rest of your team) remain engaged and maintain productivity throughout the holiday season and into the new year.

Here are several strategies that can help achieve this balance and support employees during this busy time.

• Set flexible work goals: Encourage employees to set personal and professional work goals for the remaining weeks of the year. When individuals feel ownership over their objectives, they’re more likely to stay engaged and motivated. This sense of achievement can be highly motivating and can also help set employees up for success in the new year.
• Recognise achievements: Recognising individual and team accomplishments, especially during a busy time, is essential for maintaining motivation. A simple ‘shout-out’ or a company-wide email celebrating achievements can go a long way in boosting morale. Recognition reinforces the idea that every contribution, no matter how small, is valuable to the company’s success and encourages employees to stay engaged and motivated.
• Create a ‘done by Christmas’ list: Help employees break down larger tasks into smaller, manageable steps that can be completed before Christmas. Providing a visual aid, such as a shared checklist, helps them stay organised and motivated to meet deadlines. The sense of accomplishment that comes from ticking off completed tasks can give employees a morale boost and help them stay focused.
• Streamline meetings: As the holiday season draws closer, employees may find it harder to stay engaged during long meetings. To combat this, keep meetings short, focused, and purposeful e.g. using clear agendas with specific action points to ensure that time is used efficiently.
• Be available: Managing workload and time effectively is essential. December can be an overwhelming month with the pressure of wrapping up projects and preparing for the new year. If you are in a leadership role, it’s crucial for managers to make time for their teams, even during this busy period. If you don’t do this already, try to organise regular one-to-one check-ins, provide feedback on tasks, and offer support if workloads need to be adjusted.
• Use focused work blocks: If people are really struggling to stay motivated and engaged try to encourage employees to work in short, focused periods, such as 25-minute blocks followed by 5-minute breaks (a method known as the Pomodoro technique) – clearly this will need to be set on an individual basis, depending on the type of work they are undertaking. This technique helps maintain concentration and productivity, particularly when energy levels may drop toward the end of the year.
• Offer flexible work schedules: Flexibility is key during the holiday season. If at all possible, allowing employees to adjust their working hours can alleviate some of the stress caused by personal commitments and holiday preparations. This flexibility leads to higher focus and productivity as employees can manage both their work and personal life without the added stress of rigid schedules.