Everyone is counting down the days until the holiday break – but there’s still work to be done and you’ve got to keep your team motivated. Here’s how…
One eye’s on the Christmas advent calendar with just a handful of doors left to open, while the other is on actual work.
We all want to be outside playing in the snow or cosied up with a loved one watching Home Alone again. But there’s still work to be done.
Here are a few ways to keep the Christmas spirit whilst also motivating your staff…
Plan and prioritise
You’ll have a lot of deadlines for the week before Christmas, so now’s not the time for people to take their eye off the ball.
Help take the pressure off the end of year deadlines a bit by getting some of the work done earlier. If it’s too late for that, prioritise the tasks that need doing before the New Year and see if there are any tasks that can be pushed back until January.
Set small tasks
Keep workers focussed with daily tasks that will help towards the completion of large projects.
Trying to get a huge project finished before December 24th might seem overwhelming for many. By breaking it down you keep employees motivated and give them a sense of achievement every day that they can carry through until Christmas.
Allow flexible working
No one wants to be in the office over Christmas when their homes are all festive. Once your deadlines and tasks are set hard and fast, let your workers do it whenever and wherever they want.
Just make it clear that the work needs to be done before the deadline and if they want to work from home, that’s fine.
Keep it fun
Don’t be the office Scrooge making every one work hard with their heads down every hour of the day.
Break up the day with some fun activities like decorating the office tree, an advent calendar or Secret Santa. A good break and a relaxed office is a hugely important motivational tool.
Bribe them
And if that doesn’t work, simply bribe them. This could be in the form of a free drink or two at the Christmas party or time off work in January.
If they’ve got just one project to finish before Christmas, let them know that once it’s done they can finish up. You’ll be surprised by how hard staff can work when they’ve got a personal motivation.
Remind them of 2016
Remember, next year is literally just a few weeks away and all the work that’s been put off now will be there when you get back after the festive break. Remind everyone of this at regular intervals.
You could even have a diary planner on the office wall with 2016 tasks – get a few of them ticked off before Christmas with a little bit of extra hard work and coming back after the holidays won’t seem so depressing after all.
