The holiday season is often billed as the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, however as many of you know it can also be full of stress and missteps.  For a leader, it can be especially tricky to navigate.  But, fear not!  Here at Steople one of our core values is “Have Fun” so we thought we would live that value in our final blog of 2020.  We are having the whole Steople team weigh in on what they feel are important Do’s and Don’ts to remember during this chaotic time of year…as seen through the eyes of an Elf on the Shelf!

 

 

DO: Lead by Example
While having good intentions, many employees get lost in the holiday hype and pressure and may start to slack off in their work. Leaders can help alleviate this simply by modeling the right behavior and using the right language.  Maintain the same high level of work ethic and your employees will follow suit. Often discussing the need to finish strong and wrapping up work for the year is incredibly important as well. Pitching in and helping employees with their own workloads is a great way to “get in the trenches” and understand their workloads. Some of the most inspiring CEOs I know have gone out on the production floor and helped their employees fulfill orders. Their teams loved it!

 

 

DON’T: Ignore Your Team’s Feelings
The holiday season is typically associated with social gatherings, gift-giving and cheer, but this year looks different for most due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  During the holidays and as 2020 comes to a close, leaders must guard against letting compassion fatigue creep in, which could lead them to become emotionally unplugged from the team.  Leaders must stay the course with resiliency, empathy, and commitment to supporting employees through this challenging time. Be intentional about taking care of your team or there could be a build-up of resentment that will negatively impact the team functioning.

DO: Set A Clear Cut Schedule Around Days Off
The holiday season — lots of days out of the office are happening, which means many days that productivity deteriorates. While you may not get as much work accomplished as other times of the year, you can still plan accordingly. Many leaders tend to discourage PTO usage during this time because of the limited amount of work time already available, as long as they give their employees enough notice in advance of the expectation, productivity doesn’t have to be impacted.

 

 

DON’T: Be Afraid To Make Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes, even around the holidays.  If you’re afraid to make mistakes, your employees will be too. This means that they’ll take fewer risks, get less done, and contribute less than they would have otherwise. It’s much better to be a courageous leader who works hard giving it your all, and when the mistakes happen, own them, learn from them and move on.  Excellent leaders are willing to be vulnerable and say to their employees, “I made a mistake, and here is how we’re going to fix it.”

 

 

DO: Have Some Fun…At Work
Fun and the holidays seem to go hand in hand.  But what about at work?  It has been proven that when people have fun, they are more engaged, more productive, and less stressed. Therefore, it is important for leaders to create a culture where the two can successfully exist together.  Promote and support some fun at work.  Your energy and enthusiasm will have a great impact on your organization.  It will create an environment that people love to work in.

 

 

DON’T: Forget Bonuses and Thank You’s
Where appropriate and possible, it’s great to provide some additional consideration to employees at year-end especially when so many people are struggling to make ends meet. From my experience, it is more about the gesture and thought than it is about the amount. This token of acknowledgment goes a long way. If you aren’t able to give a bonus having another gesture that simply says thank you to your employees can provide a big boost going into the new year.

 

From our family to yours, we hope you have a great holiday season as we all look towards 2021 with hope and anticipation of new beginnings!