How to Motivate Your Team During Holidays

The holiday season is filled with parties, family, and fun. However it can pose a challenge for business owners, as employees request time off and may spend their days at work distracted by holiday plans. You’ll need to take a proactive approach in order to prevent the holiday season from derailing your productivity. Here are some tips on how to motivate your team during holidays most effectively:

Set measurable goals in both the long and short-term.

When your employees have goals that they have to achieve, it’s easier to keep the whole team on track. Instead of faking it through the holiday season, everyone in the office is held accountable. This makes individual employees more likely to stay focused.

Stagger your time-off.

If all of your most senior employees are taking the same week off, your company will feel their absence. Grant your team members the time-off they need and deserve, but do so in such a way that you don’t end up feeling major absences within the office. Planning employees’ time off strategically helps to cut down on how these vacation days will impact your business.

Don’t be a Scrooge.

While you shouldn’t let everyone skate by from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, you also want your office to be an enjoyable place to work. Throw an ugly sweater party for your employees or order a special lunch into the office one day. Rewarding hard work with celebration allows your team to enjoy the holiday season without going overboard.

Give your team the tools to win.

Many people in business lose focus during the holiday season, so it can be hard for your employees to find success during this time, even if they truly are trying. Particularly for salespeople, the holidays are a challenging time of year to try to get real work done. Be understanding of this and give your employees all of the tools possible to help them continue to be successful at work.

Value employees’ opinions.

When your team members feel as if they’re just obeying orders from management and have no real say in how your business operates on a day-to-day basis, it’s easier for them to disengage and just go through the motions. Instead, you should welcome feedback from your employees. If they see room for improvement, take their suggestions into consideration. When every individual feels as if their thoughts matter, they’re more likely to want to focus and put forth their best effort at the office each day, regardless of what kinds of holidays or special events are coming up.

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How do you keep your team engaged during the holiday season? Share with us in the comments!