How to Keep Your Team Productive During the Holidays
It’s finally here: the end of 2020. The holidays are always a time for celebration, but this year’s festivities feel even more special. You and your team have survived a global pandemic, civil unrest, one of the weirdest Presidential elections in US history, and more. Staying on top of work during the holidays can be tricky, especially when you’re so ready for a break from the chaos of the past year. Here are some of our tips for keeping your team productive during the holiday season.
Set Measurable and Realistic Goals
If your goals are too ambitious for the holiday season, you might as well not have goals at all; unrealistically high expectations can overwhelm your team and dishearten them when they struggle to meet deadlines. Set your team up for success by developing a timeline and road map of measurable goals that you plan on accomplishing over the holidays.
Use monday.com to Create a Roadmap
Monday.com has plenty of board templates, and one of our favorites is their Work Plan Board. This board walks administrators through creating a set list of goals, strategies, objectives, tactics, and a step-by-step worksheet. Monday.com recommends planning activities by “working backward from the final goal with core initiatives arranged hierarchically.”
Other board templates to check out are Monday.com’s Daily Task Tracker and Project Tracker. With Microsoft Excel export/import capabilities, easy tracking, and clear ownership, both templates are customizable for tracking day-to-day or project tasks
Check-in With Your Team
For every team member who wants time off during the holidays, there is likely to be another team member who wants to keep busy during this season. Although most of us associate the holidays with family, celebration, and good food, the holidays can be a source of anxiety and depression for many people. Talk to your team members one-on-one and get to know what they need to feel supported during this holiday season.
Schedule Check-Ins Using Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a great resource for keeping all scheduling and meetings in one place. Use this platform to communicate a check-in schedule with your team, as well as to host video calls with your employees. Even after you’ve had a video chat check-in, Microsoft Teams allows you to stay in touch with coworkers using the Chat feature, so your employees know that they can always reach you with their needs and concerns.
Honor Your Employee’s Commitment to Family
Employees are committed to their teams, but their priority is always going to their families. In fact, that’s why anyone has a job in the first place: to support their family. Employers, administrators, and team leaders have the privilege of being an extension of their team members’ families, and you want to know what they need from you. Organizations work best when employees feel as though they’re part of a family, and you can promote a familial community by respecting your coworkers’ commitments to be with their family during the holiday season.
Celebrate Your Team
The holidays mark the end of another year with your incredible team, and it’s time to show how much you appreciate everything they’ve done for you. You’ve made it through a whole year of trials and tribulations, and you deserve a chance to celebrate your triumphs instead of just stress over the negative.
Host a Happy Hour Over Zoom
It might not be the same as an office party (think: sheet cake and LED lighting), but a Zoom happy hour gives you and your team a chance to relax in a comfortable setting. You’ve all had to use Zoom out of necessity, but the holidays are a great excuse to get more creative with your meetings. Your happy hour could include a theme (think: the Christmas parties in The Office but with fewer mishaps), or be pajama-friendly. Invite your coworkers to show off their pets during happy hour, too; their pets are also part of the workplace family!
Send Virtual Holiday Cards
Greeting cards are one of the best ways to let those close to you know that you’re thinking about them during the holiday season. If handwritten cards are more your speed, by all means, write them, but virtual cards can be just as personal and heartfelt as one delivered via snail mail. Graphic design platforms like Canva and Adobe Spark offer free greeting card templates and each platform has an intuitive and user-friendly interface that makes designing your own card a piece of *fruit* cake. Adobe Spark requires a free account to see all their templates, but here are some of our favorite Canva templates (and a link to Adobe Spark’s template page):
Say Farewell to 2020
This year has been chaotic, to say the least. You and your team have put in the hours to meet deadlines and stay on top of projects while still struggling to adapt to the insane state of the world. You deserve a break, and your employees do too. So, celebrate your work, check-in with your team members, and don’t forget that it's okay to relax, especially when you have realistic and measurable goals for the holiday season.