Vacation time. Holiday parties. Out with the flu.
This time of year can be difficult to keep the wind in the sails for managers at any organization. Here are a few ideas to keep your team focused until the final buzzer of 2015:
Break Routine: Being that we’re a remote-based company, we’re scheduling time we can all get together for a belated holiday celebration and just to see each other again. While we see one another via Skype and other webinars nearly daily, nothing can replace face-to-face time with the ones that are helping see your vision through. Additionally, we’re making gifts for our clients, and getting everyone in on the creative process, so it’s been fun to collaborate on a new project outside of digital.
Communication/Focus on Team: As a company, we’ve had a lot of changes in 2015, but we’ve never felt as strong as we do now. We are trying new ways to engage ourselves as individuals, but also trying to focus on what it means to have a company culture or specific way we want to work and live. For a long time, Gary and I were the only ones we needed to worry about and being very independent made that easy. As we’ve grown and hired on a full time team member, a lot of that focus needs to change. It has only been for the positive in our minds. Forcing ourselves to break out of our shell and our typical grind mode to stop and discuss things that are happening in the business is one of the best things I’ve noticed as of late. We’re planning, strategizing, and overall getting new perspectives with a fresh mind in our midst. This gives a huge benefit to us in looking to the future.
Foresight: With 2016 just weeks away, we’re really thinking about the future. Along with company changes, we’ve had the blessing of being able to schedule work for the coming months and really shape what we want our company to focus on in the new year. We have expectations of ourselves as a company that go far beyond client work, and it all starts with taking care of our people on the front line. We know that we can continue to grind out projects one after the other and another year will pass just like the last, but this year we want to take all that we’ve learned and use it to our advantage
The holiday season can undoubtedly get hectic, but they also don’t need to halt production. Use the remaining weeks as a ramp up for 2016, and most importantly, use this time to show your appreciation to the team and the advances they’ve made over the past year.