Leading Through the Holidays!

Do the holidays impact your leadership? Have you ever considered that question? Many folks take Christmas very seriously either from a faith perspective or a cultural one, and the activities of the season can be quite distracting to our businesses or other organizations. So what is the best approach for us to take through the season? You may already have some company policies or traditions that dictate what you do between now and the end of the year, but if you don’t let me suggest a few ideas for how to address it.

Celebrate the season. Don’t fight the “distractions” that the season brings. Notice them and celebrate the ones you can. If you have the ability to have a party for either you entire organization or key staff do so. At the party let folks know how much you appreciate them and their work. Be sure to celebrate who there are as well as what they do. If your organization is too big to include everyone, consider making a general holiday announcement celebrating their part in the blessings of 2016, and let them know you are looking forward with anticipation to the New Year!

Do for one what you can’t do for all. I learned this one from Andy Stanley. Our church has grown significantly over the past several years, which means as much as I would like to sit down with all the individual members and participants over the Christmas seasons it is impossible. That doesn’t mean I can’t sit down with one or a few and let them know how much they mean to me and to our church. If even that seems like too much, write a few handwritten notes to celebrate folks who have made an impact in the past year. In this era of form letters, e-mails and twitter, people appreciate hand written notes, as they are nearly a lost art form.

Make sure everyone knows what you’re expecting of them through the season. Whether it’s more or less productivity time off, etc… make sure everyone is on the same page. Sometimes our team will actually work harder if we let them know, we need to push it for the next week and then we’ll take it a little easy the week or so before Christmas and then take a real break for the holidays.

Since Christmas is on Sunday this year, figure out what you’re going to do with the time between Christmas and New Year’s. December 26 is a federal holiday, so do you take that day and get right back to work on Tuesday? Do you take more time than that? Again if you don’t have a company policy, and you haven’t decided this yet, now is the time. It’s likely that many on your team already have plans, so be sure to be clear about what you expect.

Leaders set the tone as much by what we do as by what we say, if not more so, so be sure to pause today and make sure you’re clear on what your expectations are, and what you’re going to do to live them out effectively.

Finally, I find taking some time between Christmas and New Year’s to review the year just past, and to set some new goals for the year ahead is a great way to lead better in the year ahead. Be sure to take enough time to both review and dream. It will give you the best opportunity to learn from what didn’t go well as well as to plan some changes for the coming year that will improve your leadership, which will improve the organization you lead.

Here’s to leading better by recognizing the holidays are upon us and impact each of us in ways that will call us to be more intentional and effective in our leadership–today!

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