5 Year-End Musts for Leaders

The holiday season can be a pretty hectic and confusing time for a leader. On top of everything going on in your personal life, work often gets busy around this time as you churn through the last items of the year and prepare for the next. At the same time, keeping your employees engaged and feeling valued can be extra challenging.

Here are a few quick and useful tips for leaders looking for some guidance and inspiration:

Encourage TRUE time off

Time off work is crucial – we all know that. How about a little extra? Kylie Ora Lobell, writing for SHRM, shows that extending the holiday season break can go a long way in supporting an employee’s wellness. During that time off, encourage employees to completely disconnect from their work – turn off notifications, close the apps, block off your calendars, and set automated e-mail responses. Further, Lobell writes that leaders should take the initiative and lead by example. Set the precedent for prioritizing time off and explaining its importance so that employees don’t feel guilty or wrong for using what’s available to them.

Focus on employee engagement

Some people in your team may struggle with holiday season for one reason or another. During this time, these employees may need some extra attention to keep them upbeat, fulfilled, and engaged with their work. Quick discussions, check-ins, and 1×1 meetings go a long way here.

Recognize this year’s wins and winners

You can truly make a difference for your employees by going through the year’s successes with them. Seek out individuals and teams and let them know something that they did that generated a great outcome or that you liked a lot – it’ll show them that their efforts over the past year were noticed, appreciated, and impactful.

Begin high level plans for next year

The end of the year is a great time to take a step back and look at the big picture of where your organization or team stands, where you want to go, and what you need to do to get there. Take the opportunity to set goals for yourself, your team, and/or your organization based off of what you find from your high-level analysis.

Support your community

Any time is a good time to give back to your community, but the holiday season is one of the best. Anywhere you look, there are likely to be plenty of opportunities to volunteer. Reach out to your local nonprofit or community organizations to find projects to get your teams involved in. Play an active role in bringing the spirit of the holidays to the people and communities that make your business possible.

With these tips in mind, we hope you can make your holiday season just that much better for yourself and your team.

Ora Lobell, Kylie. “6 Ways to Help Your Employees Get the Holiday Break They Need” [Article]. 7 December, 2022. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/6-ways-to-help-your-employees-get-the-holiday-break-they-need.aspx [Accessed November 13, 2023]