Its that time of year again: the time of holiday parties, Christmas cards to write, shopping to do (even onlineat work!), vacations, family commitments, and more stress. It is no wonder that a recent survey by Accountemps found that 44% of executives feel employees are less productive the week before a major holiday.
While this may be true, there are ways that we as leaders can counteract all of the distractions and stress and help people be as productive now as at any time of the year. Following are some suggestions to keep the focus and results high as the bells ring louder and the shopping days disappear. Rather than avoiding the challenges or denying the distractions the season offers, ESCAPE the problems by applying the suggestions below.
Expect good results. Set high expectations and you will typically get great results. Set low ones and youll get the matching results too. As a leader, one of your responsibilities is to set clear expectations and goals for others. However successful you have been at communicating and gaining understanding on these expectations, the holidays require some additional expectation setting. Give people a sense...