Why this time of year is hard on Leaders?
Juggling end-of-year targets, managing staff schedules, morale, and momentum—all while trying to maintain a cheerful holiday spirit and squeeze in some personal holiday preparation—can leave even the most seasoned leaders feeling drained and overwhelmed.
Rewards and Employee Benefits Association identified that: ‘Constant pressure to motivate teams, meet goals, and maintain a festive atmosphere leaves 65% of leaders feeling physically and emotionally drained, often leading to burnout’.
Unfortunately, the increased demand on leaders at this time of the year can often be overlooked.
Leaders often find themselves caught in a whirlwind of deadlines, demands, and distractions, which brings unique challenges to those at the helm of teams and organisations. For many leaders, it’s a time of increased stress where personal and professional responsibilities collide and the mental load negatively impacts their performance and wellbeing.
Here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be this way!
By putting effective behaviours and strategies in place leaders can not only survive the holiday rush but also thrive during this demanding season. From prioritising self-care to effectively delegating tasks, there are practical ways to maintain balance, stay energised, and ensure your team functions productively and in the right spirit.
Let’s unwrap the secrets to leading well through the festive rush!
7 threats to leaders at this time of the year, and how to mitigate them
Firstly, workplace leaders need to identify the unique threats commonly experienced during the festive season, which range from operational challenges to psychosocial risks. Being aware of these can help leaders mitigate the risks and effectively navigate the season while getting the best out of their team. By adopting proactive strategies that safeguard against these threats, the leader can better assure their and their team’s wellbeing and success.
1. Low Morale and Disengagement
As we approach the end of the year employees may switch off or become distracted or disengaged, due to focusing on workplace celebrations and personal plans rather than work. This negatively impacts team cohesion and performance and can result in everyone falling short of their EOY project goals.
Maintain everyone’s energy and productivity levels!
- Celebrate Success: Acknowledge the team’s achievements throughout the year with an appropriate and thoughtful thank-you message or event.
- Flexible Schedules: Allow employees to adjust working hours where possible to manage personal holiday obligations and external event commitments.
- Encourage Inclusivity: Recognise and acknowledge diversity when organising Festive celebrations, to make everyone feel included, valued, and respected.
2. Increased Conflict
Tensions can rise during the festive season due to workload pressures, miscommunication about leave arrangements, or differing expectations among leadership teams and employees, relating to behavioural conduct. This can be a recipe for team trust and culture erosion, which takes a long time to repair.
- Communicate Early: Share clear expectations about leave policies, workload distribution, and deadlines and re-enforce your team’s goals, core values, and promise to each other, colleagues and clients.
- Be Fair: Use a transparent system for handling time-off requests to avoid perceptions of favouritism.
- Stay Calm: Handle disputes promptly and professionally to prevent escalation.
3. Financial Pressures
Budget constraints or the pressure to meet year-end financial goals often create significant stress for leaders, particularly in industries where the festive season plays a pivotal role in revenue generation. The holiday period can make or break annual targets as leaders face the challenge of balancing tight budgets with the need to deliver exceptional results, all while ensuring their teams stay motivated and productive.
- Reassess Goals: Monitor your expectations for revenue or productivity targets to avoid experiencing unrealistic demands that will threaten to overload you and your team.
- Transparent Budgeting: Communicate financial realities with relevant stakeholders to align and create clear expectations.
- Spread Effort: Consider whether some year-end tasks can be appropriately delegated to others or postponed to reduce pressure and compromises to product or service delivery.
4. Health and Safety Risks
Internal or external festive social events bring opportunities for networking, team bonding, and celebration but also come with potential risks that leaders must manage carefully. The nature of celebrations can lead to time off work, poor decision-making or accidents, while inappropriate behaviour or unprofessional conduct, can create uncomfortable or even harmful situations and a breakdown in team functioning.
- Plan Events Wisely: Establish clear guidelines for office parties (e.g., alcohol consumption limits, transportation options), and ensure there are designated individuals to address issues if they arise.
- Lead Responsibly: Model expected behaviour and be present and vigilant at social gatherings to handle any issues promptly.
- Encourage Wellness: Promote mental and physical health initiatives leading up to, during, and beyond the Festive period.
5. Neglected Self-Care
Leaders often prioritise the needs of their teams, clients, and organisational goals over their own well-being. This self-neglect can result in mounting stress, poor decision-making, and exhaustion, impacting their personal and professional effectiveness. Invariably, the constant pressure to meet deadlines, manage holiday schedules, and maintain team morale leaves leaders with little time for self-care.
- Set Boundaries: Limit after-hours work and protect personal time.
- Stay Healthy: Maintain regular exercise, a balanced diet, and sufficient sleep to stay resilient.
- Practice Reflection: Take time to review the year’s successes and challenges, focusing on the positives.
6. Burnout and Fatigue
The year-end disruptions frequently places significant demands on both leaders and their teams. This leads to higher job demand and fatigue as everyone strives to meet deadlines, finalise projects, and hit financial targets. As workloads pile up and expectations grow, everyone’s mental and physical well-being can suffer, potentially leading to burnout.
- Set Priorities: Focus on high-impact, priority, tasks and delay less critical ones until after the holiday period.
- Encourage Breaks: Model good behaviour by taking regular breaks and ensuring team members do the same.
- Delegate Effectively: Share the workload appropriately by empowering others to take ownership of tasks.
7. Reputational Risks
Reputational risks during the festive season can be significant, as errors in leadership judgment, miscommunication, or mishandling sensitive situations are often magnified during this period of heightened scrutiny. Unmet client expectations can damage trust, hard work, and long-term relationships. Internally, poor decision-making or perceived unfairness can erode employee confidence in someone’s leadership.
Boost your reputation by getting the basics right
- Communicate Clearly: Set and clearly communicate realistic expectations with clients, customers, and colleagues about deadlines and availability. Remain transparent and approach challenges thoughtfully, professionally and with integrity.
- Monitor Workload: Double-check deliverables to ensure you can meet your obligations and quality isn’t compromised during this busy period.
- Train Your Team: Prepare employees to handle their work load, commitments, performance, and wellbeing with professionalism.
Make it a season of professional growth
As the Festive Season unfolds, leaders have a unique opportunity to turn its challenges into moments of growth and connection. With the right strategies in place, leaders can create a supportive, balanced environment, enabling everyone to end the year on a positive, healthy, and productive note while ensuring end-of-year goals are met.
Get support for your leadership
Whether you’re a highly experienced leader looking to fine tune your performance or a newly appointed leader wanting to gain confidence and skills, our tailored Leader Support program is ideally suited to ensure your success.
Enjoy greater self-efficacy, EQ and performance management capabilities. Be more capable of leading a team that enjoys genuine trust, innovation, and cohesive productivity.
Contact us and let’s design your leadership growth and success together.
