Tips for keeping your staff on track heading into the Christmas Holiday period.

By Adrienne Goldsmith

Let's face it, as soon as the calendar hits the 1st day of November the Christmas decorations are dusted off, shops start window display count downs to insight panic in the consumer, and gossip at the coffee machine extend to sessions about shopping, holidays and prompts those staff that rarely put their hand up for overtime to come to the front of the class.

So what do you do to keep the teams focus on getting the business in shape for the holiday period and continue to concentrate on the CUSTOMER!

• Continue to have one on one meetings throughout November and December to bring them back on track to their goals and objectives. If you never have had one on one meetings with your team on a regular basis, then you deserve what you get when they sit in front of you at review time and come up with all the reasons they haven't performed that year.
• Assign them new tasks for the preparation of Christmas - you'll be surprised how efficient a team member can be when given a new or more interesting task to perform.
• Have them plan the Christmas function on a budget! - When the staff know that what they do over the next few weeks in maintaining service and bringing in revenue that can benefit them in a celebration - you'll be surprised what can be achieved.
• Have competitions, give rewards - Christmas is traditionally a tidy up time. Have the staff review not only their area of the business for storage and waste reduction opportunities but also their peer departments. Games such as Pimp my workstation work well and set a new expectation for the New Year.
• Have them go out with the delivery or sales team for a day and remind them of how each department contributes to the Customers satisfaction.
• Have your staff survey customers - Write a 5 question survey and have desk bound staff call the customer to gather feedback on their needs for the Christmas period, New Year or what they would like to see improved for the coming year. It stops the staff from spending time surfing the net for gifts and saves money on getting this task outsourced.
• Announce achievements, targets and plans for the New Year - Staff are always keen to hear what is coming up for the company and what is in it for them. Make sure you are clear that it is based on performance of each and every person in the company.
• Don't deliver bad news! - If you feel you may be downsizing or restructuring in the New Year this is not a good time to announce this as it causes unnecessary stress and productivity will go down the toilet.

PS - It doesn't hurt to ask your staff the question 'Who pays your wages'? If they reply 'The Company does'. Wrongo! The CUSTOMER does, and with this year more than ever the dollar can be stretched even further at your competitors business if the customer so chooses to do so.