It’s nearly November, and with that comes the realization that there are only two months left in the fourth quarter and it’s time for that final sprint to the end of the year.
Typically, there are two reactions to this realization.
“Yay!” comes from the teams that have figured out how to enjoy this time of year while still getting the real shizz done. Preparedness goes a long way, my friends!
Then, there’s the other response….
If that’s your response, check out the video below for my thoughts!
Video transcription:- Hey there friend, it’s Stefanie Krievins with The Problem Solvers School, where I share tips and encouragement so you can fix hot messes. And we are publishing this video fourth quarter 2019. Here’s why that’s important. I wanna talk about how you as a leader, can make sure that your people create the capacity in their workload and really take the time to be off with their friends, their family, their loved ones with all of these holidays as they’re approaching this year. You know, what I start to hear from folks as we’re planning the rest of year is, oh, well I’m trying to squeeze this in, and we have to take time off for Thanksgiving, or we’re closed between Christmas and New Years, I don’t know how to get all this done. In so many businesses, the fourth quarter is a very busy time, we do a lot of business, close a lot of transactions, we do need that to meet our revenue goals, totally get it. At the same time, how can you help your people, adjust their capacity and expectations, so they can take some much needed time off. So they can be with the people that they love. So they can be present and not on their email at Thanksgiving dinner, right? Use that time off, a lot of our companies have the use it or lose it policy for vacation. Are they using it? And too many companies allow their folks to rollover vacation, so people just accumulate vacation hours like an asset, versus using it to create respite for themselves in their lives. So as their leader, ask them now, ask them yesterday, right? Be empathetic, be curious, what needs to change in your workload so that you can also appreciate this time of year with your loved ones. And what does that look like for you, right? What are the days that matter in your family? How can you get a little bit of rest before we gear up going into the new year, what do you need? Don’t allow the expectation of cramming all of the same amount of work into less time, because it just creates stress and chaos, and level of hectic-ness that we don’t need. Allow people to enjoy this wonderful time of year that means so much to so many. And for a lot of folks it’s also rife with emotional landmines that they need to navigate too. Be open to having those conversations with your people, so that they can get the most out of this time of year as human beings, and you can leverage them as your employees to get what you need from them to close the year in a strong way. My friends, I wanna hear from you, how do you do this with your employees to allow them the space to enjoy this time of year the fourth quarter of the year, with so many different American holidays, is what I’m assuming, right? How do you allow them to do that, I wanna hear from you. And then get off the internet, go ask them what do they need this holiday season? So that they can enjoy it and produce for the company and get off the internet and get the real shit done, and I’ll see you soon, thanks.
