Andy: In my experience, a job falls into one of two camps. You either have pretty much the whole month of December off, or you’re busting ass and working harder than you have all year.
Emma: It’s so true. I’ve had both types of jobs, but the ones where I’m in a full-out sprint, working crazy hours and crashing into deadlines, all while the team the next pod over keeps blaring Justin Bieber Christmas songs through their computer speakers, are the most memorable. And not in a good way.
Andy: For lots of managers out there, this time of year is the worst time of year. You’re cranky. Your team is even crankier. You’re forced to balance weird and contradictory expectations.
We’re dedicating this issue of The Bent to you.
Emma: And, because this job isn’t one of the ones where we’re busting ass all December long, Andy and I are taking two weeks off!
Andy: Have a great New Year, everyone. We’ll be back January 8th with lots more. In the meantime…
10 Ways to Be a Good Boss During Busy Holidays
1. Cancel anything you can. If it’s not urgent, it can wait until the New Year. (Remember, that’s only two weeks away…) Tell your team you’re cancelling these things. It’ll lift the mental burden they’re hoisting around, and will give you a chance to tell them what you want them to focus on. It’s a rallying call and a small gift at the same time.
2. Use a burndown. Let your team know that once whatever specific set of tasks is done (say, all the deliverables for Q4) everyone can go home and log off completely. If it’s early, woohoo! If it’s late, at least you’re all in it together.
3. Don’t lie. If things are feeling bad, don’t try to pretend they’re not. No one wants your false cheer. In fact, it can be nice to admit that it’s hard in a positive way: We’ll do more in sales this month than we did the previous 11 months combined. This is huge and hard, and I’m really proud of us.
4. Dump in the right direction. Have you seen the comfort in–dump out model? It applies similarly here. You give support down, you get support laterally and up. Same goes for your boss, your team, the team beneath your team, and the team that has it harder than yours. Maybe Customer Service is even more slammed than you are right now. Don’t complain to them. In fact, can your team do something nice and helpful for that group?
5. Get in the weeds. Now is not the time for you to be working on some epic visionary plan for the future. Now is the time to very literally show your team that they are not alone. Where’s the backlog? The worst task? It’s yours.
6. Be first to get in, last to leave. Normally, we don’t support putting in hours at the office just for show. But when your team is in the hurt, it’s nice to show solidarity by not waltzing out the door for a 5pm managers happy hour. Get in, stay in, and if you really need to go home, kick your team out, too. What you need is also what they need.
7. Provide small, glorious bits of relief. Maybe you can all take shifts leaving at a normal hour or coming in a little bit late, even in all the craziness. It’s amazing how much of a miracle an extra hour is the morning after a late night. If nothing else, spring for pizzas and salad, or mid-morning coffees, or late-afternoon beers, or all of the above.
8. Compensate in January. Can you give everyone bonus flex days for how much they worked? Can you allow everyone to leave early every Friday for the month? Or get in late? Do this in addition to any normal overtime rules.
9. No new rules or procedures (unless they’re timesaving measures). Don’t slow down any brains with an update of your software, a new process for checking out loaner laptops, a grand idea to put only healthy snacks in the snack bar, etc.
10. Watch it with the emails. It’s hard to nail tone this time of year. When people are stressed, they’re not as good at reading emails neutrally. They’ll take whatever state they’re in and apply it to your written word. Our suggestion: Say things in person, where you’re able to look in their eyes and make sure they understand what you’re really trying to get across.
Good Boss Achievement Stickers: Solidarity Edition
Celebrate your victories with our weekly set of Good Boss Achievement stickers.
