How to successfully manage your team during the busiest times. – By Dr Colin Wilford.

15th November 2022 | sysadmin | Reading time: 2 minutes

As November is upon us we have this mounting excitement of significant holidays just around the corner. Plans with family and friends are being made. Familiar holiday songs and decorations are being played and displayed in homes and businesses.

Alongside that, some parts of the world will celebrate Thanksgiving in just a few days. For many, this immediately means a spending frenzy on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  I have people in my own family who save up and look forward to this momentous shopping extravaganza. As a business owner and leadership consultant, I am also acutely aware of the stress and challenges of needing to ”gear up” for this crazy and somewhat chaotic time of shopping online and in-store. 

Shopping centre during busy time

People are being asked to work overtime, more staff are being deployed and stocks are being increased to cope with this very busy time. The flip side of all that can be increased pressure to take on debt or even a loss of productivity due to holiday downtime and distractions. Expectations are high and for many of us so are the stress levels. Business leaders sometimes dread the challenges of keeping up with these seasonal demands. And how to keep their teams motivated and more resilient to the stressors they will experience.

Here are a few practical ideas to ensure that you manage your team so that your people stay motivated, composed and productive:

  1. Prepare your staff before the chaos by talking honestly about the stressors before they come. Don’t just assume they know how to cope. 
  2. Be open to hearing advice from team members who’ve been through this before. Working as a team, with each member playing to their strengths and looking out for each other will be critical.
  3. Plan to keep a communication channel open with each of your key team leaders who will need your support and advice. 
  4. Plan regular messages of encouragement and support to everyone. Leave no one out.
  5. If you can connect in person do so and intentionally take five minutes with your key people to ask how they are doing and how you can support them. Nothing is more motivating and appreciated when the CEO, MD or any senior director takes the time for each individual. 
  6. Encourage everyone to speak up to the appropriate person if they are feeling overwhelmed. You would rather have a brief pause in customer service as you get support and help rather than have things spiral into poor customer support and service for days. 
  7. Reward achievement and always show appreciation for hard work. Sometimes simply getting through a tough time like a busy period is a massive accomplishment. 
  8. Last but not least, ensure you have the human and physical resources to cope so that your people are not under undue and inhumane pressure. 

All the best for a wonderful crazy time of year !

By Dr Colin Wilford.

Learn more about Leadership Development.

Share
 

Categories

All
Blog

You may also like