As the song goes, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….everywhere you go!” But I gotta tell you, I am just not that big of a fan of this holiday. The main purpose of this solemn event is to herald in the birth of Jesus Christ, yet we are more concerned about decking the halls with boughs of holly. All of the materialism that goes along with the modern day Christmas has spoiled the joy for me – and besides, I sincerely doubt that Christ was actually born on December 25th!
My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving – where the gifts are of gratitude. It’s a special time with family and friends with no need to run out to the mall to purchase some token of affection – only to find out that it has been re-gifted to some other poor soul some other year.
Why not give the gift of appreciation?
Here’s a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays with your team:
Encourage your team members to grab a bunch of index cards or note cards – one for each team member. At their leisure, they should write one thing that they appreciate, respect, and/or admire about that person in at least one sentence. They can wax as eloquent as they wish!
On the day before y’all take a break for the holidays, hang a stocking for each team member in the break room and encourage your team to drop their notes in the appropriate labeled stocking.
Depending on your team culture, your teammates can privately read their notes, select one to share with the entire team, or you can have them all share all the notes with each other!
Feedback is a beautiful gift, and some of these notes will be cherished for quite a long time!
Thanks for reading my blogs – and happy holidays!
KRISTIN ARNOLD, MBA, CPF, CSP is a high-stakes meeting facilitator and professional panel moderator. She’s been facilitating teams of executives and managers in making better decisions and achieving greater results for over 20 years. She is the author of the award-winning book, Boring to Bravo: Proven Presentation Techniques to Engage, Involve and Inspire Audiences to Action.
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