It’s time for an end-of-year motivational push

Well, here we are, in the weeks before Christmas.

The festive season is so close you can taste it. And I mean literally taste it – after all, Old Taskmaster needs to sample at least some of the good bottles of brandy to make sure they will make a quality plum pudding. And by “some” I really mean “all” – after all, how can you know which one is the best to use unless you’ve tried all of them?

Too many Brandy Old-Fashioneds aside, if your workplace is anything like Taskmaster Towers, the problem is that the troops are getting restless.

Their bodies might be at work but their minds are already focusing in on roast turkeys, sunbaking on a beach or how to keep the kids quiet during the long car trip to grandma’s house in Deniliquin.

It’s the expectant joy that comes before the bitter disappointment of what a Christmas dinner with the in-laws is really like.

Co-incidentally, this disappointment is often why staff are always so keen to get back to work after a good holiday – after hours filled with the kids nagging “are we there yet” while speeding across the Deniliquin Plain, eight hours of filing paperwork suddenly seems like a relaxing break from the family rather than a chore.

Still, like the bitter grapes in an otherwise good Armagnac, this pain and frustration needs to be earned, meaning a productive final week of the year.

So it’s time to meet with each of your teams and set some goals for the last week of the year. Obviously, don’t set your staff excessive targets, but instead aim for a good productive week of work. Perhaps wrap up the loose ends for the year.

If your staff meet the target, give them an appropriate reward. Perhaps they can get to go home early once targets are met. Alternatively, you could give teams or staff who meet their targets a small bonus, such as movie tickets or a free staff lunch.

So set the targets, create the incentives and get a productive last week at work.

Get it done – before Christmas!