Many of us came back from the holidays feeling rested and renewed and ready to get the New Year off to a good start! But after a few emails and phone calls, or even face-to-face inquiries, it’s no surprise that our holiday spirit quickly wears off! Use the following strategies to help both you and your staff to recapture your enthusiasm and get back into the swing of things!

Show Your Appreciation

Now that the holidays are over, make certain that your staff knows how much you appreciate their work and hard efforts. Instead of focusing on the negative, look for ways to ‘catch” them doing something “right”  as they come back to work and offer sincere compliments and praise when the job is well done.

One of the best ways to build your staff morale and maintain their motivation to give their best effort is by letting them know that the work that they do matters, and that you appreciate what they do and how they do it! In addition to building your team’s enthusiasm, don’t be surprised to find that you also experience a boost in energy when you practice expressing your gratitude to your team!

Refocus by Shaking Things Up

The New Year is a great time to look over the past year’s goals and measure your progress and the progress of your team. Make certain that you are making the best use of everyone’s personal interests and talents. If you find that you aren’t don’t be afraid to shake things up and reassign roles to those who are better suited to certain tasks or to those who need a new challenge.

The start of the New Year is also the perfect time to come up with new goals and guidelines for each member of your team. Help maintain the excitement and energy that comes from working towards something fresh and new by looking for unique ways to reward the achievement of the progress benchmarks that are set and met throughout the year.

Perks such as special parking, a gym membership, an extra day off, special lunches, recognition for top performers of the month, or even a paid trip to the spa are all fun ways to reward top performers on your team. But, don’t be afraid to experiment and come up with your own ways to surprise and delight your staff!

Make it Easy for Them to Want to Keep Coming Back with Increased Flexibility

The lack of freedom in the workplace is one of the biggest killers of morale and motivation. Make it easy for your staff to enjoy working with you by increasing their freedom. Use the New Year to offer flexible scheduling options, as well as greater control in how they get the job done. Then, stand back and prepare yourself to be amazed by the increase in performance and creativity within your team!  Look for ways to offer your staff flexible start and stop times, as well as flexibility in location. Wherever possible, allow your staff to complete at least some of their work from home.

When team members do come into the office, look for ways to increase co-operation and collaboration among your team to ensure that they getting the full benefit of being in the same physical location at the same time and are actually working together to complete tasks rather than simply sharing the same physical space.

As you increase the morale and motivation of your team, don’t be surprised when the weeks and months fly by. Before you know it, it will be time for another holiday. By following these steps you may even find yourself a bit sad when it’s time for you and your staff to take another break. If this happens, just remind yourself that when you come back it will then be that time of the year again. Time to build and increase everyone’s energy and excitement by coming up with new goals, challenges and opportunities for all of you!