This season is hectic and there’s often no way around it. That mad rush to complete all of your end-of-year tasks while keeping up with holiday parties, office events, and family plans can feel nearly impossible. There’s a house to decorate, gifts to shop for, meals to plan out, and guests to entertain. And that’s on top of your normal workload. How do you balance it all, while holding onto sanity in the process? Let’s follow the magic of the checklist.
For many companies, January signals more than the beginning of a new year. It is also the start of a fiscal year with new goals, deadlines, and challenges ahead. December is treated as a period for reflecting on the past 12 months while gearing up for the year ahead. Thus, it’s the perfect time to prepare for a successful new year.
According to a recent survey, 88 percent of Americans think the winter holiday season is the most stressful time of year. Almost a whooping 60 percent would characterize it as chaotic. With so many time-sensitive commitments and activities on the average person’s calendar this season, it’s not hard to see where all that stress is coming from.
The holiday season is also a season of vacations and time off. In fact, almost all (97 percent) of American workers expect to have Thanksgiving and Christmas off. New Year’s Day and Eve, Christmas Eve, and Black Friday are also popular days to close offices. During this time, many people use their vacation days and take a little extra time for themselves. As a result, your office goes quiet and so does your holiday communication.
In a culture that glorifies busyness and hustle, it’s not uncommon to avoid declining a request, at all costs. A strategic, intentional no, however, can actually be one of the most effective tools to boost your well-being and performance at work. For this month’s edition of The Productivity Box series, we are making the case to normalize saying no.
Thinking about meeting productivity in the workplace, you likely consider a variety of factors. And an important one is how much time gets actually spent in meetings. What you might not consider is that audio conferencing could be the missing piece of the puzzle.
Leadership skills and methods need to change to accommodate the new hybrid model of work, part in-person, and part virtual. Coordinating remote teams is quite different from coordinating office teams. Leaders need to improve some skills and even acquire new ones to stay relevant and effective.
Those warm, vibrant summer months have been replaced with the brisk chill of autumn. That means shorter daylight hours, cloudier weather and frostier temperatures as winter is almost round the corner. You might also notice a dip in workplace motivation or even performance along with this seasonal shift. And it’s not just your imagination.
Mindfulness has become a buzzword in recent years, yet, from my experience, it’s so much more. This practice is extremely beneficial for self-awareness, mental health, cognitive function, and, yes, even work performance. So, without further ado, let’s discuss about mindfulness. In this month’s installment of The Productivity Box, we’ll learn how hacking this technique can boost productivity, both on the job and in other areas of life.
The transition to a hybrid work environment has been challenging for everybody. Existing employees need to adapt to a new way of working within a hybrid workplace, maintaining collaboration with the same colleagues as before but often through different tools and rhythms. On the other hand, new hires face even more complexity than the standard onboarding process, as they must navigate both company culture and the nuances of hybrid work simultaneously. And on top of these challenges, companies must strategically determine what balance of in-office and remote structures works best for their teams in this evolving hybrid work environment.
