January 2017

New Year, New Outlook: 5 Tips for Beating the Back to Work Blues

It’s that time of year again: January. Back to work season has begun once more, and it feels like your team are forcing themselves out of bed every morning just to drag themselves into the office. For a business owner, this can be a disheartening scene – one which hopefully clears up as everyone gets back into their routine.

There isn’t, however, any need to wait that long if you take on board these 5 simple pieces of advice. In fact, it’ll feel like you’re easily ready to take on 2017!

1. Welcome Everyone Back

First things first, if you haven’t already, talk to each of your team individually and welcome them back. Ask them about how their holiday was and use this time to build some rapport, show an interest and smooth out the transition back to work. This is also a great chance to get them to think about where they want to progress within their role in 2017 and find out perhaps what new skills they’ll be looking into learning.

2. New Year, Fresh Start

Whatever office politics went down before Christmas (or at the Christmas party), it’s time to put them to one side. If an employee was flagging in late December, this is the chance to let them know that it’s a fresh start – and the opportunity to impress you once again. Start everybody off on a fresh start to clear the air for 2017.

3. Outline the Future

As well as providing a welcoming atmosphere, it’s important to provide focus for your team. Look ahead to what you’re hoping to achieve this year and how they play into that. Of course, be sure to keep it brisk and light to keep them engaged.

4. Look Back on the Successes

Similarly, focus on the excellent achievements from the previous year. Although 2016 was globally not a great year, it may have been a high point for your business – and your team will feel much more motivated to succeed in 2017 if you remind them of all they achieved last year. On top of that, perhaps challenge them to outdo themselves even further!

5. Adopt a Team Mentality

It can be lonely at the top, and when you’re trying to motivate others to crack on with work when perhaps you yourself are missing spending the holidays lounging at home, the top becomes even lonelier. To get out of that state of mind, focus on presenting the job at hand (making it through January) as a team effort. “We have a lot to be getting on with, but I know we can do it together” is a lot more encouraging and features a lot more camaraderie than simply cracking the whip straight away.

Factor this advice into your return to work to help your team to get back into the swing of things with minimal effort, and enjoy a successful start to the year!

Happy New Year from the team at Lunar CRM! If you’d like to take steps towards introducing a bespoke CRM into your business this year, then we’d love to talk. Alternatively, find out more by exploring our website!