Surviving the End-of-Year Silliness

Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is coming – and with it, the annual round of office parties and invitations. For some, this is simply a time to enjoy being together outside work. But for many, end-of-year functions are fraught with traps and contradictions. How do you socialize in a human way with people who may be senior to you and who may make decisions about your career? How do you deal with people you may have had some conflict with? And what if you just hate workplace parties and enforced fun, but feel that you have to put in an appearance anyway?

Remember that the intention of a boss who holds a Christmas function is almost always genuine. Even if your boss is clueless, and even if this is the only time of year when the management seems to offer you any validation at all, the bosses who organize the functions want them to be successful, and therefore want people to have a good time. All it takes for you is three simple rules.

1. Remember that you are AT WORK. Even if you are in a bar or a function center, and even if you are on personal time, if it’s a work function, you are still socially AT WORK. Don’t share confidences or make comments you would not make at work, and don’t engage in behaviors that are not acceptable at work.

2. This is not the time to settle scores, lobby senior people or try to advance your cause. That kind of pressure at a work function is the last thing people want. Just being yourself and being positive causes people to associate positive emotions with you, and is the best advertising you could hope for.

3. Do be yourself. All anybody wants at end-of-year functions is to laugh and have a good time, and if there are speeches, even then people are just trying to show you their good intentions. After you’ve respected rules 1 and 2, relax, act naturally, and let it be what it is.

You never know, you might enjoy yourself more than you think.

If you are wondering how to handle end-of-year issues, give me a call on 202.257.5593. We aren’t consultants, so all advice is free.

About John Kolm

Team Results USA's CEO John Kolm is an innovator of 21st century team productivity programs, a best-selling author, and a former intelligence officer. Originally from Australia, John formed Team Results in 1996 with retired business partner and decorated veteran Peter Ring as the end result of an experiment that began in 1993. Driven by frustration with the team development options then available to business and government, and with encouragement from early clients, they applied their academic training and practical leadership experience to build the unique approach to team productivity improvement that eventually became Team Results. The company grew rapidly, expanded to a wholly US-owned branch in the United States in 2005, and now operates as a very successful business in both hemispheres. In 2004 John and Peter wrote the global bestseller “Crocodile Charlie and the Holy Grail” (Penguin, available on Amazon.com), consolidating ten years of work with peak clients into a compelling story about team productivity, leadership in business and government, and happiness at work. The book has been re-published in seven languages and fourteen countries, and a sequel is in the works. John is also the author of numerous articles and papers on team dynamics in the modern workplace, some of which can be found in the News Room at www.teamresultsusa.com . John is qualified in Psychology from the University of Melbourne, and in mathematics and statistics from the U.S. National Cryptologic School, where he also taught on the faculty. Email him at John.kolm@teamresultsusa.com .

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