Simple ways to plan a thoughtful office holiday party that builds culture
Photo by The Wilson Media Co.
Tis the season for holiday office parties and happy hours!
At their best, these can be a meaningful way for companies and leaders to show their appreciation to their employees for all of their work throughout the year and to build trust within the team.
At their worst, these become an excuse to get drunk with your coworkers and say something you'll regret tomorrow.
My advice for those of you planning these events: find ways to make these more meaningful (what we'll cover below).
My advice for those of you attending these events: be open to connecting and don't get drunk.
How to make holiday parties more meaningful:
Customize your event based on the attendees
Celebrate the past year
Look to the year ahead
Leave room for (responsible) fun
Customize your event based on the attendees:
Make sure you're planning the event for the people attending, not simply what's most convenient for the company or what's preferred by the person planning it. Get a pulse from team members or even send out a survey in advance to get an understanding of:
What holidays are people celebrating?
Would they rather attend the event during the work day or evening/weekend?
Do they want to include family?
What days are they available (or not available)?
Would they prefer in person or virtual? (if this makes sense for your team)
We want team members to feel like they've been considered during the planning and that this isn't just something forced upon them.
We also need to talk through the different options of in person, virtual, or hybrid. My perspectives on these below.
In person is always preferred. You get a chance to connect deeper with people, the conversation flows more easily, and there are more opportunities for fun.
Virtual is next best option but requires intentionality of a facilitator or activity. You want to give everyone the chance to share so the conversation doesn't get dominated by a few voices. Leverage breakout rooms for smaller groups to connect. Consider simple games or activities like bingo and trivia or hire a professional to build and facilitate custom activities for your group. Don't forget to send supplies, a gift basket, or gift cards in advance.
Hybrid is always my last preference. As great as technology has gotten, the people online will always feel a bit left out or disconnected from the people in person. Then, it can be hard to hear the people online or hard for them to know when they can jump into the conversation. If this is your only option, please be intentional with the planning, practice the technology in advance, and have someone who can facilitate the flow across both platforms. You may want to do 'break outs' where the in person people connect amongst themselves and virtual people connect with one another.
Celebrate the past year:
This one is so fun and can be really meaningful for the attendees. As an attendee, it can feel like this celebration is an extra thank you for all of their work for the year. So it's important to be explicit in your celebrations and not just hope that it's implied.
Take the time for leaders or team to plan and share specific acknowledgements. Whether it's project milestones that were achieved, promotions, team wins, learnings, or even personal kudos or milestones - now is a meaningful time to share them.
You'll want to build time for this into the schedule of the event and have various people prepared ahead of time to give a shoutout. If it's a small group (20 people or less), make sure everyone gets an acknowledgement of some sort, and for a larger group, make sure each team gets a shout out. No this isn't an 'everyone gets a trophy' type of activity. This is about the fact that everyone is contributing to our larger mission and we need to thank them for their specific work, skills, progress, and achievements.
Look to the year ahead:
This one often gets forgotten about when we're so focused on wrapping up this year that we can forget to put some attention towards next year.
An end of year holiday party is a great time to give a preview of what the organization and/or teams will be focused on next year. This can get team members excited and motivated for what's next.
Consider a simple 5-minute overview from the President or CEO of the organization to talk about the high-level vision for next year, what the impact will be on our customers, and how it connects to our organization's values or mission statement. Don't get too in the weeds of projects or people or the how - just focus on the vision for now.
Leave room for (responsible) fun:
We want these events to feel fun and uplifting for attendees. It's important to find a balance between too structured (feels like a conference) and too fun (feels like a nightclub).
Ways to not be too structured is to make sure you have a loose agenda with plenty of open time for mingling and extra buffer in your timelines so attendees don't feel rushed.
Considerations for keeping the event responsible is to offer drink tickets instead of an open bar so nobody is getting sloppy drunk, have a loose agenda covering some of the topics above, and even a dress code if that's been an issue in the past.
Culture-building doesn't stop at the holiday party. Take the free Leadership Blind Spot Audit to find more everyday ways to build trust with your team. Take the audit here.
Brittany Canaski is a highly-rated Leadership Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hello Velocity where she builds confident leaders and high-performing teams. When she's not building her business, you can find her planning her next travel adventure with her husband, watching Formula 1 racing, or volunteering in her local community of Charlotte, NC.
