The silly season is fast upon us and I am counting down the days, with equal parts dread and excitement, as I realise how little time I have left to finish the Christmas shopping and how much fun I’m going to have playing with the cool toys I bought for my kids. However, Christmas isn’t just for our home families – the holiday season is often celebrated by workplaces in the form of gaudy tinsel decorations (that in my experience, at least, often smell just a little stale), and the infamous social event of the work year – the office Christmas party.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This event is usually met with either elvin excitement or grinchy dread. Rarely is there a middle ground. Images of drunken colleagues either hitting on or harassing each other comes to mind, because nothing good can come from the cocktail of work acquaintances, management and free alcohol.
Or can it? There are countless articles online that give you step by step instructions on “how to survive your work Christmas party”, but very few on how to leverage it. How often do you have senior management in the same room as junior personnel with an air of conviviality and relaxed social connections? If approached appropriately, this event could present you with a great opportunity to connect with the leadership group of your company if you are on the lower rungs of the ladder, or to get to know your junior staff and gain some ground floor perspective if you are on the top rungs.
One of the biggest issues organisations face today is poor communication and connectivity between the ladder rungs.
We are stunted by our own tight rein on the chain of command, which usually dictates that we have a communication ceiling, limiting who we can speak to and share ideas with.
The chain of command has its purpose and when implemented well, it can be a great way to structure and organise a workforce. However, when it limits conversation and buffers ideas via a manager who doesn’t invest in staff efficacy, development and empowerment, it can be detrimental to not only the staff member involved but the company at large.
Now, I’m not saying go and pitch your idea to the CEO at the office Christmas party. If you have a manager who is like the guard dog to the gates of the boardroom, all that is going to achieve is a supervisor who feels like you’ve gone behind your back (which you would have done) and a senior manager who is either confused about what you are talking about or irritated about being pitched to when he or she is meant to be enjoying themselves at a social event.
However, the Christmas party is a great opportunity to enhance your connections at work through either getting to know your colleagues better or extending your circle of connections to include new people from other departments or at more senior levels that you can then build upon.
Relationships are the lifeblood of a company and internal partnerships can result in opportunities for collaboration down the track, or finding yourself on the radar of the leadership group.
The key here is to make a good impression. People respond to positive communication – this includes body language as well as conversation. Try not to drink too much – remember that, even though it’s a party, technically you are still on company time – and set yourself a goal to achieve such as being introduced to Joe Bloggs, the creative director, or getting to know the boardroom gatekeeper better. Who knows, perhaps they aren’t so bad after all?
