It can sometimes be difficult to motivate your team as they return to work after the Christmas break. And that ongoing ‘Monday morning feeling’ can be exacerbated by the ‘January blues’ or ‘seasonal affective disorder’ which is related to shorter daylight hours in winter.

David James
Impellus Training Manager

Below we offer our six top tips to help banish January blues in the workplace and get your team off to a flying start for 2024.

  1. Always schedule a brainstorming session in the run-up to Christmas to discuss successes over the past year and make fresh plans for the coming year. If you didn’t do this at the end of 2023, make it a priority for December 2024. 
  2. Arrange a meeting as soon as possible in the new year to remind everyone of the team’s goals and objectives for the coming months. Having clear targets to aim for will help to inspire and motivate team members. Encourage and support open, two-way communication and the sharing of new ideas for improvement and innovation. 
  3. Start as you mean to go on: acknowledge and appreciate individual team member’s efforts and achievements during team meetings and on a one-to-one basis. Even a simple thank you goes a long way. 
  4. If you haven’t already got training planned, take the opportunity to have some early discussions about learning and development for the coming year. Genuine support for your team’s growth and development will help to boost morale and motivation.  
  5. Organise regular teambuilding sessions, starting in January, to help create a cohesive, collaborative and mutually supportive team. These can take any format you like but sharing best practices, challenges and progress together brings people closer. 
  6. Where possible, explore flexible working options with individual team members to ensure a good work/life balance. A number of options could be considered such as different start and finish times, compressed hours or an element of remote working. The organisation’s needs are, of course, paramount but offering flexibility where you can has a huge impact on motivation – especially at a time of year which often triggers staff restlessness. 

You may find useful:

Developing Winning Teams: Discover how to build cohesive, motivated and productive teams, whether you’re starting from scratch, making some personnel changes or need fresh inspiration for an existing team. 

MBTI team assessment: Our MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) team assessment days are both fun and insightful, offering a fantastic team-building session with one of our qualified MBTI practitioners and plenty of takeaways to help you create a better and more productive working environment back at the office. 

Leadership Skills Development: This essential course delivers crucial leadership skills that will have an immediate positive impact on your effectiveness in the workplace. You will gain the tried and tested tools and techniques required to boost your powers of influence and motivation and become an inspirational leader.