Will you be on Santa’s Naughty or Nice list this year?

We all know that Father Christmas only visits those who have been Nice (consistently, all year, not just for the third week of December).

If your year has been anything like ours, it has probably been a bit up and down: some great client feedback, working with some new exciting businesses and the opportunity to stretch the team and learn some new things, along with juggling some uncertainty and delayed decisions due to the economy and political landscape.

With your manager hat on, take our quick HR Christmas quiz and do a quick review of your team (or perhaps your management style!)

1. It’s a fortnight since delegating a set of tasks across the team….

A. I’ve had reports back in about what has been achieved, with intelligent questions when they have got stuck.

B. Some progress has been made, we’re getting there.

C. Two weeks ago, are you joking? Who can remember that long ago?!

 

2. The team often get bogged down in the minutiae and miss the big picture, what do you do?

A. Hold a strategic planning session so that they can see the bigger picture, where you explain that they are trusted to make decisions as long as what they are doing will help to achieve the goals.

B. Get them some training on self-management, but they really should be better at this by now.

C. Disciplinaries all round. What jokers, can’t they do anything right?

 

3. One of your team has been working all year towards a promotion but you know they aren’t quite there yet. You…

A. Spend some time with them one-to-one around their strengths and their areas of development. By reviewing the job description of the next job you agree some specific learning opportunity and KPIs to help them improve.

B. Email them with instructions around their development areas. If they really want it, they will figure out how to improve themselves.

C. Write each area for development on a post-it note and stick it on their computer monitor, ideally on the day they go on holiday for a week. That way everyone else can help them improve as well.

 

Mostly As:

Hurrah, you are definitely on the Nice list this year! You are practically a leadership guru, have you thought about writing a book? What you are doing is probably working pretty well, keep it up!

Mostly Bs

Sorry, you are stick on the Not Quite list. You may want to try and develop a bit more self-awareness and empathy, your team are probably not getting the direction and support they need to do a good job.

Mostly Cs

Definitely the Naughty list, no stocking for you! It seems that you’ve taken a lesson from the David Brent school of leadership. Are you sure you’re in the right job?