It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

With the kids jingle belling

And everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"

It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the hap-happiest season of all

With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings

When friends come to call

It's the hap- happiest season of all

Lyrics by George Wyle c. 1963

Unfortunately, at work, this is probably also The Most High Stress-ful Time of the Year. There’s a seemingly endless list of things to do to wrap up the calendar year, and in many cases, the fiscal year. At the same time you have important demands put on you by your family and friends, you are racing the clock to finish a list of time-sensitive goals at work.

Time has run out. You have to account for your goals for the year, and document accomplishments for the boss’s review. It’s important to complete performance reviews for all of your team members, which requires time and thought, and a lot of paperwork. HR is asking for your evaluations for dispersal of bonuses. You probably have to be in a position to report your actual spending compared to your departmental budget. It’s time to bestow thoughtful gifts to your management team, and send corporate greeting cards to vendors. There’s the holiday gathering sponsored by the company, and the lunch, happy hour, and dinner invitations from colleagues and business partners – numerous opportunities to eat and drink to excess.

To add a little additional pressure, your vacation begins in a few days, you still have shopping to do for your loved ones, you need to pick-up your in-laws from the airport, and you might be coming down with the flu. Sigh.

So what do you do? At this point, you power through it, like you do every year. Then you promise yourself to do things differently in the New Year. You make this pledge:

NEXT YEAR I WILL...
Update my goals and accomplishments monthly,
Keep quarterly notes about employee performance,
Prepare regular budget reports comparing my budget to my actual monthly spending,
Shop early for gifts for my management team,
Delegate holiday cards to an assistant,
Show restraint in my holiday diet and beverage consumption,
Get lots of sleep and pace myself for the December grind,
&
Be thankful I am so busy and gainfully employed!

Happy Holidays, and good luck closing out 2011.

A Unique Marketing Vehicle

Yesterday I was on an el train in Chicago, headed home a bit cranky after some unsuccessful Christmas shopping. Suddenly, across the tracks at the Belmont stop, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a special train decorated with colorful lights and holiday greetings? And that’s not all. Between two passengers cars, on a flatbed, was Santa and his reindeer! Cheerful seasonal music could be heard emanating from the train. What really surprised me was my reaction. I’m 54 years old, but I reacted like a kid. Whipping out my cell phone, I called my husband to excitedly describe what I had seen. He said, “How cool! You saw the Holiday El Train.” Here’s the deal – each year, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) decorates one train for the holidays and runs it on various regular routes. They post the schedule on their web site. Santa is a CTA employee who volunteers his time. Cost to the city is minimal. What is the benefit? Look at it from a marketing and communications standpoint. As a marketing vehicle (pardon the pun) – it must appeal those visiting Chicago. Imagine if you just arrived at O’Hare Airport and this is the train that took you into the city. Your fellow passengers are in a good mood, and in addition to an efficient means of transport you have a memorable experience that puts a smile on your face. You probably tell others about it as well. Chicago residents enjoy the Holiday Train too. Surprised commuters get a wave from Santa as his sleigh goes by. Children ride public transportation too, and this does not fail to delight thousands of youngsters every day. From a communications perspective, the CTA maintains that it’s a morale booster for their employees. The train is decorated by volunteers, and staff vies for working on that particular train. What a lift they must get from rider’s reactions! After my personal sighting, I searched the internet for information, and got 58,400 hits. YouTube had 57 videos. Google images yielded over 21,000 photos. If you could calculate the number of impressions (mostly very positive) generated by the CTA through the Holiday Train, it would be - well - impressive. Grinches will argue the details and the PC-ness of this Chicago tradition. But it’s hard to deny its brilliance as a marketing/communications initiative. Besides, it’s just fun.