Christmas parties and leadership

A lot of people feel awkward at Christmas parties. They may not enjoy drinking, or find freeform social settings difficult.

The temptation can be to get into a boozy huddle with one’s clique, and that’s fine. Everyone deserves some fun.

But if you’re a leader of a team or organisation, maybe try and reserve some time (and mental capacity) to have a pleasant chat with a few people who are not in the in-crowd.

It doesn’t have to be boring or work related. In fact, you could set yourself a little challenge, to, say, learn an interesting fact about each of a few people you know hardly at all.

This will help others enjoy themselves, and build mutual rapport, which is also what the season’s about.