Leading Through the Holidays: Supporting Employees and Understanding the Nervous System
The Christmas and New Year period is often seen as a time of celebration, but for many employees, it’s one of heightened stress. As leaders and managers, recognising and addressing this stress is crucial—not only for the well-being of your team but also for fostering a positive and productive workplace culture.
In this article, we’ll explore why stress peaks during this season, how it manifests in employees and what you can do as a leader to help. We'll also dive into the fascinating world of the nervous system and how understanding it can be a game-changer for managing stress, both for your team and yourself.
Why Employees Feel More Stressed
Increased workloads: Many businesses face end-of-year deadlines, last-minute projects, and annual performance reviews. This rush can leave employees feeling overwhelmed.
Financial strain: The cost of holiday celebrations and gift-giving can create additional financial pressures.
Personal commitments: Balancing work with family events, travel, and holiday preparations adds to the load.
Emotional triggers: The holidays can bring up feelings of loss, loneliness, or unmet expectations, particularly for those with challenging family dynamics or who are grieving.
Post holiday pressure: Anxiety about returning to work after the break can linger, especially if tasks and goals feel unclear or daunting.
Recognising stress in your team
Stress can show up in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Be on the lookout for:
Increased Irritability
Interpersonal conflicts
Missed deadlines or decreased productivity
Increased absenteeism or sick leave
Emotional withdrawal or outbursts
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating and forgetfulness
Decreased engagement
Supporting your team
Communicate openly: Check in with your team individually to create a safe space for sharing challenges. Listening with empathy can make a world of difference.
Prioritise and delegate: Review workloads and adjust deadlines where possible. Help your team focus on essential tasks to reduce overwhelm. Ensure your team understands priorities and feels supported in meeting them.
Encourage time off and rest: Model healthy work-life boundaries and encourage employees to take breaks and use their leave entitlements.
Create opportunities for connection: Host simple, inclusive team-building activities, like a gratitude wall or a festive morning tea.
Provide resources: Share mental health resources and normalise conversations about seeking support.
Recognise and appreciate: Take time to acknowledge your team’s hard work throughout the year. A heartfelt “thank you” can go a long way.
The Nervous System: The key to understanding and managing stress
The nervous system is a complex network of neurons and cells that controls everything from sensory perception to emotional responses. It operates through two key branches:
Sympathetic Nervous System: Governs the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response to real or perceived threats.
Parasympathetic Nervous System: Helps the body rest, digest, and recover, creating a sense of calm.
Together, these systems work to keep us safe and respond to our environment, often operating subconsciously. Understanding and nurturing your nervous system can significantly impact how you handle stress. Like all systems, to run smoothly and efficiently it needs regular monitoring, management and maintenance.
Practical Nervous System Regulation
When stress peaks:
Grounding techniques: Shift anxiety into your legs by visualising strength and stability in your body.
Close your eyes and imagine 3 points under your feet, creating a triangle. Slight knee bend and really focus on shifting you weight evenly between the 3 points of each foot. Focus on this for a few minutes.
Feet in a wide stance and bend knees, almost in a squat position. Hands on knees with back straight. Think about how strong your legs are and imagine pushing your anxiety and stress down your body and into your legs.
Breathing techniques:
Box Breathing: Inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, and hold for 4.
Extended Exhale: Breathe in for 4 counts and out for 6 to activate the parasympathetic system.
Vagus Nerve massage:
Gently massage your throat while tilting your head back and opening/closing your mouth.
For regular maintenance:
Engage in calming activities such as Yin, Qigong, meditation, or gentle nature walks.
Practice mindfulness and relaxation techniques.
Schedule time for hobbies or restful activities like soaking in a warm bath.
Gentle forms of massage such as Kahuna and Lomi Lomi
Leading by Example
Don’t forget: leaders are not immune to holiday stress, leadership during this period can also be taxing! By prioritising your own well-being, you model resilience for your team. To show up for your team, it is essential you look after yourself.
Set boundaries around your availability.
Delegate tasks to trusted team members.
Reflect on the year with gratitude to centre yourself and shift focus to the positive.
As we navigate the holidays, remember that supporting your team goes beyond managing workloads—it’s about understanding the human experience. By addressing stress, fostering connection and promoting nervous system health, you can help your team enter the new year feeling balanced and empowered.
Sarah-Jayne McNaughton
Founder, Power Peace Prosper and Ascendancy Executive Services