This article is dedicated to those of us who have been nominated (or self nominated) as the “Cheif Christmas Organiser”. You are probably hosting Christmas lunch (or dinner) or have to organise the work Christmas party or your friends have decided you are in charge of spreading the festive spirit and organising your Christmas get-together. But we all know that life is busy and hosting a Christmas event might be adding to an exceptionally full to-do list already. So I wanted to share some tips with you on how to surround yourself with happy helpers who can help you lighten your load.
In Hit Your Target, I have a chapter on Heaven Sent Helpers and how to have a team of happy helpers to help you run your fundraising event. And whilst most Fundraising Events have wrapped up (ha ha get it!) at this time of year for the holidays, the info in that chapter can still be helpful for those of us hosting Christmas events such as Christmas Lunch or Christmas Dinner or the range of other Christmas Parties that happen at this time of the year.
So I want you to imagine a team of happy helpers surrounding you to help you host your Christmas event. What would that look like? And how would that feel? How would it change your experience and enjoyment levels? Well, that is what Heaven Sent Helpers are. Effective, efficient, enthusiastic and easy to manage!
Sound good? It does to me!
But how do you get people to help with your Christmas event without causing you more work? That’s the big question – how do you get people that are helpful and don’t cause you more work? Often it’s hard to ask for help because so much time is spent managing the helpers, that you can’t get anything done yourself. Then you spend time following up with everyone, making sure things are done properly, and it just ends up making waaaaaay more work for yourself!
There’s that dangerous saying “It’d be easier to do it myself”. That may be true in some cases, but if you don’t want to be flat out, cranky and exhausted hosting your Christmas event, I’m sorry to tell you, you are going to need helpers. Even if it’s just for the actual day, you’re going to need some help, and if you try to do it all yourself it’s going to be impossible – sorry!
So for the control freaks amongst us (me included!), how do you get helpers to help you with your Christmas event without making it hard on yourself?
That’s easy! Just have a well-defined list of simple tasks that are easy to manage, easy to delegate and easy to complete by you or your family/friends.
Get clear on
- what responsibilities you have,
- what you need help with and
- what task will suit the right type of person.
That will make your job of delegating so much easier.
When asking for help with your tasks, be very clear, and specific and don’t ask too much of one person. For instance, it’s much easier to say – “can you please bring 12 cartons of beer and 8 bottles of white wine by on Christmas Day?” rather than “Can you help me with the drinks”.
That’s how you ensure you are surrounded by a team of happy helpers who share the workload – but more importantly, you free up some of your time at Christmas, so you also get to enjoy the day!
To find out what tasks you could be delegating for your Christmas event CLICK HERE.
