6 tips to help Finance staffers regain their focus to tackle year-end prep

Cooler temperatures and falling leaves are signs that the countdown to year-end is on for your Finance team.

The transition from thinking about vacation getaways to tax filing deadlines will happen slower for some. But if you start noticing a drop in productivity or a dip in enthusiasm from your people, it may be time to change things up.

Re-energizing A/P staff to tackle year-end

Consider these strategies for motivating your team to bear down and get the ball rolling on your organization’s year-end projects:

1. Identify team members’ individual strengths. You know which staffers are good at certain things. Try assigning people to different responsibilities that match their personalities and abilities.
2. Set small, achievable goals. Along with main project goals for tackling year-end tasks, create smaller, attainable goals for along the way. They should be things your team can reasonably accomplish by, for example, the end of the week. Even mini-wins give people a sense of accomplishment.
3. Send emails sparingly. Multiple new emails can be distracting and slow productivity. Even though it may take just a minute or two to refocus on the task at hand after being interrupted by an email, those minutes can add up to hours of wasted time by the end of the year. Instead, have your team communicate via a messaging app like Slack. Team members can see each other’s availability status, and it’s easier to find older messages than it is in email inboxes.
4. Ask if there’s anything they need. Does each team member have access to the tools and data necessary for getting the job done? If you’re sensing a lack of focus, it may be time for individual check-ins to see if anyone needs help, make appropriate adjustments and follow up weekly to see how they’re progressing.
5. Avoid holding too many meetings. Most of the important things that you’d share in a meeting can be more efficiently delivered in a daily status update via Slack.
6. Take time for morale building. Give your people a chance to get to know each other outside the office and talk about non-work things by setting up a happy hour, retreat or similar event.