You've already seen Mariah Carey defrost, your aunt has insistently asked you if you're taking anyone special to New Year's Eve dinner this year, and your coworkers have already made you play ten games of Christmas Special Kahoot. We know it's Christmas! And it doesn't matter if you like this holiday season a lot, a little, or not at all, because Christmas is inevitable, and it will come to you whether you want it to or not, just like it came to us and our streaming platforms.
Taking advantage of the fact that most Christmas movies are back on the covers, let's talk about what we can learn about human resources from some of them:
Love Actually
This movie has become an icon of romantic comedy and Christmas, and while we could spend hours talking about its characters and plots, today we want to highlight a curious fact: Richard Curtis was 47 years old when he directed his first movie. How many of your colleagues have started their careers at forty-seven with no experience in their position? There are still many organizations that only look at age and experience without doing a competency assessment or diagnosis.
Competency assessment is the process of analyzing each employee's current level of competency and identifying potential. When done with specialized software, this process reveals the talent gaps that need to be filled in order for the organization to achieve its strategic goals.
At the time, Curtis was the screenwriter par excellence of British romantic comedies: 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Notting Hill' or 'Bridget Jones's Diary'; can you imagine missing out on such a blockbuster just because he had never directed before? With a skills assessment, companies can find out how much talent they have in the team, decide if they need to bring in new members, or if it is better to develop skills internally by training employees.
By the way, if you don't watch Love Actually this Christmas, we predict a holiday full of broken Polvorones.
Tokyo Godfathers
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people, Gin, Hana and Miyuki, find an abandoned baby in the garbage and don't hesitate to protect it like they never have before.
Are there vulnerable people in your organization? Generally, there are in all of them, that's why we must always have a clear DEI strategy.
DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It is a term that refers to the practices, policies and strategies an organization uses to create an equitable workplace and implement diversity and inclusion programs. DEI is synonymous with a successful organization, one in which absolutely everyone can thrive professionally.
You have to see all of Satoshi Kon's movies, mandatory, but Tokyo Godfathers has to be seen this time of year to make us cry a little more.
The Grinch
The Grinch is more than a movie, it's an adjective, a way of being. Surely you have a friend you all call the Grinch, and if you don't, you are that friend. Stealing Christmas will never be a good idea, it's much easier to get caught up in the collective spirit and spend the holidays in peace.
Having a Grinch at work is far worse than watching that Ron Howard movie twenty-three years later and realizing all the papier-mâché in it.
In most organizations, there is no shortage of employees who, while not stealing Christmas, manage to take away the motivation of their co-workers. There may be many reasons for this behavior, but the good news is that there is a solution; a work climate assessment will help you lay the groundwork for a healthy relationship.
Work climate refers to all the factors that make up the environment in which employees work and that have a direct impact on them and their performance. Factors such as health, communication, office conditions or working hours. Some of these indicators are obvious, such as the resources available or the condition of the office equipment; others are more vague, such as company policies or an employee with a personality that does not fit the company's culture.
Home Alone
We already know all the traps Kevin McAllister sets for the burglars, and yet we still find it very funny to see each one of them. And what about the mixture of fear and the desire to be left alone at home? For me, that went away quickly when I saw the burglars. We can't leave anyone behind in any plan, a lesson more than learned with this movie.
It is the same with evaluations:
360º feedback is a process in which a person being evaluated receives information about his or her performance, competencies, behaviors and/or results against goals from different people in different roles. Instead of receiving feedback only from our direct supervisor (90º), we would also receive it from our peers (180º), our direct reports, if we have them (270º), and internal, external customers or suppliers with whom we also work (360º). This complete feedback gives us a diversity of perceptions, improves our self-perception, identifies development opportunities... Seriously, never leave anyone behind, there is only one Macaulay Culkin.
It's a Wonderful Life
No matter how much time passes, this classic will always be the quintessential Christmas movie, the one that taught us to appreciate what we have and to appreciate those around us.
According to a Glassdoor
study, 53% of employees say they would stay with a company longer if they felt more recognized by their managers. In other words, recognition increases
team engagement. This is very interesting because giving feedback is very easy and yet we get a lot in return. Engagement affects every aspect of an organization: revenue and profitability, customer experience, and even turnover.
Plus, few phrases go down as well as Clarence's:
Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends.