Back to Work

With most of the "Capital H" holidays receding behind us, many of your minions have probably returned to work. If you gave your Creatives some time off -- and if you didn't, then "Bah, humbug!" to you -- they'll be floating back to work amid a chorus of "how was your Christmas?" and "I have GOT to get to the gym after all that." It may be a couple days until they return their full focus to the job at hand. And that's OK.

The holidays tend to disrupt your Creatives' work effort. It's a time of distraction, and for folks who've been immersed in a fog of creativity, it can be difficult to step out for some eggnog and then jump right back in. Your Creatives need to be in the right frame of mind in order to produce, so don't be too surprised if it takes them a couple days to get back into it full-force. If you can, try to hold off on the intense demands for now...there's time for that soon enough.

Of course, it's also true that some of your Creatives never really got out of their creative frame of mind even during the maddest of the mad days of December. Every walk through the mall gave them ideas for fashion or hair or advertising, every drive through the neighborhood's ongoing light displays brought to mind images and ideas they can use in their work. Some people never turn off their creative brains. And we love them for it.

So, you'll have some folks who've come up with great ideas and who couldn't wait to get back to work, while others tuned out for a bit and are just now restarting them. There are liable to be a few days where those two groups need to sync up, so don't try to force people back into pre-Christmas productivity...give them a little time to readjust.

That said, don't be afraid to start beating them mercilessly NEXT week. Like usual.