While it’s easy to get excited thinking about the holidays – special treats, music and plenty of celebrations – the enthusiasm tends to flicker out when it comes to working during this busy time of year. This is even truer in workplaces where employers and managers are inflexible in the name of productivity. Instead of pretending like the holidays don’t exist, raise spirits and sales through proactive efforts to embrace the season for its joys and challenges alike.

Set group goals for a group reward. Maybe you have a little gathering planned to reward your staff for their hard work, but would you do more for them if you knew they were going to blow your sales numbers out of the water? Set some attainable, yet difficult goals and encourage your staff to work together to achieve them. Provide coaching opportunities, recognize their hard work when they achieve benchmarks, and do whatever you can think of to support them in achieving this goal. When they win, you win!

Put a bonus on the line. If party planning isn’t your style, up the ante on your holiday offering to employees with challenging individual goals. This is a great opportunity to help your employees improve their sales skills, but it can also give employees incentive to collect email addresses or cell phone numbers for your marketing campaigns. Tailor your goals to the needs of your salon! If you need feedback from customers, run a contest to see who can get the most surveys filled out or reward the team member with the best customer reviews.

Give back to the community. Many salons will do donation drive events, but why make your customers do all the work? Volunteering together can get people in the spirit of giving, and it has the additional benefit of bringing your team closer together. Homeless shelters and soup kitchens are virtually overrun with volunteers during the holidays, so try an animal shelter or get in contact with your chamber of commerce to see who could use extra hands. You could also adopt a family in need for the holiday season – seeing the direct impact of your team’s generosity can be a very moving experience.

Communicate early. Family obligations and parties sometimes start even before Thanksgiving, and social calendars just tend to snowball until the New Year. It’s pointless to pretend that people don’t have other places to be, so the best solution is to communicate your schedule expectations early and often. Your employees need to know when the salon will be open and closed, and they need to know their schedule far enough in advance to find people to swap with if necessary. For the unlucky ones who get stuck working the least desirable shifts, bring in coffee or a small treat as a token of gratitude. A little gesture can go a long way. You can’t make everyone happy all the time, but you can make them feel appreciated even when they’re not thrilled.

Lastly, decorate together! Whether you want to come up with a theme that incorporates your holiday shopping specials, or you have some traditions you’d like to stick to, everyone can find a little joy in hanging decorations. Turn up the music, get a couple pizzas, and spend some time transforming the space together. You can all take pride in a job well done and enjoy a priceless little memory for the rest of the season.