Give Your Team the Gift of Less

As the break approaches, a lot of leaders feel the pull to squeeze in “just one more thing” before Christmas. Another meeting. Another request. Another bit of work someone swears will “only take an hour”.

But honestly, the best gift most teams could get right now is less.

Less noise. Less juggling. Less pressure dressed up as urgency. Less work that doesn’t actually matter.

Across every team I’ve worked with, one thing keeps proving true: the biggest impact leaders make at this time of year isn’t a big gesture. It’s the small, deliberate choices that change how people feel at work.

Give them less, and give them clarity. Let them finish something properly. Let them feel proud of what they’ve achieved this year.

Finishing isn’t just delivery. It feels good. It creates momentum. It makes people feel competent and trusted. And that feeling carries a team into January with confidence rather than exhaustion.

One of my favourite moments this year was standing with a team in front of a wall of “done”. No ceremony, no presentation. I just asked them: “Talk me through what you’ve finished.”

The whole room lifted. People smiled. You could hear the pride in their voices. Not because I told them they’d done well, but because they could see it for themselves.

If you’re a manager wondering what you can do before everyone disappears for Christmas, here’s what will have the biggest impact: give them permission to stop, give them space to reflect, and give them credit for what they’ve delivered this year. It’s simple, it’s human, and it works.

Because right now your team doesn’t need another target. They need to feel seen.

If you want a clearer view next year of where your flow is snagging, or you want a second pair of eyes on where to focus, that’s exactly the kind of thing I explore through Agile Second Opinion — helping reset culture and get delivery moving again.