We have posted about this in the past, but I am very painfully aware the past couple weeks of it being true beyond anything I imagined when we first put this  concept out there. What we are calling the “Visions of Sugar Plums Effect” is real, at everybody’s shop that I’ve spoken with.  I’ve found that I just end up angry and/or disappointed if I don’t plan for inefficiency as the holidays roll around.  Despite it not being mentioned in business School, the “visions of sugarplums” effect is a real thing during the holiday season.

Expect from many employees:

– Increased absences and lateness

– More mistakes, particularly ones that leave you dumbfounded about how they ever could have happened

– Not listening to you. Huh?

– Just not getting as much work done. Pushing, begging, rewarding, punishing, crying, screaming… nothing works to move things along.

With visions of sugarplums dancing in your head, it isn’t easy to concentrate. Too much (or too little) holiday cheer whether in the form of liquid alcoholic refreshment or tankers of corn syrup and refined sugar or demanding relatives… Workers tend not to be at their best during this season, and if you don’t plan for that, you are ho ho ho a fool.

Have a fun Christmas/Holiday Party (I’m not sure I can recommend that you imitate our Xmas parties of my youth where among other things we danced on top of the dryer and used a baseball bat to smash homemade pinatas full of nips…) and just don’t expect too much this time of year or you’ll just be pissed off and disappointed.

The authorship is unclear, but this was written in the early 1800’s:

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
(or A Visit from St. Nicholas)
by Clement Clarke Moore (or perhaps by Major Henry Livingston, Jr.)

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.”

Here are two Christmas music videos, one performed by Tommy Hester  and one by BR-549 and Marty Stuart (same title, but different songs) that might shed some light on some of the spirit going down in the holiday season…