The Idle of March
If you own a business, the month of March should concern you. Roman history famously demonstrates how March can be a particularly tough time to be the boss. It’s like the Tuesday of months. The months of January and February are a blur, great aspirations of new beginnings and new outcomes, just like Mondays. Generally, on Monday mornings after the weekend, almost no one is really at full speed. It takes most of your energy just to try and answer the “how was your weekend,” greeting by co-workers, gauging how truthful you can safely be. “Nice,” is always a good start, followed by a polite, “and you?”
Come Tuesday, the long-ago weekend is just a shadow memory, and the road seems long and arduous before the next weekend comes. Tuesday can make you itchy. You need extra inspiration.
Like March.
Studies show that March is the least productive month of the year. It is estimated that companies lose billions of dollars in employee productivity. (Google it on Tuesday). Your best salespeople and managers turn from lions to lambs and distractions beckon. Daylight Savings Time turns your high-energy workforce into circadian zombies, the first day of spring empties cubicles onto the golf course, St. Patrick’s Day is a convenient rationalization for a lost weekend and the NCAA tournament dominates office conversation while bogging down your internet.
The Anglo-Saxons called March “Hlyd monath” meaning “stormy month” or “Hraed monath” meaning “rugged month.” They might have been referencing the weather, but they sound like small business owners.
Alas, boss, all is not lost.
Embrace the rugged. Celebrate it. Let it all into your workplace. Show your team that you get it, it’s March for you too. Bring all those distractions into the office Have an office pool (legally, of course) and make the grand prize something appealing like a day off with pay.
Recognize the challenges your people are dealing with. Consider shifting the base workday hours to deal with dark commutes, offering flex workdays and remote options, or even offer an elective floating holiday.
Make the office a place where your team can openly take part in all that March offers personally with their professional family. Show employees that work is not the obstacle to partaking in all the madness of March and encourage the office Brutus to be the employee of the month.
Find more to celebrate in March than brackets, tee times, shamrocks, and incorrect analog clocks. As an example, March is also Women’s History Month, and it is the birth month of:
· Ruth Bader Ginsburg
· Aretha Franklin
· Gloria Steinem
· Sandra Day O’Connor
· Lady Gaga
So be creative, lean into it, lead it. Your team will appreciate the effort and return the favor. Make March a productive moment in time and beware the 12-5 matchup.