The Santa Claus guide to meetings
Old Father Christmas runs a tight ship with one of the most demanding deadlines of all. His meetings with the elves and Mrs Claus offer an insight into his working practices. And we’ve got an exclusive look behind the scenes…
Not many people get to see Santa working away, so we were very privileged to be invited to one of his pre-Christmas meetings.
Don’t worry – we took our notebook and pen, and are happy to report back on what we learned from Saint Nick…
Be thorough
Santa’s all about the detail. Not only does he have the details of every boy and girl, he’s also split them into two important categories – ‘Naughty’ and ‘Nice’ – which in itself is a huge admin task.
But he doesn’t stop there – Santa and his team of elves will be using their meeting time to go through both lists thoroughly – not just once, but twice. This is to make sure that he hasn’t made mistakes.
Plan early
If you’ve got one big deadline that you know is coming up, you’ve got to start your planning early. In our meeting with Santa, he wasn’t just looking at this Christmas, but two and three years ahead.
It was agreed that Christmas Day and Boxing Day would be days off, but come December 27th work would begin on next year’s targets.
And it wasn’t just the planning that needed to start early. Santa and his elves held a meeting on the Christmas marketing strategy, which they agreed would kick off once Halloween was over.
It was decided this would give people enough time to get their messages up to the North Pole, spreading the huge influx of mail over two months instead of the traditional advent period.
Don’t go it alone
Santa is the boss – no doubt about that. If things go wrong, the buck stops with him.
But most of what goes on up at the North Pole is down to team work. From the moral and emotional support provided by Ms Claus, who also helps out with the admin in the run up and is Saint Nick’s fill in when he’s out on deliveries, to the army of elves involved in building, wrapping and logistics.
And let’s not forget the reindeer, which spend much of the year in high-intensity training so they’re up for the task of jetting round the world on Christmas Eve.
Be jolly
The main thing we took from the meetings we attended was the optimistic attitude – it was positively jolly.
There were plenty of jokes, lots of laughing and people giving thanks and praise to fellow workers.
Santa runs a tight ship but he does so with a gentle hand, encouraging people to do better rather than ordering them to do so.
And he always ends each meeting – no matter what time of year – with a ‘Merry Christmas to All’.
Posted by Ashleigh Sharp
