Several years ago, September was an "oh $hit" moment: We were way behind our number.

Come end of November, I was letting the team take the REST OF THE YEAR off if they wanted.

What happened?

We were on a long stretch of beating numbers.

9 years in a row to be exact.

And that allowed us to do some unorthodox things you didn't find anywhere else in the company.

Short & flip flops.
Flex schedule.
Team lunches & HHs.
Ping pong.
Maybe a Nerf gun war here and there.

In a company that required suits & ties.

Unless, of course, you deliver year, after year, after year...

Missing a number probably wouldn't cost us our culture.

But I didn't want to find out.

I called a meeting and laid out exactly where we were & what needed to happen.

Part of that included temporary changes, like how leads were distributed.

I was transparent about what that meant, and why.

There weren't any complaints.

In less than three months, we went from possibly missing our number...

To blowing past the annual number before December came.

So I gave them the option to take as much time off as they wanted before the new year.

Communication and candor goes a long way.

IF... you have the team & culture to support it.