3 Reasons to Celebrate the Season With Your Comms Team (and How to Do It Right)

Somewhere between the last campaign wrap-up and the first "out of office" reply, the holiday season sneaks up on every comms team. And honestly? We earn it. Few teams juggle as many deadlines, crises, and last-minute rewrites as we do. I manage the Valencia Christian Center Media and Marketing team, and I am the Senior Public Information Specialist of another. I find that the holiday season is a time to strengthen relationships and simply have fun. So before the calendar flips, here are three real reasons to slow down and celebrate together, plus an activity for each one that makes room for everybody at the table.

1. You Survived Another Year of Deadlines Together

Every comms team has a story from this year. The launch that almost didn't happen. The statement that got rewritten four times an hour before it went out. The week nobody remembers because it was pure chaos from start to finish. That shared history is worth marking, and marking it together beats letting it quietly become "just another year."

Activity: A Gratitude Round Robin

Get the team in a circle, physically or on a video call, and go around with one simple prompt: share something you're grateful for this year, work-related or not. Leave it open enough for people to share a personal tradition, a cultural touchstone, or simply a good memory from the last twelve months. You'll be surprised how much of the team's actual story comes out when you just ask.

2. Winter Holidays Are Genuinely a Team Sport

This time of year isn't one holiday. It's Hanukkah and Diwali, Christmas and Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice and Lunar New Year prep, and plenty of people who don't celebrate anything religious at all but still enjoy the season's general warmth. That variety is worth leaning into rather than glossing over, especially on a team whose entire job is understanding different audiences.

Activity: A Traditions Potluck

Instead of a generic holiday lunch, ask everyone to bring a dish, a song, or a short story tied to how they mark this time of year, whatever that looks like for them. No pressure to participate beyond your comfort level. The result is usually the best lunch of the year, and it does more for cross-cultural understanding on your team than any training module ever will.

3. Momentum Going Into a New Year Starts With Morale

The energy your team carries into January often gets set in December. A team that feels seen and appreciated heading into the break comes back sharper and more willing to jump into whatever the new year throws at them. A team that limps into the holidays unrecognized tends to limp right back out of them too.

Activity: The Wall of Light

Light shows up across nearly every winter tradition, from menorahs to diyas to string lights to the kinara. Borrow that shared symbol for the team: set up a board, physical or digital, where each person writes an anonymous note of appreciation for a colleague and adds it under a small light or star. By the end of the week, the whole team can see how much appreciation has been quietly floating around the office all year.

The Takeaway

Use this time wisely; we are in the business of creating and fostering relationships. It's what we do best! Note: none of this requires a big budget or an elaborate plan. It just requires treating your team the way you'd treat any audience you actually care about: with attention, with warmth, and with room for everyone's story. Happy holidays, however you celebrate them.

Thomas Y. Lynch

LA County Community Program Central Team