By. Prof Vincent Bagire
Since Covid-19 that limited festivities has ended, let us go for a party. I am rightly assuming that this is an informal talk that is going on in many organizations among staff. Through the 1990’s when I was an active youth in various groups, end of year parties were a fixed annual calendar. It was a must attend. It was a very good way to catch up with colleagues from different institutions. The talks, jokes, dances and of course, sumptuous eats capped the parties. Most of these were at beaches or camping sites. Back home, we would be at the parish hall or our former primary school.
During over ten years working with the Uganda Catholic Secretariat, this was the last event of the year. It was sort of compulsory, right from the compound attendants to the Secretary General. We had a near-permanent organizing committee and fixed funding. It was always a time of relaxing, integrating, gaming and joking. Eats and drinks were unlimited. One unwavering attraction was the surprise gift that a secret team would pack for each person. We would keep hooked around till that part of the program. We would leave to go for Christmas in quite a jovial mood.
At the University on the other hand, the organization of these parties takes a different lane. The few I have witnessed have occurred around January, in a hotel or a huge tent in the compound. I am constrained to call them end of year. We sit formally, buffet set up and a round of drinks, speeches and departure at leisure. Certainly, among many corporates, end of year partying is a calendar event. At family level or communities, end of year parties are common as well; in selected homes or out in the woods at communal centers.
From a management perspective, such festivities are not a cost but an investment. By pooling resources to shed off the fatigue of the year, management is renewing the spirit for the subsequent year; it’s a seamless team building scorecard; parties break bridges; they heal hearts and renew relationships; they reveal personalities and enhance health living. An end of year party should be an extension of organizational wellbeing in a varied set up at personal and group level. Management should therefore put aside appropriate resources to finance this event. While at the party, free interaction above managerial pride and commanding voices should be upheld. At such parties, voices of consciousness arise, pointing out things we did not do well, gaps that we created, colleagues that we did not please, omissions in service; the brain opens pointers to improve the subsequent year.
Of course, in some extremes, parties divide people, reveal interpersonal cracks, create moments of confrontation, lend some workers into wavering thoughts of inadequate self fulfilment; impart fear of forthcoming personal costs, reveal enmities and causes panic among staff; those who hid in busy schedules to avoid colleagues. For management in practice, both the good and bad mirrors of parties are good for organizational leadership. If pretenders can be revealed, opinion leaders and change agents identified in the informal setting of a party, then supervisors’ work has been eased. It is from this point that I want to implore Catholic leaders and managers to be professional with Christ. As we celebrate the Christmas festivals, let’s also be corporate and integrate partying, for different pastoral communities, even amidst the economic constraints.
So, an end of year party should be an extension of organizational wellbeing in a varied set up at personal and group level. An outing to a camping site, beach or woods is always refreshing. Management should put aside appropriate resources to finance this event. And while at the party, free interaction above managerial pride and commanding voices should be upheld.
