By the end of the year, many leaders barely have the bandwidth to take care of themselves, let alone support their people. However, how we finish the year and start the next is crucial to both our business results and retaining the people who make them possible.

In this short, highly interactive session, leaders will learn why how we finish and start the year is so critical for engagement and retention, the most important conversations we need to have with our people, and how to have them.

Leaders will leave with tried-and-tested individual and team rituals, and conversation guides to help your team connect, reflect, and celebrate, so you can finish the year powerfully and support people to come back ready to go in the year ahead!

Leaders will leave the program with:

• Year-end and beginning-of-year conversation scripts for one-on-ones
• A simple end-of-year goal-setting process for employees
• A bunch of end-of-year rituals and holiday activity ideas
• A great beginning-of-year team culture brainstorm activity

Christopher Littlefield is an international Keynote speaker, an expert in employee appreciation, conflict resolution, and workplace culture, and the founder of Beyond Thank You. He has trained thousands of leaders across six continents to do the little things that build cultures where people feel valued, work feels easier, and change happens together.

His clients include Colgate-Palmolive, L’Oréal, MIT Sloan School of Management, Salesforce, the U.S. Army, the United Nations, and more. In February 2026, Chris was named a Top Global Employee Engagement Influencer by Inspiring Workplaces. His work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, and Psychology Today and he is a contributor to the Harvard Business Review Guide to Retaining Your Best People.