Gift giving can be a challenge. While some say, "it's the thought that counts" with a gift, you want to avoid being the subject of a statement along the lines of, "What were they thinking?"

With the holidays approaching, you may be faced with the annual conundrum of figuring out who you should send gifts to and what the appropriate parameters are for gift giving. You aren't the only manager struggling with this issue.

Before you start shopping for those client and associate gifts, here are a few of the pros and cons of professional gift giving as well as some tips that can help you make the right choices this year. We've thrown in a few professional gift ideas to get you started.

Sitting through a tense meeting where finance and sales are positioned on opposite side of the table engaged in conflict is as iconic in corporate America as a row of cubicles. In fact, for all levels of managers and executives, serving time in battle during these situations for their respective teams is essentially a rite of passage.

In these all too common scenarios, both sides often emerge worse for the wear instead of uniting to drive business growth. The result is a corporate landscape where revenue potential remains unfulfilled and employee satisfaction suffers. Organizational stagnation and, ultimately, demise can quickly follow when conflict breeds.

To attain sustainable business profitability, the issue of clashing CFO and CRO perspectives needs to be addressed and the entire premise of assigning roles needs to be examined.

Seth Godin said:

Extraordinary contribution changes not just the recipient, but the giver as well…

The hard part isn't working for free. The hard part is figuring out that this is your chance to do more than you're asked, to resist being unpaid labor for an organization too cheap to pay you properly. Instead, this is a rare moment to leap.”

What's missing in Seth’s great share

Those who are still trying to figure out how to show up and be consistent are in the early part of their journey. Without a foundation of skills and expertise, ‘leaping’ does require some good judgment.

When that time comes, they can look at their skills, talents and how they make an impact… and sometimes will have an epiphany: “it matters”.  That is when they go beyond marketing – and leap… which leads to bigger rewards for everyone.

The most successful Chief Revenue Officers are not afraid to think outside of the box. To have big, out-of-the-box ideas, a company must have employees who are not intimidated by creativity, innovation, and inventiveness.