Are you a manager that looks after a team? Or perhaps you are in a team and don’t feel appreciated by your manager? We are sharing a few tips to a happy successful team.
Here at Brightbulb, we thrive on a happy work environment, if one person is not in a great mood, it can dampen the whole office mood which is why we have a few tricks up our sleeve that work wonders on boosting the mood of the whole team.
1. We assigned someone the role of head of happiness, of course you can change the title to anything you want to, but here at Brightbulb, Fi is our Head of Happiness.
Fi will assess the mood and if ever it seems to be dropping, she will suggest going outside for a breath of fresh air, make everyone a cup of tea, buy everyone a little treat or find another way to make everyone smile (a weekly Blobby cake from our local bakery always goes down a treat!).
2. We recently introduced Walking Wednesdays which has been a huge hit with the team. Every Wednesday, at lunchtime, we all go for a walk from the office. We have found some beautiful walks a stones throw from the office and explored some great footpaths we would never have known existed otherwise.
We have found this to be an amazing mood booster for the team. It resets them ready for a more productive afternoon and allows us all to get away from the stress of work for an hour. The great part about this is that it has also encouraged some of the team to go for walks on other days too, encouraging exercise and mental wellbeing.
3. Be adaptable…..In 2020 so far, we have all learned more than ever that we have to adapt our way of living to reflect new rules. The whole team worked from home during lockdown and showed us that they could be just as productive at home as in the office. It made us realise just how adaptable we can be, so we now give everyone the option to work from home when it suits them and try to meet their needs in any way we can.
4. Mental Health Awareness…. Be aware that this year has been extremely tough for so many people in so many ways. If someone appears to be struggling, talk to them. Ask them how they are doing, and if they would rather not talk about it, just reassure them that you would love to help them if you can do anything. We offer our team a “duvet day” option. This is a day that they can take without the usual notice period. They can call or text if they wake up and feel like they need a day off and won’t enjoy being at work. They only have to request a duvet day, and there are no questions asked. This takes the pressure off so they don’t feel like they have to think of an excuse or tell us what is happening when they would rather not.
5. Lastly…HAVE FUN!
Don’t be scared to have some fun at work, you might make the mistake of thinking your team will be less productive if you stop working for 5 minutes for a chat, a quick joke, a cuppa, stopping to group ideas for something. You’re wrong! If they are happier and have had a fun day, they will be more likely to be productive and work well. We are not robots. We cannot sit for 8 hours staring at a screen and not get bored. It is important to keep it different, keep it fun. You don’t want your team getting bored quickly, or fearing coming to work due to stress levels, so keep it light hearted, fun, and happy.