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Posts Tagged ‘positive working environments’

6 Solutions For Boosting Team Spirit

Posted by Victor Andres

Depositphotos_3231546_xsNaturally, there are many different facets to a safe and comfortable return to work by an employee who has had a long layoff due to illness or injury. But in our experience, one of the most important aspects of a comfortable return is a positive working environment. And in order for a working environment to be a positive one, the people who fill it each and every day need to be in high spirits.

It can be argued then that one of the most important components to one’s successful return to the workplace is an office that is high in team spirit. Of course, this requires business owners and team managers to put forth efforts to ensure that their staff members are receiving ample amounts of motivation on a daily basis. All members of a staff need to be happy when coming in to work each day to really create a positive working environment. Here are six ways to boost team spirit.

1. Be Honest. We’ve all heard the term “honesty is the best policy.” According to Ralph Heibutzki on Chron.com, this is especially true for team managers looking to boost team spirit. “Keeping secrets inhibits staff from giving its best,” he writes, “Employees who know what’s going on are more likely to share your vision and care about making it happen…To promote morale, hold regular informal meetings, but don’t limit the agenda to major announcements.”

2. Recognize Success. A huge part of building team spirit is giving credit where credit is due. Staff members deserve to be recognized for their jobs well done. Letting them know that their contributions matter certainly goes a long way. “Look for workers who contribute to a team atmosphere and have a ‘can do’ attitude,” suggests Gina Scott on GlobalPost.com, “Give a monthly award to the person who jumped in and helped out the most, such as when a co-worker was sick or on medical leave.”

3. Get Everyone Involved. Perhaps there is nothing better to boost team spirit than to encourage employees to actually work as a team. “Collaborative decision-making is a key element in team building,” writes Heibutzki. Be sure to encourage feedback during team meetings and truly listen to what each member of your team has to contribute. Implement the best ideas in your company policies. You may also want to inspire friendly competition among the various members of your team.

4. Play Some Games. Speaking of friendly competition, it won’t hurt your bottom line to sometimes turn work into play. Firstly, you can promote productivity by creating teams within your team to try to inspire everyone to outdo their counterparts. Secondly, for an excellent way to boost morale, you may want to create games that build trust and communication. “Activities like these show co-workers how to produce better as a group,” says Scott.

5. Promote Work/Life Balance. No matter how fun you make the workplace, employees will always cherish time with their friends and family more. It’s just a fact of life. By appropriately balancing out one’s work life with his or her personal life, it helps for that person to be that much more enthusiastic about his or her job. “Cohesion and morale suffers when employees feel tethered to their computers, or see little relief from unrealistic workloads,” warns Heibutzki.

6. Get Out of the Office. Perhaps one of the best ways to make the office a more enjoyable place to be is to get out of it more often! “Getting team members out of their element helps them think from a new perspective and build camaraderie,” informs Scott, “Retreats can last all day or a weekend. They can be filled with trust exercises and motivational speeches that build loyalty to the company brand and to each other.”

6 Strategies To Boost Employee Morale

Posted by Victor Andres

Depositphotos_10825393_xsTruthfully speaking, there is no easy way for an employee to return to work. It’s a major life transition following a serious illness or injury. However, to make it as comfortable a transition as possible, a few steps should be taken. Making an employee who has had a long layoff from work feel better about his or her return has a lot to do with preparing the entire work environment in the right way. And that means getting your entire staff involved.

Consider that things are about to change, not just for one of your employees, but for all of them. Keeping the morale high, within any given workspace, is a bonus for the business at large. If you can find ways to ensure that your place of business is a happy one to work in, everyone will be able to play a big part in welcoming back returning staff members. Here are six strategies to keep the morale levels in your office high.

1. Recognize individual employees. When your returning worker sees that other members of his or her team are appreciated, it will foster a greater sense of belonging to a productive team. It will also motivate him or her to accomplish great feats as well. According to Joy Powers of SparkMinute.com, it’s important to tell people when they do fantastic jobs. “Praise your employees at staff meetings, or take the time to thank them in a hand-written note,” she writes.

2. Allow employees to pursue their passions. It’s one thing to appreciate your employees for the work they do, but it’s an entirely different thing to allow them the time to work on personal projects. “Promote innovation and creativity by allowing time for your employees to work on a ‘passion project’,” writes Alex Fishleder of Maximizer.com. You may find that your attention to the individual goals of your staff members will encourage them to work harder for you.

3. Give them responsibility. Employees like to know that their contributions matter. Often, there is no better way than to communicate that than to delineate important tasks to the various members of your organization. Powers writes that it’s wise to listen to your employees and involve their ideas in your company’s planning. Empowering your staff members will give them greater senses of purpose, encouraging them to make bigger contributions.

4. Offer training. Partner new or returning employees with more seasoned veterans, recommends Powers. One of the best things you can do for your workers is to equip them with all of the tools necessary to complete their jobs efficiently. Powers suggests that you bring in experts for training sessions while encouraging your team members to attend trade conferences and other industry-related events to help develop their expertise in the field.

5. Encourage a good work-life balance. Sometimes, the key ingredient to a positive working environment is ample time away from work. “Since happy employees tend to be more productive, it makes sense for companies to give their staff the time, pay and benefits that are needed to have a successful life outside of work,” writes Fishleder, “Be sure to pay attention to employee complaints about leave, hours, and other factors that may affect their performance at work.”

6. Treat them as people. At the end of the day, this is what we all want, isn’t it? It only makes sense to show your employees that you care about them. And sometimes, the smallest things can have the biggest impacts. As Powers writes, “small gestures like learning your employees’ names, and sending flowers when they are sick can go a long way.” This will be especially important for workers returning after a long time away.