Everyone can relate to having one of those days at the office; when you just can’t seem to summon the zest to get to the finish line. With a low team mood, that feeling is sustained over a period of time.
Low mood can present as decreased energy, low excitement and a general dullness. Those who complete their tasks in time, do them simply to get them done. Before this situation affects productivity, efficiency and morale, there are steps you can take. In this article we discuss 7 daily habits to improve your team mood.
Encourage the team to spend time outside daily
It has been proven that spending time outdoors helps to elevate mood. If possible, encourage teams to spend some time outdoors together. This can be during a meal or even a light break between work.
If your workplace doesn’t give access to the outdoors very often, then consider bringing the outdoors inside. Having plants in the office helps with air quality, reduces stress and boosts mood. Don’t forget your employees who work from home. Send them an indoor plant when they are on board to drive the culture of having greenery in work spaces.
Cultivate gratitude in the workplace
Gratitude and saying thank you should be everyone’s job. When teammates are encouraged to appreciate each other, you are likely to see an improvement in team mode. First, managers need to make it clear that gratitude is in the team’s DNA. One way to do this is by putting it in writing the same way words like Accountability and Trustworthy are written among a teams’ values.
Putting it in writing, practising it and perhaps building it into the company or even team mission can be a good way to improve morale daily. People will be able to see it written on the wall and remember.
Managers should lead by example by thanking employees for work well done, for helping another teammate, for making a cup of tea for someone else. Doing this encourages people to look out for the positives in the ordinary and to also start practising gratitude. It is unlikely that in the course of each day, there will not be a single act that warrants a thank you.
Build breaks into the work day-and encourage people to take them
One of the daily habits to improve team mood is to have breaks between work. 5 hours staring at a computer screen is not a happy employee. According to research, people are only productive for about 3 hours a day. This varies from one worker to the next and some might be more productive but breaks should be built into work.
Let teams or individual members create schedules that allow them to step away from the computer to rest their eyes, to change position if they have been operating a forklift for hours by walking around or to sit down if they have been working at a till for hours. These breaks actually lead to higher productivity and better team mood.
Make sure life-work balance is accommodated
Personal time is part of life and work should respect that daily. Managers and team members should be aware of standing commitments people have outside of work. For instance, if a team member has to pick up children at 5, this should be built into their schedule.
This prevents the anxiety they might experience around having to ask for permission to leave earlier daily. If this time is not respected, that employees’ mood may suffer and in turn affect that of teammates. Team mood, like morale, can be contagious.
Encourage your teams to prioritise their personal lives. In addition to making them more balanced people, the ideas they derive from hobbies and interactions with other people can flow back into their work.
Stay connected with remote employees
Remote work is the new normal and workplaces can now have teams made up of staff spanning the globe. But these teams, despite being remote, need to know that their managers and teammates are there for them. Feeling isolated, lacking in social connection with teammates can lead to a quick decline in mood.
Managers can put in place a number of habits to improve team mood. Some of these include team bonding and staying in touch. Improve team mood by making sure the team spends time together. First, this will build team trust, an important factor for morale, mood and productivity.
Make it easy for people to connect by having a video call daily. Seeing and talking to each other helps to cement the feeling of openness.
Provide nutritious meals and snacks
Research supports the fact that food indeed does affect mood. While some foods have the ability to make you feel alert, others can support the opposite feeling. One of the daily habits to improve your team mood that you can adopt is providing nutritious meals.
Make sure you have fruits and vegetables on the menu or in the canteen. Offer teams education about the benefits of these foods so they know why they should eat them. Simply adding them to the menu without education on the benefits may lead to some people ignoring them. Eating right will not only support the mental health of your teams, it will support them in being physically fit too.
Have a laugh
A daily habit to improve team mood is to have laughter in the workplace. Laughter makes us feel good due to the release of feel-good hormones, it reduces stress and improves the ability to learn.
It’s true that it is hard to find what makes everyone on the team laugh but the effort counts. Share a meme or a joke you heard. It might arrive at just the time a stressed out colleague needs it.
If you can’t get a laugh, settle for a smile.
In Summary
When it comes to habits to improve team mood, everyone is responsible. The team lead oversees these habits but team members need to live and believe them. In fact, team members can suggest habits that the team can adapt. After all, everyone is responsible for a positive team experience.
