Prioritizing Kindness in the Workplace

Through the deprivation of meaningful interactions and face-to-face communication, many employees do not have the wherewithal to maintain the motivation and passion necessary for peak production. It can be quite the challenge to garner the encouragement necessary to work through new challenges while certain COVID-19 restrictions remain in place. The inconvenience behind scheduling social and business interactions is often exhausting, and the timing does not always work for everyone. However, despite the attacks on team chemistry, simple ‘check-ins’ and uplifting words can reassure transformed job performance.

Don’t underestimate the power kindness can have in the workplace. Prioritize kindness to establish a culture of gratitude that boosts productivity and facilitates success through these strategic outputs:

Employee Recognition

As a low-cost, high-impact strategy, publicly recognizing work anniversaries, birthdays and visually demonstrating appreciation for your team members plays a tremendous role in enhancing team morale, unity, and productivity. Our natural feelings of self-worth are always there deep down, but sometimes just need to be confirmed to reap the benefits. Providing recognition, whether in a leadership position or not, will allow your co-workers to feel more fulfilled and confident in their work. As with any action, showing your gratefulness sets the standard for employee interaction (even if remote) that will reciprocate to other team members and to you.

Random Acts of Kindness

Research from the Journal of Economic Psychology suggests that volunteering or buying a small, thoughtful gift for someone is tied to improved mental health and happiness. Whether it through a donation of your time, money, or encouraging words, completing acts of kindness will shape how the world views us and, more importantly, how we view ourselves. While the longstanding impact of friends and family’s support is unlikely comparable, the personalization between co-workers cannot be overlooked. You do not need to have a relationship with an individual for your kindness to benefit both of you. Even the subtlest of efforts in casual interactions, such as a friendly ‘hello’ or a genuine smile paired with a ‘how are you doing’ can positively impact our moods.

A recent study from Inc revealed that completing acts of kindness is linked to increased energy, calmness, optimism, lower blood pressures, and general well-being. When you exhibit unconditional kindness, you develop a critical strength in developing relationships through integrity.

Sincere Feedback

Thwarting the psychological barriers of providing honest observation, complementary or not, is an anxiety-inducing experience. As a result, we assume the recipient is encountering a similar discomfort, but that is rarely the case. When you see one of your team members is struggling, support them in finding a solution. By delivering constructive and positive feedback thoughtfully, you pave the way for improved performance and happy and loyal employees. Providing this feedback will:
– Clarify expectations
– Inspire reflection and learning
– Increase employee engagement
– Affirm successes
– Identify needs
– Build confidence
– Shape company culture
– Strengthen job performance
– Improve leaders’ effectiveness

How To Be Kind

Nothing is too small to make an impact. Appreciate and compliment kindness when you see it, and it will infuse into your culture. Be intentional in sharing kind words and recognize the importance of being responsive and invested in what others have to say. Showing kindness to others can be carried from as simple an action as opening a door for someone to assisting a co-worker with an approaching deadline. Here are a few other simple ways you can exhibit kindness today:
– Ask someone to coffee or lunch.
– Share an entertaining link to someone it made you think of.
– Practice active listening.
– Bring in donuts or bagels for your team.

Are you operating on a solely remote basis? Take the time to send an email or text that acknowledges an employee’s contributions or give them a quick phone to ask how they are doing. 

Wrap Up

When your company facilitates and prioritizes kindness, you successfully establish a culture of teamwork and innovation, and best of all… It’s FREE! Kindness begets increased productivity, improved mental health, and reduced stress levels, but only when your knowledge accompanies action. Lead by example by showing gratitude, writing thank-you notes, recognizing hard work, and providing the occasional tangible token of appreciation. 

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Establishing Good Relationships in the Workplace

Employee engagement plays an influential role in a company’s culture and overall job performance. Gallup Analytics reveals that having close friends in the workplace transform the mentality and makes employees seven times more likely to be engaged in their job. For example, if you see your best friend start exercising three times a week, you are five times more likely to begin exercising as well.

Initially shared by our friends at Mind Tools, join us as we break down the importance of establishing meaningful relationships, what the connections should entail, and how to get started!

The Importance of Good Relationships

When your co-workers are also your friends, you remove the chance of toxicity running rampant in the office. Avoiding this all-too-common complication eliminates the potential of career burnout, high turnover, and obstructed creativity amongst employees. As a result, you cultivate a culture built upon creativity, teamwork, and opportunity through a preexisting measure of respect. Within this connectivity, companies will see an increase in their employee retention rate and notice a significant development in the quality of candidates they attract. 

Building quality relationships at work can take some time, but a strong bond between co-workers plays a tremendous impact on a company’s success and employees’ mental health. Emphasizing healthy work relationships leads to increased job satisfaction and moves you closer to reaching your full potential. With legitimate friendships in the office, you are more comfortable bouncing ideas off each other, challenging each other, and receiving the support necessary to take risks. The more in tune you are in your office relationships, the more your personal relationships will grow. Be wary as not to let the casualness of your friendships overrule the professionalism required during work hours. 

The Structure of Good Relationships

The foundation for healthy workplace relationships is made of several key elements:

Open Communication: Be honest and upfront when discussing job performance, future goals, the progress on those goals, and give praise for a job well done. The more intentional you are in communication, the more effective you will be in the workplace. 

Trust: The basis for any strong relationship is built on trust. When you have faith in your co-workers to keep their promises and put forth the effort, you can know time and energy are not being wasted. Shared trust builds a strong bond between employees and enables a platform for open communication.

Respect: Mutual respect between employees results in your team members feeling valued for their input and opinions and make solutions more attainable through collective wisdom and creativity. 

Mindfulness: Stay cognizant of the impact your words and actions can have on others. Take full responsibility when you mess up; don’t allow your negative emotions to shake up your work environment. 

Inclusion: Stepping outside your comfort zone or taking a new approach to a challenge can prove valuable in your decision-making. Pursue dynamic and diverse perspectives that may be outside your traditional lines of thinking. Hearing these varying opinions can provide great insight to arrive at a solution you were previously closed off to.

How To Build Good Relationships

Patience plays a huge role in cultivating healthy workplace relationships, but there are steps you can take to help expedite the process:

Develop Your People Skills: Having good people skills is essential to get your relationships off to a great start. It is your chance to earn trust through active listening, empathy, and conflict resolution. 

Grow Your Emotional Intelligence: Your EI is your ability to understand and manage your emotions and the emotions of those around you. Improving your EI can go a long way in establishing a strong bond between co-workers.

Be Intentional in Your Relationships: Make an emphasis to interact with your peers by inviting them to lunch/coffee, making yourself available in a time of need, or simply by engaging with them on social media. 

Show Appreciation: Give recognition where recognition is due. Everyone wants to feel valued and praised for their hard work. Being that source of affirmation for others is a great way to quickly develop a bond and earn favor in the eyes of your co-workers. 

Exude Positivity: Through your provided affirmations, expressed gratitude, and ‘glass half full’ outlook on life, you can set the standard for what you what your culture to become. Sharing a consistently positive outlook is contagious in the workplace and will likely draw others to you in the process. 

Avoid Gossip: Talking behind someone’s back is the quickest way to allow toxicity in the office and ruin any progress you’ve made. Rather than avoiding conflict, address the problem directly as not to intensify the issue.

Navigating Through Difficult Relationships

When you encounter a co-worker or manager that you can’t quite mesh with, it can be challenging to maintain consistent energy and passion levels in your job performance. Rather than getting bogged down and overstressed, pursue the individual timidly in hopes of understanding the reasoning behind your differences. From there, take a step back to evaluate and ensure that you are not the root of the problem. If you can make amends to an old conflict, do it now before the cycle of harmful attitudes and behaviors continue.

Focus on what you have in common and show empathy to the aspects of their life where you cannot relate. If you a positive history of working together on a project, reflect on that to re-establish a bond. Not every work relationship will be seamlessly productive and friendly, but extending a little effort can keep them fruitful in and harmony with the culture you’ve built.

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Restore Productivity with These Home Office Tips

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be quite tricky while juggling all the challenges that come with a remote office. While there are many benefits to working from home, various engagements and distractions will pull you in different directions. The blend of personal life and career is a delicate road to travel. Each day, the quality of your mental health and physical health are at stake.

Many employees did not properly prepare for the healthy workspace because they did not expect it to be a long-term adjustment. As a result, home-operating employees see a drop in productivity and overall job performance. So, what steps can you take to restore and surpass your previous level of productivity, all while sustaining your current lifestyle? Here are a few strategies you can start implementing today:

Designate Your Workspace

If you set up your desk and computer in the middle of chaos, you will undoubtedly struggle to find a clear focus for your workday. The space you choose for your home office needs to resemble your work office and offer a level of separation from your personal life. In the scenario that your office set up placed you in a cubicle, it may serve you best to set up a desk in the corner of a spare or multi-purpose room. Just remember to keep any display of family pictures and desk accessories consistent with your workplace set-up.

It is crucial that you understand the ergonomics of remote working within your home office and how abiding by these principles can positively impact your mental and physical health. From proper desk height, monitor height, and office lighting to a quality office chair and an internet connection, the experts at IDG Techtalk reveal all the guidelines and rules to follow when it comes to your home office set-up.

Establishing boundaries is critical in achieving a healthy balance. When you are at home during work hours, you must clarify to others and yourself that you are ‘at work’. Without proper boundaries, you may find yourself working irregular hours and giving leeway to cabin fever, which brings us to my next point:

Get Up & Get Active

Don’t fall into the habit of multitasking during work hours. If you feel overwhelmed or you’ve entered a negative headspace, make sure to give yourself a break. It’s not healthy for anyone to be cooped up in a house all day. 

Take advantage of the time you save not needing to drive to and from the office. Go for a jog or schedule a ‘coffee date’ with a friend. This allotted time is your chance to refresh your mind and body and find relaxation in a new form. During your brief recess or after work hours, make sure you step aside from your designated work area and keep all work accessories out of sight.

Eliminate Distractions & Facilitate Efficiency

Do you get easily distracted during your workday? Whether it is by your family members or roommates in your home or the neighbor’s dog, the noise around can have a tremendous impact on your work output. Some of the quickest and most effective solutions include purchasing noise-canceling headphones or playing white noise in the background. Suppose your distractions stem more from your phone applications or surfing the web for the latest news updates, sports updates, or shopping deals. In that case, you may benefit from setting certain internet restrictions for yourself and muting your phone notifications. The Internet has quite the knack of luring you in for numerous minutes at a time. Alternatively, for the more easily motivated and solution-oriented individuals, write out a ‘to-do’ list for your day and week and keep it in front of you as you progress through the day.

What sparks your headspace for creative thinking? Maybe it is a morning workout/stretches, a full meal, some good music, or simply writing down your goals each day. Regardless of what it may be, opening up these creative outlets is critical to facilitating productivity and elevating your overall wellbeing. 

Wrap Up

Working from a home office can often blur lines between our personal and professional lives. If you have noticed a blend between the two or a dip in job performance, these steps will begin to restore productivity as long as you have the intentionality and initiative to do so. While working from home has strong capabilities in improving upon an employee’s mental health, productivity, and work-life balance, those culminations can only occur when true effort transpires.

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What NOT To Do When You’re Having A Bad Day

When you feel annoyed or offended, it is customary not to act on those feelings with aggression. In relationships, it’s critical not to sever any bonds with a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction or comment in the heat of the moment. Whether it is a family member, friend, or significant other, giving yourself space, taking deep breaths, and returning to the issue at another time is always advantageous. When you have one chance at making things right, you do not want to put yourself in a position to make things worse.

Our friends at The Muse took the time to connect this sentiment to our responsibilities and tasks in the workplace. When a function needs to be taken seriously, you must illustrate the proper mindset to tackle it. When you enter a momentary rut or negative headspace, here are five things Alyse Kalish recommends you shelve for the time being:

1. Take an Important Call

If you’ve had a rough or busy morning and are dreading an upcoming phone call with a client, you are well within your rights to postpone the meeting a few hours. The key is to not cancel on them, but instead offer a ‘white lie’ to make way for more focused, productive conversation later on.

2. Have a Difficult Conversation

If you have an employee or co-worker that you need to deliver some harsh feedback to, proceeding while in a recusant state of mind will induce the individual unreceptive to your observation or criticism. It’s best to hold off on the meeting until you are mentally prepared.

3. Respond to an Email That Gets on Your Nerves

When you are not feeling like your typical self, even a subtle annoyance can send you into a tailspin. Maybe a co-worker just sent you a notice that they have not made any progress on their assignments for a big project. Perhaps it is your boss or manager responding to your question with “Figure it out.” 

When you receive an email that strikes a nerve, don’t jab back with a frustration-fueled response. If someone required an immediate reply, the message likely would’ve been delivered through a phone call or in-office meeting. Take time to unwind, collect your thoughts, and come back later with a professional response.

4. Make a Decision

If someone in your organization requires your input for a direction to take for a new project, now is not the time. Here’s why: Your ‘bad day’ may consist of feelings of recklessness or hastiness, which can lead to a bold decision that takes you off-track. While it may feel productive and as if you are removing a burden, it’s not wise to justify making that decision in an impulsive state. Instead, ensure your team you are dealing with it and offer a timeline for your answer.

5. Submit a Key Assignment

Days will come where you are not exhibiting an apt mentality to meet an approaching deadline for a research write-up, analytics spreadsheet, or outreach plan. Do not risk pitching a lackluster product when a few extra hours or days can provide a winning result. If you are comfortable requesting a deadline extension, offer a promise for desirable outcomes, set a new timetable, and ensure it won’t happen again. 

Wrap Up

Take care of your mental health. Pushing through a difficult day is never easy, notably when conditions like these occur. Still, with a little time and inward thinking, you can quickly return to the reliable professional you know yourself to be. 

For written-out examples on how to express reasons for the delay or push through when the task cannot wait, visit Alyse’s full article here.

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