When we’re talking about Team Rituals, we’re certainly not talking about Productivity Ninja blood brotherhood or voodoo rituals. We are talking about those daily team rituals which will strengthen your team and increase productivity.
Daily Huddles
A daily huddle consists of 10-15 minutes (depending on how big your team is) of each colleague sharing what’s on their mind. Daily Huddles are best held in the morning, so it doesn’t get in the way of other meetings and the flow of things. It is more effective when standing up, so you are able to focus more and don’t necessarily get distracted by other topics. At Think Productive, our daily huddles include topics and questions, such as:
- How are you really feeling and what’s your good news? (This can be work- related or personal)
- What’s your big rock for today? Everyone updates each other on what they are focusing on today.
- Any stuck(s)? Are there any issues/anything that’s holding up progress?
What you include in your daily huddle, can be changed according to the type of workplace you are involved in. We would recommend always asking how everyone is really feeling and to also keep the ‘big rocks’ question. Daily Huddles ensure that each team member will know what they need to achieve by the end of the day, and provides the opportunity to receive help at the beginning of the day, instead of disturbing others during the rest of the day who are working on other projects.
Breaks
Encourage your team to take a tea break and their full amount of lunch break. At times, workers tend to use only some of their break, and not the full amount, since they are trying to finish off their work. As you might have heard in Time Management Workshops before, this does not help your productivity and creativity, because new environments help with creative thinking, whereas staying in the same place for a long period of time proves to be detrimental to that. Science has suggested that breaks help us retain information and stop us from getting bored, thus being focused rather than distracted. We are continuously reminding you to make sure you take some time off and use up your holiday allowance, but while you do that, also make sure you take breaks throughout your normal working day and get as much fresh air in as possible.
Meditation
Spend time with your co-workers meditating together, whether that be once a week or every other day. It does not necessarily have to be long, just a short few minutes of dedicating your time to working on your mind. Here at Think Productive, we do exactly that, meditating together every day before our daily huddle as well as once a week by the beach, as far as the weather allows it. It is very calming to have the entire team being at peace and away from their work and it is a great productivity boost in the morning.
Give your team a nice productivity boost with these three team rituals. Team rituals can’t solve every productivity challenge, so get in touch if you need some Time Management Training, Productivity Training, Email Etiquette Training or Facilitation Training – we are here to help!
What are some of your team rituals? Share them with us @thinkproductive
By Rosie To