5 daily actions to unleash an engaged and healthy team

YOUR TEAM IS MADE UP OF HUMAN BEINGS
(Check In With Their Personal Lives) 
Your team is made up of human beings. People have their own lives outside of work. 
It’s OK to be friends with your species. 
Give your team space to communicate about the joys, pressures and activities happening outside of the workplace. Give your team the gift of being seen and known for who they really are. 
One of my clients does this by spending the first 15 minutes of his meetings to simply check in with his core team. Another accomplishes this by setting a weekly reminder on his phone to check in with specific people about what’s going on in their lives. 
(Bonus: If you’re using your phone to communicate with your team, try using the BOND iPhone app to schedule check-in reminders with key folks). 
 
TRAIN YOUR TEAM TO ENERGIZE THEMSELVES
(Force Self Care) 
The better your team members are at caring for themselves, the more likely they’ll be energetic team members rather than draining team members. 
Has one of your team members been working hard? Buy something that will help them relax and care for themselves (massages, a cabin rental for them and their spouse or paying for a month of having a cleaning team come to their home goes a long, long way). 
A friend of mine takes special notice when a team is tired. He has them go on a walk together. Another friend of mine hires me (hint... hint...) to work with his team members to teach them how to be their own source of self-care. 
It’s no accident that standing desks, fresh fruit & vegetables, corporate yoga sessions and mid-day naps are all trending right now. All of the latest data and research demonstrates companies that help their employees care for themselves are more likely to keep high level talent. 
  
LEARN WHAT PUMPS YOUR TEAM UP
(Observe How They Engage Their Tasks) 
Does your teammate need to listen to Metallica to get excited about their weekly reports? Do they brag to their friends about how experimental and innovative their projects are? Is the pressure of a deadline (or a missed quota) necessary to motivate them to make sales calls? 
Finding these subtle clues will help you lead your team to be consistent in their execution. 
Once you pay attention to the way they best engage with their tasks, you’ll learn to give them space to work as they work best. 
Do they like to have a week to research and poke through best practices before creating a strategy? Do they prefer to work on everything in one creative burst? Do they find pleasure in checking-off small parts of a task-list OR do they prefer two or three large tasks per day? 
Paying attention to their daily rhythm will help you learn the right timing and tone to delegate to your team. 
  
COMMUNICATE ANY NEW INFORMATION OR DEVELOPMENTS
(Scan Through Your Direct Reports) 
Who is directly reporting to you? 
Make a list in a simple text document and leave it on your computer desktop or print it off and keep it with you. 
Scan through this list on a regular basis - daily or weekly will do just fine - and allow the scan to serve as a prompt. 
If they’re not hearing from you the space will be filled in with negativity. Asking yourself “Does this person know what is in my head?” will help keep you proactive and keep communication channels open. 
  
EVERYONE NEEDS A CLEARLY DEFINED WIN
(Invest Your Best In Those Responsible For Success)
Does your team know what metric is the largest indicator for success? Is it total sales? Or returning customers? Or net-promoter score? 
Make sure that metric is defined and agreed upon. Now ask, “Are the people responsible for this metric getting the best of my investment?” 
Investing in the people who are the core of your organization is key. Let them know they’re critical, that they make a difference and just how meaningful their work is for the company.

Ultimately healthy teams are led by healthy leaders. A healthy me makes a healthy we.

Learn to master yourself here:  

Figure That Shift Out: An Invitation to Relax Into Your Brilliance By Chris McAlister Buy on Amazon