Spring has officially arrived here in my corner of the world, and I've been enjoying the longer daylight hours and less need for the space heater under my desk. The weekend before last, we planted some seeds in little pots in our kitchen - a small but meaningful connection to growth and the season.
Let's get to your Monthly Management Memo - as always with something bold, something new, something borrowed, and something to pursue.
π₯Something Bold - Be Careful Where You Ask Staff to Travelβ βNot everywhere in the world, and not every state in the US is safe for everyone to travel. As Nate Shalev (a great LinkedIn follow) wrote last year and then again last week, there are hundreds of anti-LGBTQ laws being considered and on the books just in the US, and travel around the US is tricky these days even for immigrants with legal US status. Nate offers some excellent advice for how to support staff, whether you can control the location of a work event or not. If you do have the power to make decisions or give input into work travel decisions, use that to advocate for safe places for everyone on your team.
π Something New - Seasonal Team-Building Activitiesβ ββSpring is in the air if you're in the Northern Hemisphere like me! Any time you put aside for team building is great, but incorporating the season can be even more fun. Here are a few ideas:
Spring Scavenger Hunt: This can be done in person or virtually. Who can be the first to find and bring back a green item? A flower? A clover? A stuffed baby animal?
Plants: Could you bring in supplies (small flower or succulent starts, soil, pots) and have folks plant some indoor plants to put on their desk?
Cookie Decorating: With simple pre-bought sugar cookies and frosting, your team can close up a meeting by decorating some cookies together and even voting for whose cookie looks the most delicious or beautiful.
Bring in a Gardener: Bring in a local gardening expert to help lead an activity - your team can learn about local pollinators, how to do an at-home herb garden, or some other fun topic.
Picnic: Have a team meeting at the park during a comfortable time of day. Bring snacks and drinks and give everyone a chance to breathe some fresh air while connecting with each other.
π€πΌ Something Borrowed - Track Your Energy on Your Calendarβ I love this idea Jenny Blake shared from the Where it Happens podcast with Noah Kagan. Right after you finish a meeting, change the color on your calendar: Green indicates that the call created energy, Orange is neutral, and Red is for drainers. This "visual cue" allows you to look back over time and see trends, eventually moving toward more orange and ideally, all green. Jenny said she's been testing this for a few weeks, and it's already helped her identify some patterns she hadn't noticed before. One particular weekly check-in was consistently orange, so she restructured how her team approached that time together - and that meeting turned green eventually.
ππΎββοΈSomething to Pursue - Use Tiny Moments to Build Connectionβ Use those tiny pockets of time between Zoom calls or while waiting for the kettle to boil. Last week, I found myself with an unexpected 3-minute window before my next meeting and instead of mindlessly scrolling (my usual default!), I sent a quick voice note to one of my team members to appreciate her help with a project.
Research from BetterUp actually shows these micro-connections build belonging, which not only makes work more enjoyable and even results in people taking fewer sick days! I'm challenging myself to use these scattered minutes more intentionally and I encourage you to do the same. If you need more appreciation tips, get my free appreciation toolkit with practical resources you can use right away.
β
Bring your team; I'll bring my A-game. I love helping teams with workshops on productivity, team culture, and effectiveness at work. Find out more and book a free chat to see if I can be helpful to your organization.