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Morale & Team Building Toolkit

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Morale & Team Building Toolkit MORALE & TEAM BUILDING TOOLKIT FOR VICTIM SERVICES AGENCIES FUNDED BY THE NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF VICTIM SERVICES Created by: Jennifer Amstutz, Alan Krieger & Nicole O’Connor TABLE OF CONTENTS WHY A MORALE & TEAM BUILDING TOOLKIT? 2 WORKING EFFECTIVELY WITH INDIVIDUALS UNDER STRESS 4 HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT 5 INCLUDE OTHERS IN THE PLANNING 8 TIPS FOR HOW TO RUN A VIRTUAL MEETING 10 CONCLUSION/WRAP-UP 13 TOOLKIT ICEBREAKERS 15 ACTIVITIES 26 OTHER MORALE BUILDING IDEAS 49 CLOSINGS 50 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 53 APPENDIX APPENDIX A: TTARP 55 APPENDIX B: TOOLS 56 APPENDIX C: ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 59 APPENDIX D: SURVEY RESULTS 67 M O R A L E A N D T E A M B U I L D I N G T O O L K I T | P A G E 1 WHY A MORALE & TEAM BUILDING TOOLKIT? Strong relationships and good morale improve team functioning and program effectiveness. In many agencies, though, the strain of the last 10 months has negatively impacted both relationships and morale. Because of the current health crisis and its impact, victims and survivors are more stressed, cases are up, staff are dealing with personal crises, and absences are up. This has had a detrimental effect on morale, and on team and agency effectiveness. And because a large proportion of employees are working from home, or working in split shifts, the opportunity to build relationships has been severely impacted. Many leaders and supervisors have made an effort to build communication within their own teams -- a study done in the months after the initial lockdown found that employees actually had increased their communication with close collaborators by 40%! You may have found that in your own teams. However, the opposite was true about communication with coworkers with whom employees did not work regularly. The same study found that there was a large decrease in communication with other colleagues. [1] And for the many staff who have come on board after March 2020, they may never have had an opportunity to connect, formally or informally, with coworkers that are not part of their immediate work area. Casual work relationships are important. These relationships -- the ones that usually form in the staff break room and in the hallway -- help improve coordination, collaboration and creativity, thereby increasing organizational performance, innovation and service quality. [1] HBR Article: “The Implications of Working Without an Office” Early research on how people are — and aren’t — adapting and how leaders can help. by Ethan Bernstein, Hayley Blunden ,Andrew Brodsky, Wonbin Sohn, and Ben Waber July 15, 2020 M O R A L E A N D T E A M B U I L D I N G T O O L K I T | P A G E 2 This toolkit was designed to provide you with activities and strategies to try to maintain and strengthen staff morale and connections during this time of remote work and increased stress. In these pages you will find ice breakers and closing activities that will provide an opportunity for you to help support your staff and for staff to support each other. But you will also find a myriad of activities that are more casual, fun, team- building activities. Also included are tips for running virtual meetings and for providing support individually to staff who need it most. Even though those activities may not seem like they have a direct relationship on your work or your mission, they can have an important impact. These activities can: 1. Get employees excited about work 2. Encourage team members to express themselves 3. Provide concentrated practice collaborating and communicating 4. Show people they can rely on their coworkers 5. Help people unlock their creative and learning potential 6. Help make people more accepting and able to resolve conflicts 7. Help unite people and build emotional support 8. Help employees feel valued, supported and appreciated 9. Help new employees bond with the team And ultimately, they give morale an infusion, keep motivation levels up, and lay the foundation for a healthy organizational culture. [2] By taking extra steps to provide support to your staff you can help reduce stress, absences, and staff turnover. Creating opportunities to build strong personal staff relationships, both inside, and outside of immediate teams, will create better staff cohesion and effectiveness. In addition, an increased feeling of support, combined with strong relationships, will lead to improved morale, stronger motivation, and a more unified organization moving forward. REISE | PAGE 4 [2] Adapted from “The Truth Behind Why Team Building Is Important in 2021”, by Ashley Bell, snacknation.com/glob/importance-of-team-building M O R A L E A N D T E A M B U I L D I N G T O O L K I T | P A G E 3 WORKING EFFECTIVELLY WITH INDIVIDUALS UNDER STRESS While leaders need to be mindful of their staff’s mental health, a supervisor’s job is NOT to act as a counselor or therapist with their staff. However, being a supportive listener can make a big impact without much extra work. Take time in your regular supervision to check in with each person, asking them how they are doing, how their home/family situation is, what their support network looks like and what self-care they are doing. This should generally take only a few minutes. For staff in crisis, it could take up your full session. In that case, you may want to set a clear boundary at the start, e.g. “Before we get started with supervision, let’s take a few minutes to check in. How are things going with you and your family?” Your goal here is to provide support, not necessarily solve their personal problems, so a short conversation can provide that support. If necessary, you may want to schedule slightly longer meetings with some staff. If you have an EAP program, be sure all staff know about this, and talk with them individually to be sure they are open to using it. Take time to sort through any hesitation they may have. If you don’t have an EAP program, have a list of community resources you can share with staff who are in need of additional services. Many agencies have reported increasing the frequency of supervisory sessions from every two weeks to weekly. You may wish to offer more frequent sessions to those who need or value it and leave others in the standard schedule. With staff who are having difficulty coping with work and/or home stress, take a little time every few days to check in with them with a short phone call to let them know you are available and concerned. If your time and energy are limited, you can share that upfront: “I only have a few minutes, but I wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.” Encourage them to reach out to their circle of family and friends every day with a phone or video call, whether they feel like talking or not. Ask them what they might do for increased self-care, and follow up to M O R A L E A N D T E A M B U I L D I N G T O O L K I T | P A G E 4 encourage them to do that regularly. If they have a close friend among the staff, without violating confidentiality, encourage that friend to check in with them as well, especially on the weekends. Or encourage them to call their friend regularly. Included in this toolkit are icebreakers and meeting closing activities that you can also use to start or close an individual supervision session to help shift the mood and help focus on the positive and on self-care. Staff and leaders have been working under a great strain for nearly a year, and there are at least several months, if not more, still to go. We believe some additional attention to staff in need will pay dividends in terms of staff resilience, reduced absence and reduced turnover. We know it is difficult to invest even more in your staff after all you’ve been through, and we hope this tool kit provides ideas to make this easier for you. A little extra effort can pay great dividends. As consultants funded through the TTAR program, we are available to discuss this with you in individual coaching sessions offered at no cost to you or your agency. Feel free to reach out to us to schedule a meeting. HOW TO USE THIS TOOLKIT Your time and energy are limited - we get that! This tool kit is NOT designed to be one more thing to add to your day. During these unprecedented times, it is important to have meaningful interaction, build trust, share experiences and stay connected – even when working from home. It’s also important to prevent isolation and to encourage self-care for all of your team members, including yourself. We have pulled together some tools and activities to help you do just that. We do want to note that it is important that ALL activities remain voluntary. People should be able to choose to pass or not attend with no repercussions. M O R A L E A N D T E A M B U I L D I N G T O O L K I T | P A G E 5 WHERE TO ADD IN THESE ACTIVITIES? Some of these tools can be added into meetings you’re already having.
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