The well-being of employees and how long they manage to keep you efficient for an entire working day is largely affected by the work environment and how much sleep we get, what we eat and that we exercise.
But did you know that you can influence your energy and your stress levels just by planning your work day?
Do your employees often work without a break? Do you plan time for reflection in the weeks where they have time to land in new insights? These types of activities and more have a big impact on how efficient we are at work and how we really feel.
Health for the brain "Healthy Mind Platter"
Healthy Mind Platter äis a plate model developed by David Rock and Dr. Dan Siegel that describes all the activities the brain needs daily to be in balance. Just as our bodies need a varied diet to feel good, our brain also needs to vary between different states of consciousness to be able to stay efficient and feel good. The seven activities in the model are:
- PLAYTIME
- Focus time
- Reflection time
- Exercise time
- Social time
- Sleep time
- "Just-Be" time
All activities (except bedtime) can be scheduled during a regular work day and are important building blocks for getting effective employees who feel good, feel engaged and enjoy the job.
In this post, we start from the model and share valuable tips on how you, as a leader, can help your employees put their working days into mind with the “Healthy Mind Platter”.
Many of these activities we recommend can be directly linked to our STARS model that builds successful employees. More about it you can read here.
Playtime - Work environment:
It is important to have fun at work
It is important to laugh and have fun! When we laugh, the brain secretes endorphins and dopamine, which lowers our stress levels and stresses.
But having humor and being able to laugh at work also builds trust and efficiency.
By being able to laugh together with their colleagues and their manager, an openness and honesty is created that leads to stronger trust.
TIPS - An easy way to set aside time for a little laugh is to introduce a fun half hour once a week where you have a fun quiz, for example, or watch funny youtube clips together.
Exercise time - Exercise leads to productive employees!
Exercise comes with many positive effects both physically and mentally. Through exercise, anxiety and worry are reduced and we increase our learning ability.
But training also helps us make better decisions as the connections between the brain's judgment centers and emotional centers are strengthened!
Introducing training during working hours has therefore proved to be profitable for companies as it both creates better health & productivity but also increased ability to work together and stronger community, as employees get the chance to get to know each other in more relaxing conditions.
TIPS - The important thing is that you remind your employees of the importance of moving and the positive effects the training gives, especially now that most people work from home and do not move as much as before.
Set aside 30 minutes each day for exercise time where those who want can train together!
If you work from home you can for example create a team meeting where you run a yoga session together.
If you work on site you can take yourself out on a half hour powerwalk together!
Focus time - Work environment:
It is important to be able to focus for a long time undisturbed
When the brain is able to concentrate on something for a long time undisturbed, the connection between the working brain cells is strengthened and we gain easier access to our knowledge and our experiences.
However, if we are disturbed, it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back into what we were doing.
TIPS - Let your employees schedule "focus time" each day in their calendar. There will then be a set time where their status becomes do-not-disturb and they can focus on more challenging tasks undisturbed.
Social time - Work environment:
Social relationships lead to higher engagement!
Having social relationships at work is important both for ours motivation and job satisfaction. Strong social relationships lead to a feeling of trust, community and higher commitment!
TIPS - Exercise time obviously works as an excellent social break where employees socialize in conditions other than just "work."
But other good ways to get them to hang out are through a virtual coffee if you work from home or a regular coffee at the workplace where you can strengthen social relationships by talking about other than "jobs."
Reflection time - Work environment:
Time for reflection that leads to efficiency
It is extremely important not to let your employees just work on but breaks for reflection.
Those who do so are at greater risk of being affected by health problems.
Stopping and taking the time to reflect leads to catching up on all the different impressions and thoughts and you get time to question, evaluate and, above all, create a better job.
TIPS - Set aside a time for reflection either every day or a couple of times a week where your employees can reflect in groups.
During this time, everyone should share their insights and thoughts in peace and quiet and try to find solutions together.
Through the activity, they not only gain new insights, but also the solidarity and commitment between the employees and everyone gets to feel involved!
Just-be-time - Work environment:
Breaks are important for recovery!
The brain needs to be able to reflect effortlessly through short breaks during the day.
If you work without a break, the brain will work at high speed all the time, which leads to reduced efficiency. But if you take short breaks you allow the brain to recover and reflect and in this way you can stay effective for a whole working day.
TIPS - Remind your employees to take breaks, especially when working from home.
A few short breaks during the day will have a significant impact on their efficiency, where they will also feel better and feel less stressed.
Health check on the organization
