Five to Thrive 9/23/2019

UMD’s Thriving Workplace Initiative is making the University of Maryland a great place to work by providing tools and support to foster engaged, inclusive and empowered faculty and staff across campus.

Each Monday, its Five to Thrive list offers five strategies crowdsourced from research, experts and our own UMD community to help your workplace thrive. 

Want to build a Thriving Workplace? Here are this week’s tips: 

• Diversify the one-on-one meeting. Meet weekly with each member of your team for project updates, to understand roadblocks, and to pinpoint where you can help. Hold a monthly “wellness” visit to gauge satisfaction and strengthen relationships. Meet twice yearly to discuss career development. 
• Be present. In this age of ultimate distraction, commit yourself to giving 100% of your attention, with no phone, email or impeding thoughts, at your next encounter with a colleague. 
• Mute your “inner voice.” People who are distracted by their own imperfections, or someone else’s, have more difficulty connecting with others. 
• Instigate the two-minute rule to boost productivity. If the task takes two minutes or less—for example, responding to an email, proofing a letter or making an appointment—do it immediately.
• Mandate vacations. Americans left a record 768 million vacation days go unused last year, and burnout is on the rise. Go beyond encouraging vacation time—make sure employees have the support and backup they need to take their time away worry-free. 

What’s your super power? Thriving Workplace Initiative’s Start with Strengths is a free, interactive session to help identify your talents and leverage them to accomplish goals, collaborate with others and thrive at work. Learn more and sign up for the Oct. 30 session here.