Five to Thrive Week 14

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:

• Spread enthusiasm—it can be contagious. Your actions and attitude reflect your level of engagement and inspire others to follow suit. Put it on display early and often.
• Flip the 3 p.m. slump. Go for a walk, even if it’s around the building, to get away from your computer; meet with your team to brainstorm or problem-solve; or jump-start your brain with a mechanical task, like making a list for the next day.
• Need help? Ask, but in the right way: in-person, and specific. Does the person have the right skill set and the time to pitch in?
• Praise in public, critique in private.
• Help an employee plan for the future by talking regularly about their professional goals. Provide focused work opportunities and projects so they can grow. Make professional development opportunities, like workshops and classes, part of every employee’s PRD.

Want more tips for building a thriving workplace? We’ve mapped it out for you. Check out the UMD Thriver Map, which profiles success stories right here at UMD and offers ideas you can apply today.