Five to Thrive Week 7

UMD’s Thriving Workplace Initiative (TWI) 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:

• Salvage your inbox and email etiquette with the R-A-P method: Respond (if it takes less than two minutes to respond, do it immediately). Acknowledge (even if you don’t know the answer yet, the recipient deserves the courtesy). Postpone (when you need time to review or think. Consider using a tool like Boomerang, which will “resend” emails to you at a time you choose).
   
• Say good bye to your co-workers at the end of the day. It’s another way of checking in.
   
• Home-grow the next generation of leaders through in-house or campus mentorship opportunities. You can also build professional development into the PRD and ensure your team has access to lectures, workshops and other ways to add to their toolbox.
   
• Recognize hard work, even when it’s expected. All work involves care, skill and commitment; make sure they know you see that.
   
• Underwater at work? Don’t be afraid to ask for a sanity check with your boss or colleagues. Calling a “time out” or asking for help is not a sign of weakness; rather it’s insurance that the job is done well.

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