184.Seasonal Strategies for Team Wellness Engagement | Corporate Wellness

Important links for today's episode:
All of our links: https://www.kathieowen.com/links
Blog post for today including bonus resources and ideas: https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/5-quick-win-corporate-wellness-resources
Control the controlables blog post: https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/controlling-the-controllables


In today's episode:
We discuss five simple, seasonal-themed wellness resources designed to enhance team engagement in corporate settings. It emphasizes the importance of creating a positive company culture and finding quick wins for team members as the year-end approaches.

The video highlights the need for inclusivity in wellness activities and shares personal insights to advocate for a more diverse workplace environment. The five ideas include a mindful minute, weekly walk and talk meetings, a peer recognition wall, stretch and refresh breaks, and end-of-week gratitude reflections.

Each suggestion includes thematic variations for October, November, and December to tailor activities to the season while maintaining inclusivity. The host encourages storytelling, participation options, and consistent engagement in these activities to promote mental well-being and reduce stress during the holiday season.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Seasonal Wellness Resources 
00:39 Building Momentum for the New Year 
01:15 Challenges and Importance of Consistency 
03:31 Inclusivity in Wellness Activities 
07:21 Five Simple Wellness Ideas 
11:46 Seasonal Variations of Wellness Activities 
17:21 Conclusion

Transcript

MacBook Air Microphone & FaceTime HD Camera: 0:00

All right today, we're going to do something special. I'm going to give you five seasonal themed wellness resources to boost team engagement. As we enter the last quarter of the year and the seasons, I'm going to give you ways that your corporate wellness program can immediately insert these into your programs and let's get into it. The power of simple, and these are festive wellness ideas for team engagement. And that's what we're going to give you today. But what's good about all of these is you can pick and choose. And what happens is like a snowball that you build at the top of a mountain. And you're going to roll it down the mountain. It builds momentum. We want to go into the first of the year with this momentum ready to go, especially inside our wellness programs. So we are building this snowball right here at the top. If you're just starting out with a wellness program. These ideas will be simple and easy to start today and at least give your team awareness of what you're kind of working on. Why it matters and why it can be tough. You know, you have limited time and resources. Sometimes these ideas can seem cheesy to some of the team members, but we're going to work on that. And balancing fun and wellness with professionalism can sometimes be a challenge, but consistency is key. I say that all the time on this channel. So, what you really want for your team is you want them to engage in meaningful activities. You know, it's important to incorporate corporate wellness into your team and into your company culture. And you want to create that culture of positivity because you know how it's helped you in your life. And you want to find quick wins for your team so that they go, oh, that's the person I need to go talk to for my wellness initiatives or what I'm trying to accomplish here. And then you want to make sure the team feels connected, appreciated and motivated during a time, the end of the year, which is usually a stressful time or stress could be kind of high. So let's talk about that. I'm going to give you some mistakes to watch out for, especially right after this slide. I'm going to give you one big mistake to watch out for. But we can tend to over-complicate these activities, these activities that I'm going to give you today. All five of them are simple. They take less than five minutes to do and incorporate into your team and into your culture. And you want to communicate the why to the team, why you're doing this. What has helped you, why you want this for your team now? And don't be inconsistent if something doesn't work right, just the first time you want to stay consistent. Being consistent and taking consistent action. Matters. And your last mistake you want to watch out for is assuming a one size fits all. And let's talk about that right now. So you want to ensure your wellness activities are inclusive and welcome to everyone. I was diagnosed with complex post traumatic stress disorder back in 2006, I am a survivor of it, but what happened with me inside a culture that I worked for is they promoted Christmas during the holiday season and during the holiday season, They play Christmas carols on the music system throughout the entire building all the time. Well, there were songs that actually triggered my PTSD. Because I had bad memories of when my kids were little and this song would come out and they did all these cute things, but it triggered bad memories of. Just painful actions that happened and was not good for my mental health. At first, I had to learn how to deal with this, but they had these songs blasting everywhere. Another way that doesn't include everyone. When it comes to holidays. As I've worked with people who do not celebrate Christmas, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving. They do not celebrate their certain holidays. And you are excluding that culture inside your community. If you're going Christmas, it has to be Christmas. And actually there will be events where. It would be Thanksgiving and these team members could not come to this event because it specifically said Thanksgiving. And nobody took that into account and took into account that these people were left out. And this is something important as a wellness director, you want to be able to include everyone. So I gave you some ideas on how to make sure your wellness initiatives during the, this time of year during this seasonal time of year is inclusive. First of all, you want to frame activities around seasons. Seasons and themes, not specific holidays. When we frame these activities around seasons, it includes everybody because it's just that time of year. But I have to shout out to my Australian people or people who are in the Southern hemisphere of the world, where they do not have fall right now. They are actually in spring. Yeah. It blows my mind. We want to remember that as well, but you could still include these types of things because they are going through the same type of holidays. It's end of year it's that type of thing. And we want to be ready for January when everybody wants to get involved in wellness initiatives. And you want to provide options for participation. You want to let them choose if they want to participate in this or not. And don't let them feel excluded if they don't want to participate. And you want to create alternative names and options for activities, especially to make sure you're including everyone. And you want to encourage a personalized, your participation approach. What does that mean? That means that that person, every person has individual values, individual strengths, individual weaknesses, and they may want to personalize their participation. They may want to take part in your stretching program, but they don't want to call it, um, a Christmas stretch or a Santa stretch. Well, you. Ask them to personalize it at to whatever their participation would involved. And then always, always, always invite feedback and acknowledge diverse preferences. All right. Let's get into the five ideas and the five ways we can invite participation. Number one a mindful minute. What is it? You want to encourage teams to take a one minute of mindfulness each day before meetings? Or at the start of their Workday, how do we do it? We provide simple breathing exercises or a gratitude prompt for the team to focus on one minute. This is a quick way to decrease stress and improve focus. Especially as they head into the busy holiday season, And why the mindful minute matters. It helps to improve mental health. It helps to reduce stress, especially during the holiday season when deadlines and workloads can be high and time and family. So we want to balance the work life. Especially during this time of year. Number two weekly walk and talk meetings. This has kind of taken off, especially in corporate wellness where you could start a meeting with a quick walk around and you could also incorporate walking and talking meetings so that you're getting movement into your day. And just having this little idea here, it kind of gives you a spark to show you, Hey, we care about your wellness. We don't want you sitting all day. We want you to start walking and talking and communicating with each other. Suggest converting one weekly meeting into a walk and talk session, either outside or around the office and encourage participants to use a walking route, either inside or outside, and they can discuss their weekly goals, updates, and even brainstorm ideas. Why we want to do this. It's a great way to introduce physical activity into the day without needing extra time and then fresh air and movement can improve creativity and reduce stress. And number three, appear recognition wall. What is it create either a virtual or a physical wall of recognition where team members can leave notes to recognize their peers hard work and small wins. How to do it. We use a shared online document or an app like Trello or a physical wall in the break room to start the recognition wall, encouraging shout outs, builds morale and community support. And why. Employee recognition is a key to engagement and will help uplift the team as they work through their busiest part of the year. Number four stretch and refresh breaks. What is it? Encourage daily five minutes, stretch breaks for the whole team. How to do it, share a simple list of stretches that can be done at the desk or in a common area. You can also use free YouTube videos tailored for quick office friendly exercises. And why it matters. These breaks help alleviate tension, improve posture. And refresh energy levels. Perfect for those long work hours and the end of year hustle. Number five end of week gratitude reflection. What is it suggests ending each week with a five minute gratitude reflection? How do we do it? We ask team members to write down three things they were grateful for during the week. This can be personal or work related. And shared on a voluntary basis. Why it matters gratitude practices have been shown to improve mood and wellbeing. Helping employees reflect on the positive as they navigate the busy season. One thing I want to state here real quick is all of these incorporate storytelling. Storytelling is a powerful way to communicate, to communicate your values, to communicate your culture, to communicate what you believe in, and also start opening the door to higher communication at work and higher encouragement, higher team engagement. And that's what we're looking for. Number one is a mindful minute. In October, we could do a spooky, mindful minute by encouraging the team to focus on letting go of things that haunt their productivity. Yeah. Letting go. It's so important, and this is a great way to start incorporating how to let go of things that don't matter, you know, control the controllables, that type of thing. A thankful minute. I thankful mindful minute in November where the focus is on reflecting on something or someone they are grateful for in their work or their personal life. Again. Imagine the stories that could be told. And then in December we can do a joyful minute where participants focus on intention or wish for the season. Like spreading kindness or feeling peace and joy. Number two weekly walk and talk meetings. In October, you can turn your walk into a pumpkin walk. You can get so creative with this. She could have pumpkins outside, lined up for the walk, the opportunities are endless. In November, you could make it a gratitude stroll while walking each person can share something. They're thankful for about a colleague or the team as a whole and having gratitude. This can also spark big time storytelling. And jingle bell walk, provide everyone with a bell to carry or add a virtual bell sound for remote teams, ask each participant to share their favorite holiday tradition, or even how they celebrate again. Can you imagine the stories that could be told it's just. So exciting. Number three peer recognition wall. In October, you could make it a Boo board where employees leave, you've been booed notes for one another, complimenting their work or acts of kindness. You could put that in there and then just imagine the recognition that they would feel and how rewarding that would be. In November, you could create a thankful tree where each recognition is written on a leaf and added to a tree, either virtual or physical by the end of November, you'll have a beautiful tree full of leaves of gratitude. And December, you could do a gift of gratitude wall where notes of recognition. Our gifts left for team members under a virtual or physical tree. Each note can be shaped like a gift, an ornament, or a candy cane. Again, please remember to be inclusive and diversity. And let people think of ways that they may want to, participate in this again, to go back to the participation. So if somebody doesn't want to leave a gift under a tree, you could hang it on a wall and it could be their own drawing with what they want to say and how they want to do it. But recognition and peer recognition is so helpful, especially as. Uh, CEO, you're going to see who your strong peers are inside the workforce. That's a great way to find your leaders and those who can train others to be more like them. Number four stretch and refresh breaks. We all know this needs to take place inside the workplace. Especially if you sit all day. And October you could call it the monster mash stretch, where everyone does a quick stretch to the time. To the tune of a Halloween song like monster mash or thriller have fun with spooky theme stretches like zombie arms. Or witch's broom twists. In November, you can call it the Turkey trot break, encouraged light movement and stretches that focus on gratitude for the body. Like a wing flap stretch arm circles. Or Turkey, neck rolls to relax tension. And then in December you could do a jingle stretch, you know, teach simple stretches, like reindeer reaches, stretching arms did the sky or Santa's sleigh side bends and then the end of week gratitude and reflection. Reflecting on your week and your time is a great habit to get into because you can celebrate your wins. You can see what you did. You can also. Celebrate the challenges that you may have overcome. In October, you could do a trick or treat reflection, encourage team members to write down one, treat something good that happened. And one trick a challenge that they overcame for the week. In November, you could do a cornucopia of gratitude. Each person can add something they're thankful for, to the cornucopia, either a real basket at the office or shared virtual space. By the end of the month, you'll have a cornucopia of thankfulness. And then in December you could do 12 days of gratitude for the first 12 days team members can share one thing they're grateful for each day. And it's just simple. Remember, these are all simple. Keep it simple, silly the kiss acronym. I love that. And when you keep it simple, it's easy and it's easy to implement. So. At the end of this, I'd like for you to share your wins, either inside the Facebook group that we have on employee excellence in wellness, or you could share it with me on email, you could follow me on social media and leave it in your DMS. And remember we are corporate wellnesss consultants who help corporate executives build engagement through top workplace wellness programs. And we are here for you to share your wins. All the time on your corporate wellness programs. All right. That's my video for today. I trust that you found it helpful. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please share it with them. And until next time I will see you next time, peace out and Namaste Bing!