With Blue Monday come and gone, it’s time to reframe Mondays as a restart to a fresh week.
In an ideal scenario, we would all look forward to this day with eager anticipation, but the sense of dread seems to creep up come Sunday night, even on the happiest of employees.
So how can we fight off the ‘Sunday Scaries’ and motivate our teams to strive for a productive and less daunting Monday morning? Consider these tips to motivate employees and help frame an energized start to the week:
- Schedule a ‘wrap-up’ hour. Allow employees one hour to reacquaint themselves with their inbox and wrap up any loose ends from the prior week. Be sure to mute Slack or other messaging platforms during this hour for full concentration.
- Encourage employees to form the habit of jotting down their thoughts before parting on Friday. This will allow for a clear mind over the weekend. Lead by example (of course!) and mention this practice during on-boarding!
- If a weekly phone call or email can help structure the week ahead in lieu of a meeting, remain flexible with employees and book in 5 minutes slots for optimal productivity.
- During quarterly or monthly check-ins, ask employees to suggest ideas for team activities, outings or brunch or lunch spots they’d love to try. Implement these ideas monthly or bi-weekly depending on the size of your team.
- Consider hosting a team exchange of sweet treats or healthy goodies on Monday mornings.
- As the weather warms up, consider shortening Fridays by an hour. Have a large team? Alternate weeks and let teams decide amongst themselves. This will allow employees to feel the perks of the warmer months and to come back to Monday, refreshed and energized!
- Get to know your employees and genuinely show interest in what they express as their talents, hobbies, or extracurriculars. This will raise morale and improve relationships over time.
Rather than masquerading the dread of a new week, leaders must work to motivate and enhance performance at the office. This may require open discussions and suggestions from employees. It will benefit every company to have a welcoming work environment and a strong team, especially one with lower turnover rates and higher morale.