Building Better Teams: April Edition
Source: Mason Dahl on Unsplash
This month at The Good Camp, it’s Earth Day – Month! We’re focusing on how we can reduce consumption and help the environment all month long. Like always, we have a challenge going to log our efforts, and while it’s a competition, the collective impact we make is what counts. Our team takes our monthly themes seriously, it’s an intention and centerpiece for our blogs, content and way of working. Join us and share how you’re celebrating with #thegoodearthday. We put our conscious focus as #1 which allows us to serve our clients, team and community best!
In addition, this month also has themes very important to investing in people and as a conscious brand and business, we have some great ideas for you to engage with. Remember to be responsible and commit to living your values and lifestyle for the good of humanity.
Conscious Intentions
While committing to building a better, more conscious and sustainable team each month, it is important to take time to set goals, intentions and reflect. Your intentions and thoughts become the way you live your life and guide your business.
According to Professor Leslie Riopel in Positive Psychology, the benefits of goal setting include:
Increased persistent effort
Motivation to develop strategies
Satisfaction from accomplishing goals
Mental health and goal setting are also connected and Riopel mentions one study where results demonstrated a causal relationship between goal setting and well-being. This means that by encouraging your team members to set goals, you’re empowering them to take control of their projects and make a difference. As a conscious team, you should always be setting goals that make a positive social impact – business is not just about checking tasks off a list but rather how projects are completed and relationships are nurtured.
We encourage your team to take these three steps this month:
Set a daily intention for mindset, personal investment or team impact
Set weekly professional goals for business progress and conscious improvements
Set up a group time to reflect on how intentions were realized and goals were met or were not – why and how did your team do what they did?
Keeping a journal throughout the month is another great way to track progress and to reference in future discussions.
P.S. If you’re looking for a simple team gift, consider an ethically made journal from one of these brands:
Source: Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash
Spring Cleaning
While you’re reflecting, this month is also a great time to invest in spring cleaning for your physical, digital and mental spaces. Oftentimes, people think of clutter as the untidy physical things in their life but it is also a large source of stress. Dr. Kristen Fuller shares on Verywell Mind that clutter can impact our mental health by making it difficult to concentrate and contributing to stress and low energy. Welcome to April – Stress Awareness Month!
As you take inventory of the things in your life that are not bringing you a sense of purpose or satisfaction, ask yourself why you are hanging onto these things, unnecessary files or negative emotions. Arrange your spaces to support your goals and allow you to be productive and peaceful. When you’re getting rid of physical things, think about recycling – your customers will be proud! To remove your mental clutter, Dr. Fuller recommends a digital detox by investing in positive relationships and making healthy lifestyle decisions.
Doing a little daily cleaning in all life spaces will keep you on the right path and is especially helpful for us when working from home, too.
What’s Going On In April?
National Months
As a conscious brand, here are a few monthly themes you may relate to. It’s World Autism Awareness Month, Stress Awareness Month, National Humor Month (starting April Fools Day!) and Move More Month. For an environmentally focused month, it’s National Garden Month and to celebrate animals, it’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month – a great time to learn what it means for a company to be Leaping Bunny Certified. For your worker bees, appreciate your interns with the aid of National Internship Awareness Month!
National Days
Have some fun at work this April 1 and keep that energy up through International Dance Day on April 29. Practice self-care and encourage your team to do the same on April 7 – both World Health Day and National Walking Day. Did you know the World Health Day theme changes annually? This year the WHO invites us all to join in building a fairer, healthier world. Go on a trash collection walk on Earth Day, April 22, or plant a tree on Arbor Day to end the month. Whatever you do, involve your consumers and fans. Share what you’re up to and encourage them to join in.
More Ideas
Do you remember spirit weeks from high school? April has two great weeks to engage your team. The first week of the month is Laugh at Work Week. Let’s set some daily meme sharing quotas, encourage respectful pranks or encourage wearing wacky socks all week long. Remember that everyone has a different sense of humor and the priority is always your team's integrity and safety. The third week, open the doors and give a day or several hours for your team to serve the community for National Volunteer Week. Even better, organize a volunteer event externally or write letters for a cause together!
April Conscious Business Calendar created with Canva
Team Challenge Ideas
Now – drumroll, please – our April challenge ideas for you! Figure out what days, themes and weeks are most relevant to your team, business and consumers. Use that direction to guide what activities you select. What does your team need? Where can you shine light? Congratulations on living your commitment to sustainability and conscious consumption!
Building better businesses starts with building better teams. Let your passion for improving the world guide the way you work and operate. Empower, support and inspire the people around you. When you make work fun and show care, the impact extends into all your team does in and out of the office. Thank you for your effort and be sure to tag us on social media with the challenges you choose!
#thegoodcamp #buildingbetterteams
