Whatever your position of leadership or influence at your firm, you have an opportunity to be considering all the many facets that are at play to get the best results out of your team. Wellness is one of those points that many can lose sight of while working through the day-to-day of managing cases, clients, and employees.
Investing in wellness communicates to employees that you care about more than just completing workflows. “We are drawn to leaders and organizations that are good at communicating what they believe. Their ability to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us,” states Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.
Post-pandemic leadership calls for a higher level of awareness for health and wellness in the office setting. This approach is much more micro in that it goes beyond creating a one size fits all wellness plan employees opt-in or out of, but rather a joint effort toward daily wellness.
Is your firm prioritizing wellness properly?
What is your intention for promoting wellness in your firm? Do you see a need for more work-life balance in your team? Are you hoping to raise the level of personal wellness in your team? As an attorney, hoping to bring any form of change to wellness in your office, starting with a why that your entire team can benefit from should be your initial priority.
When discussing her views on prioritizing wellness in the corporate lifestyle, Oprah Winfrey reminds us that “Intention is the why behind the why.” Instead of pushing your team to focus on the task of wellness goal completion, focus them on goals like being more empowered, energetic, and have more clarity. This allows them to design personalized goals while sharing in common goals that are wholly beneficial to the firm’s productivity.
Once you’re able to pin down the why, move on to actionable ways to roll out your plan, engage and inspire your team to understand and adopt these goals.
Redefining wellness in the new normal
Next, move into creating a company committed to wellness that everyone should have on their radar. Your definition of wellness for the company should be something that others can provide input on to allow the definition to evolve with the team and their insights. There’s plenty of space to be creative as you take the lead on prioritizing wellness in your firm. here’s
As companies adopt more wellness-oriented business models, traditional ways of engaging employees must also be included. For example, now more than ever, firms are considering more flexible working environments. If you aren’t already, allowing employees to have more choice in working from home or in-office can positively impact productivity. If you are working with a hybrid or solely virtual employment model, consider tailoring your wellness plan to reflect this.
Here are more wellness tips for law office models in the new normal:
Consistently update staff on health safety protocols
For some, this may be a given post-pandemic, but after being inundated with COVID-19 restrictions and requirements, some teams can overlook the simple daily to-dos of consistent handwashing, hygiene, and social distancing. Even if you have been vaccinated, consistent hygiene practices can prevent other communicable agents from spreading.
It may seem redundant at times to remind your team of these things, but health safety is a top priority when it comes to wellness. Develop health safety memos and templates to keep staff updated and reminded about practices for prevention to make it easier to handle.
Promote consistent self-care
Self-care is one of those broad terms that can be customized to the individual. It can also include activities and hobbies that positively impact our mental, spiritual and physical health. Developing internal communications and team-building exercises surrounding self-care activities like taking a spa day, doing something adventurous like hang-gliding, or activities as simple as spending time with a pet to create an interactive environment around wellness.
As a leader, your self-care routine is the model, and inspiring your team may push you to a higher level of wellness in the process.
Share healthy cooking tips
While everyone’s taste and requirements in food may vary, it’s exactly this aspect that makes sharing healthy recipes and cooking tips a great team engagement strategy. Vary times when sharing not-so-healthy recipes that provide comfort, with those that provide high-value nutrition. Ask individuals to share their favorite recipes, host a potluck, or start a cooking class. Each step-in prioritizing wellness is about making a plan that is your own and allowing your team to shape office wellness culture with their input.
Gamify wellness
Creative competitive activities around wellness can boost the level of engagement in wellness immensely. Some corporate teams do cardio-based challenges where employees compete based on how many steps they walk over a given period. Others make hydration the goal, and award prizes for those who can drink the recommended amount of water each day. Let your team decide what works by bringing them in on the process. Gamifying wellness is all about creating high-impact, highly engaging scenarios for your team.
Create a well-being calendar
This tool is great when you want to make wellness a daily way of life for your team. You can use it to organize scheduled wellness activities as well as informative email blasts and related communications. It’s also space where staff can provide input to lead activities and gather support for new wellness activities. Overall, this is important for wellness plans where you may want to measure your success and do long-term strategic planning. Use this health events calendar to include local and national health and wellness events.
These are a few ways to jumpstart your model for team performance, but gathering input from each member of the team is paramount to increasing adoption and engagement. Simon Sinek adds: “There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it, or you can inspire it.” Approaching wellness with the mindset of an inspirational influencer can help empower your team the way that great leaders do. Use these tips as you seek the next level of commitment, productivity, and focus from your team.
