Crunch Time: How to Keep Your Team Healthy and Productive
When a deadline is looming overhead like a terrible raincloud, there is nothing else to do but go into crunch time. This often means that you and your team pour over their work, go through dinner, and even rack up overtime just to meet that deadline. As the manager, it is your duty to help support your team emotionally, physically, and productively. This means ordering in food, bringing in supplies, and even working on different tasks to get the job done to the best of everyone’s ability.
If this is your first time managing a team during such crucial hours, follow this guide to keep everyone healthy and productive:
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Find a Productive Working Space
If everyone on your team needs to work in their own cubicles and not necessarily near each other, then you have a problem. A team needs to be able to communicate clearly and quickly, which means you need to find them a great place to hunker down and get things done. Book the meeting room, or even find a coworking space with an available room so that they can get in the zone without the distraction from other teams.
photo/ Patrick Neufelder
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Order Food
You will want a few different types of food. Having a vast collection of fruits to snack on is a great choice, but you are also going to want to find some soul food that loads up the calories and gives your team some comfort (and energy) to continue working. Opt for a place where your employees can customize each meal without too much fuss, like nedsnoodlebar.com, for the best results.
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Use Light Therapy
Light therapy uses white balance correction to improve the lighting and productivity of your team. It works by changing the shade to best suit the time of day, and many phones now offer this feature. The goal is to keep minds alert without glare causing headaches.
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Use Music Therapy
Music can greatly impact mood, productivity, and wellbeing. It has been used for decades, if not centuries, to help people moderate how they feel. By creating a playlist or choosing a pre-existing one, you can help keep your employees calm or help them work faster. Just remember to use the high-energy music sparingly so that they can conserve their energy and work more diligently towards the deadline. You don’t want anyone to burn out too quickly.
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
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Schedule Breaks
No matter how much you wish they could, or even how much they insist they can, no one can work well without a break. To get the most out of the break, choose a great place for everyone to go and relax (or even take a nap). In the summer, this is going to be outside in a park. Nature is proven to help people calm down and has a mood-boosting effect. During winter, the best place to go is where any sunlight is available, and if that is not an option, then a well-lit break room.
Crunch time happens every once in a while, and the best way to get through it is by caring for the health and mental wellbeing of your employees. They work hard for you, but their bodies should never give out in the effort. Care for them, support them, and work with them for the best results.
Author: Carol Trehearn
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