Hello, everyone welcome to Helping Your Team Find Work Life Balance During Stressful Times. This is an educational presentation that's part of the 2021 Dear Oaks supervisor excellence webinars series. The subtitle this year of course, is Supporting Your Team During Difficult Times.

And this is the third and our fourth part series this year. Before we get started, I want to make sure that everyone's technology is working. And so if you can hear my voice clearly and see the slides clearly could you please raise-- click on the Raise Hand icon in the GoToWebinar software in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

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All right, so stress levels here in 2021 have obviously been much higher for most of us. And perhaps as bad as they've ever been in our world. Gallup the polling company that most of us are pretty familiar with they put out an article last week just about the extremely high levels of stress we're experiencing here during the pandemic and that kind of reinforce what other reports have talked about as this is one of the more stressful times that people have over been many people have ever experienced.

And so-- and a lot of that even coming into the pandemic in 2020 the pace of life has become more and more fast paced and frenetic for a lot of individuals and a lot of that's driven by technology, we've had a lot of economy challenges or challenges due to the economy in recent years. And now of course, since the beginning of 2020 we've got this global pandemic that's really having an impact.

And it's created a lot of change and stress in people's lives. Obviously, when there's a lot of change in our lives and we've had to adjust make a lot of adjustments most of us in our personal and professional lives throughout the pandemic. Individuals have just experienced higher our stress levels. And not to mention the stress of keeping themselves and their families safe and so.

Now, that's on top of day to day stress that everyone deals with, right? Paying our bills, keeping our home lives and our work lives in balance, meeting our deadlines. And so most of you would probably agree we're living in pretty stressful times.

And so as leaders of organizations, right? As supervisors and managers most of us I of course, recognize that supporting our staff, supporting our employees, holistically supporting them in getting their work done, supporting them in being healthy and being effective creating environments where people can thrive and then be as healthy and productive as possible. That's a core part of every leader's responsibility.

And so, that's what I want to talk to you about today. I want to talk to you about four different approaches that we can use to really support our employees and taking care of themselves and keeping their lives in balance and keeping their stress under control so they can be healthy and happy and productive.

So part 1, I'm going to give you an overview. Part 1 is communicating that the staff's well-being is a priority for you that's important. Part 2 is supporting our employees and living a more balanced life. Part 3 is encourage our staff members to continue to be effective in their planning.

A lot of work life balance start and help people plan day to day and week to week. And last but not least part 4 is how we can encourage people to do a good job of proactively managing their stress.

All right, so let's start at the beginning folks. So let's talk about communicating to the staff that their well-being is a priority for you and for the organization. This is important. And to me, it starts with spending time with our employees.

And many of you probably know that there's a lot of research about employee engagement. One of the drivers of employee engagement for a lot of employees is knowing that their supervisor cares about them as a person. Not just what we can do for them as employees, but when our supervisor cares about us as a human being, cares about what's important to us, cares about our well-being, cares about our families.

So when supervisors spend time with their employees and just demonstrate care and compassion. That we really we're here for you, we support you, we're here for you, I care about, I care about your well-being. When we do that, employees are naturally going to feel more motivated and more likely to get engaged and do their best work.

And so-- and it starts with spending time and I know we all that. But supervisors it's easier said than done. Supervisors are busy people. Every supervisor I've ever met and I've been a supervisor now for 28 years every supervisor I've ever met has been a pretty busy person.

Because think about that. Just the number of tasks on someone's to-do list. When you're a supervisor, you have your own tasks and projects to do because most supervisors and managers right are working supervisors and managers they're not just sitting in an office managing people they have their own tasks and projects to complete.

And then we're also responsible for making sure that everyone that we supervise is getting their work done. Getting their tasks and projects done. Done well, done on time.

And so there's-- the most supervisors and managers have pretty long to do lists. And so it's real easy to be focused to be task focused as a supervisor and spend a lot of time on our own to do list and not be as people focused. Not spend as much time with people.

And this is a big mistake I made earlier in my professional career. Early on when I was supervising my first couple of teams, as I was adjusting to the workload of being a supervisor and the responsibilities I spent way too much time focused on my to do list and I wasn't spending enough time meeting with and interacting with my staff. I mean certainly I was responsive to them if they came looking for me. But I wasn't proactive enough to regularly be spending time with people.

And think about this, when you're in a supervisory role or a management position there's nothing more important that we can do than to spend time with our staff. Coaching, training, motivating, encouraging, providing recognition just being there for them. Supporting them. And so we need to make sure that that's a priority.

And as we interact with people we need to show interest in what's important to them. Not just professionally, but personally. It's important to get to your staff day to day. Find out what's important to them, find out what's important to them and their lives in general.

I mean it's like getting to any acquaintance. I think is just really important again that you ask people what's important to them. And find out about their background, find about their story, what their interests are. If they start to talk about family take an interest in their family, if they start to talk about hobbies or career goals take an interest in those. And so I think that's really key.

But I think we need to do it proactively at least I recommend we do it more proactively. And I'm going to give you a couple of strategies here in a moment. But again, day to day from a priority standpoint we-- every supervisor has a long to do list we need to make spending time with our employees at least as important as getting our own tasks and projects completed.

And here are some of the tips I wanted to share to get more involved with your staff is to proactively provide support. So regularly check in with them. I'm a big advocate of regularly scheduled one on one meetings. I meet with my direct reports regularly. I do one on one meetings, my boss meets regularly with me and does this one on one touch base meetings.

And there's research from Gallup that again, the polling company that says that, employees who are meeting regularly with their boss one on one. There's no-- there was nothing in that study about if it has to be weekly or biweekly, but it just said regularly schedule one on one meetings with their supervisor are typically those employees are typically three times as motivated as those that don't.

There's something about having standing dedicated time-- standing appointments and dedicated time with your boss that is engaging, that makes you feel like you've got regular support. Makes you feel connected to your boss. And folks as you're-- during those one on one meetings-- so that's one of my top recommendations to any supervisor, managers have scheduled one on one meetings.

I get so much done in those. And don't just be talking about business when you're in those conversations certainly you're going to talk about priorities and ask for progress updates on projects that are in process or talk about tasks that you need to assign moving forward certainly that's going to be a part of it. But make sure you also spend a little bit of time at the beginning of those meetings. Touching base with your employees, asking what's asking them about what's important to them, asking about their lives and how they're doing

My boss does a great job with that. I mean she asked me on a regular basis when we meet. How's your family? How are your grandchildren? How is your weekend?

How's your daughter? Say hi to your wife for me. She's just very-- she's taken an interest. And I worked for her for a long time. And I really enjoy working for her. She takes an interest in my life. That makes me feel cared about.

And it really does enhance my motivation to do great-- to do my best work for her. And for our organization because I feel cared about. And so that's an important piece. But along those lines be mindful when you're touching base with your employees, be mindful of their stress levels.

Be observant about their satisfaction. Are they happy? Are they enjoying their work and monitor their workload.

And if you sense that they're feeling overwhelmed or they're feeling stress be quick to offer support. Is there anything I can do to help you. I was talking to one of my direct reports a little while ago she was getting ready to go on vacation and I said to her, "Is there anything else I can do to help you or what else can I do to help you as you're getting ready to go off on vacation.''

I think that's important to remember to do folks. And that goes a long way with your staff to help them to feel supported. And we also of course, want to-- just in general for your entire team to continually work to create a positive workplace environment.

So make team building and the quality of employee relationships important. And what I mean by that is a lot of times individual employees won't necessarily bond you everyone's off doing their own thing and everyone has their own agenda, but a good leader tends to have regular team meetings and creates an environment where the team can connect with each other and learn to care about each other.

We do in our biweekly team meetings, we do icebreakers, where we go around the room in the virtual room, and we have virtual meetings nowadays, like many teams do. And we talk about what's important to us, or we pick a subject for each meeting, and we go around the room and people get to weigh in on that subject. Like for example, an ice breaker could be something like talk about the best concert you've ever been to and why. Or another one we did recently is, if you were talking-- if you were giving advice to your 18-year-old self, now that you're older and further along in your career, what would that advice be?

So we just spend time getting to each other in those team meetings. It's really bonded us together and given us more a team or a work family environment that's really comfortable. So make sure that part of what you're doing for your team because there's lots of research that says, ''When people feel like they're on a team where they have a sense of belonging and they're cared about by their colleagues they're motivated to do their best work.''

The next part I want to talk about today is support your employees in living a balanced life. And so obviously we can get through a lot in life if we have balance. I mean certainly there are times when we're real busy. And we've got-- we have a lot on our to-do list, and we've got deadlines, and we're doing a lot of work. And that's fine and most people are pretty resilient and they can get through tough times when they're pretty busy as long as they keep their lives in balance. This is the key folks.

We tend to burn out or tend to get out of balance. If we're doing too much work without taking time for leisure activities or you doing things that are fun to keep our lives in balance. Like I'll give you a great example as much as I love doing webinars there was a time a couple of months ago and I had five webinars scheduled in a day. And even as much as I love teaching like I love hopefully that comes across in these sessions. Having five in a day was a lot and I was by the time I got to the fourth or fifth when I was exhausted.

And what would help me to get through that was when I touched base with my wife that day in the middle of the day. And I was telling her I'm really exhausted today I've got webinars and she says, "Well honey you what? Just got two more to go, three down you got two more to go just hang in there because tonight we're going to-- right after dinner we're going to go into our room and we're going to watch-- we're going to binge watch one of our favorite shows.''

And that-- I love that she did that for me that day because that planning that leisure activity with my wife who's my best friend for that evening helped me get through the rest of that day, right? Because I knew I had something to look forward to that was balance and It was fun?

And folks you need to make sure you're doing that. Make sure especially during busy periods that you're planning in the evening some downtime, some rest and relaxation or leisure time to recharge the batteries. Spending time with people care about not thinking about work or other responsibilities, but really enjoying life a little bit.

And on the weekends. A lot of busy professional stay really busy on the weekends with their families, and doing chores, and running errands. Ensure those things have to get done. But make sure you also are proactively. Planning balance for your life and as a supervisor model a balanced life for your employees.

Show your employees that you value balance and I verbalize it. I've got one particular employee that tends to work a lot on the weekends. I see emails from her on the weekends and I'll say to her on a Friday afternoon if we're doing a touch base meeting or a one on one meeting I say to her, "Hey, you're going to get some downtime this weekend and then I really-- as much as I appreciate your hard work.'' She has a really hard worker. "I want to make sure that you're taking care of yourself I don't want you to burn out. We really value you.''

And so I verbalized to her that I wanted to keep her alive in balance. But modeling is a big part of it. Demonstrate to people that you take your breaks, that you take your lunch break. If the staff sees you working through lunch every day and this was a mistake I was making too much 20 years ago it almost sends the message to the staff that you value just constant work. And that you're not-- and because you're not taking care of yourself they'll be less likely to take care of themselves.

And so encourage people to-- first of all, take your lunch breaks leave work at a reasonable time and help so the people can see that you value balance. And encourage others to take their lunch breaks and leave work at a reasonable time. And make sure they're not working every weekend and like I mentioned in my example a moment ago.

And then pace yourself. Show your employees that it is important to pace yourself to recharge your batteries, to take time for meaningful conversations. I like to visit with my staff members during the week.

When we're talking on the phone and we'll talk about-- I know who everybody's favorite football team is, I know how many children they have. And I'll ask them questions about things I they're interested in during the week. I'll take time to have those conversations so I want them to that not only am I interested in them, but that it's OK to be human beings. To not just be all work but to enjoy our time together as colleagues. And so make sure that's part of pacing yourself.

And also demonstrate an interest in wellness activities and exercise. My team knows that I coach ice hockey. That I'm on the ice 10 or 12 hours a week.

And I've told people-- I mean, I've tried to model that. I've told people on my team that the last time I went did a physical the doctor was saying, "You've got-- even though I recently turned 60 the doctor said you've got the blood pressure and the resting heart rate of a high school athlete and he says what's your secret?'' And it's exercise. And so I try to model that for my colleagues and encourage that they take care of themselves as well.

And then another important part of encouraging a healthy work life balance is make sure that the workplace that you facilitate for your team, a workplace that's comfortable for people. And so an office or an online environment that's conducive to a balanced lifestyle to again, encourage people to when they get together that you don't just get right down to business that you start with a little bit of fun, do some team building activities. We've done that regularly here at Deer Oaks.

Provide opportunities for people. If you're in the office encourage use of the breakroom. Encourage people to give out and take a walk on a nice day.

But even when people are working virtually encourage people to take care of themselves. During your team meetings encourage bonding and fun. I mean, that's an important part of encouraging a healthy lifestyle and encouraging a comfortable workplace environment for everybody.

And then make sure your management style is not too directive or too much or too much of a micromanaging approach. Make sure you're not overly critical as well. And it's funny the new research shows that because life is so hard nowadays and people are dealing with higher levels of stress again than perhaps ever before that we should be giving people four or five positives for every one constructive critique.

I thought that's really interesting. And this is new research that's saying that the world really has become more challenging. People are more stressed, people are struggling more than perhaps ever before and they need leaders that are going to be encouraging and uplifting and supportive and providing recognition and showing appreciation. So try not to be overly critical or try not to be too hands on and too much of a micromanager.

And then also encourage your staff to unplug from technology. I encourage people to not over work on the weekend. And typically what I'll do-- unless I'm on a deadline. Typically what I'll do on the weekends because I might come in go out to my home office a little bit on the weekend and catch up a little bit. But I try very diligently to not send any emails to anybody and staff.

I'll save emails as a draft and send them out Monday morning. Because I don't want people to feel compelled if they get an email from me on a Sunday morning. I don't want them to feel compelled that they have to look at that.

And so it's important to make sure that you model and encourage staff to unplug from their technology over the weekend. So that they can get some downtime and recharge, rest and recharge the battery

All right, next is encourage effective daily planning. And this is something that a lot of supervisors don't have specific conversations with their staff members about. And I think part of it is we assume that when people are professionals that they how to manage their time. But folks that's not necessarily true. A lot of professionals are not good at time management.

I mean they work hard, right? And they're dedicated and they're trying to get their jobs done. But they may be overcommitting like trying to get too many things done on a day or over scheduling meetings where they'll schedule themselves back to back to back to back, which and then feel overwhelmed and rushed throughout that day.

One of the very best time management seminars I ever went to talked about making sure not to overcommit. Zig Ziglar the motivational speaker some of you might remember. He was wonderful about time management he really talked about.

He said that most people are trying to get too much done in a day. And he said they'll have a to do list of 10 or 15 or more things to try. And they're trying to get as much done as possible so they take the volume approach to planning and time management. And he said no he said that's a mistake. You're setting yourself up because no one can get 10 to 15 things done in a day. It's not it's not humanly possible.

And if you cross one thing off, you go to your email inbox and you add two more. So what Ziglar was saying was be realistic. Take your to do list at the beginning of every day and circle the three to five things that have to get done that day. And focus on that smaller, more achievable list that helps you feel less stressed and less rushed throughout the day. And because of that, you'll feel more accomplished. When you get to the end of the day, it's a lot easier to get three to five things than it is to get 10 to 15 think things done.

And folks that's exactly what I was doing back in the day. I was overwhelmed I was always trying to get too much done. I made the mistake of thinking activity was more important than productivity. So I took the volume approach, I was trying to get more done rather than working-- I was working harder rather than smarter.

And as I learned how to by getting training like this. As I learned how to be more-- to prioritize and work on a smaller, more achievable list not only was I less rushed throughout the day. But I was more successful I got more done. And the quality of my work improved. I shifted from quantity approach to a more of a quality approach.

And another way to keep your life in balance is encourage employees to protect their prime work hours. If there's a certain time of day when they are most productive like for me it's like 7:30 to 9:30 in the morning I'm truly a morning person I'm usually up by 5:30 sometimes earlier. And so I like to get out to my desk early and then I try to protect those prime work hours.

And so encourage your staff members to do that. Ask questions like, what's your most productive hours of the day? And give them permission to not schedule meetings during that time or if it's an online program where people know if people are in the office or whatever and they can do instant messaging that they can mark themselves out during those times. So that they can work on their most important tasks and projects.

And so again encouraging good time management I think is really important. And again many supervisors are not having this conversation with their teams. I think it's important conversation to have. Not on a regular basis, but once in a while. Just have general conversations about daily planning and time management with the goal of helping your employees have a more healthier pace and a more achievable daily plan. And monitor their workload so they don't feel so overwhelmed.

Ask people what's your time management approach? And the only reason I'm asking is I want to support you. Because I do think the way we plan our time is an important part of how we manage our days and how we keep our stress level under control. And do it in a non critical way but do it as a support.

And encourage employees again during the day to take care of themselves. Take walks, go outside when it's nice outside. Visit with their colleagues and stay connected to their colleagues take their lunch breaks.

Particularly if you notice that people seem to be overworking or working through lunch all the time. Or you see emails from them you 9 o'clock at night or 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon. Just follow up with employees to encourage them say, "Hey I appreciate your hard work but I really want to make sure that you're also taking care of yourself and enjoying your downtime too.''

All right, last but not least encourage people to proactively manage their stress. I think it's important to remember folks, that we are living in a very stressful time. This global pandemic has really increased people's stress levels a lot. We've had a lot more change in our lives which is stressful. All the pressure to stay safe and healthy and so.

First of all lead by example. Again model it. Modeling is powerful. What we do is more powerful oftentimes than what we say.

So employees need to see that we stay calm under pressure. That we when there's problems or situations going on or issues that we have to deal with that we're staying calm. That we're being encouraging like well, "OK I realize that this is difficult, but we'll get through this. We'll figure it out together. It's not the end of the world. We'll handle it.''

So make sure they see us staying calm under pressure and then take care of your own health like I mentioned, make sure you're exercising you're getting enough sleep. And then remind people to manage their stress. They are aware of employee stress levels.

I ask people, how are you doing? How's your workload? I mean how are you feeling from a stress standpoint? Are you feeling like your stress levels manageable?

And a lot of times supervisors don't go here. They just don't have those conversations. I think they're healthy conversations to have. Because this is an important part of productivity right is that, for people to feel supported and for you to provide some coaching and some tips and some modeling around, taking care of themselves and keeping their lives in balance. And remind people I like I do with my colleague I mentioned earlier on a Friday I'll say to her, "You guys have some fun planned for this weekend.''

And I will remind her that I'll go into a weekend and say, "Well, you're going to be able to not have to work this weekend? I hope not, because I want you to-- I mean I appreciate you and I appreciate how hard you work and I hope you'll be able to have some good family time this weekend.'' So I'm always encouraging that. Especially with particular people that you know have a tendency to work through lunch a lot or work on the weekends.

All right, folks we covered a lot in a very short period of time. And I'm glad to have this conversation with you. This is one of those conversations that I think is important that a lot of supervisors and managers don't spend a lot of time in.

But let me open it up for questions. If you have any questions we had a great turnout today. So I'll get to as many questions as we can this afternoon. So if you have any questions, please type them into the question box in the GoToWebinar software in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

While you're thinking about potential questions. I do want to remind all of you that every one of you on the call today your organization has Deer Oaks as their EAP program. Your Employee Assistance Program and so we provide for your employees, for you and your family members we provide free counseling sessions and other work life services. Our consultants will do searches to help you find home contractors or daycare centers or whatever is on your to do list.

We also have financial consultants that can provide unlimited telephonic financial consultations. About almost anything to do with money you're saving for retirement, budgeting, improving credit scores. So you had these great resources available to you through Deer Oaks.

All of your organizations or many of your organizations will have a different toll free number but Deer Oaks provides to every client a toll free number 24-- that's answer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If we can help you and your family members reach out to your human resources office and ask them to forward you the toll free number for Deer Oaks they'd be happy to.

And folks you don't have to tell HR why you're reaching out to Deer Oaks. HR respect's that EAP is a confidential service. All you need to do is send a quick email to say, "Can you please send me the Deer Oaks toll free number they'd be happy to send it to you. All right folks, let's see what questions we've gotten so far.

All right, we're already getting some great questions. So there's a couple logistical questions here. Like can we have a copy of this presentation? Yes, if you'd like a copy of the PowerPoint all you have to do is hit Reply to your GoToWebinar invitation for today and request a copy of the PowerPoint we'd be happy to send it to you.

I've got a second question along the same lines. Is will this recording be available upon request after the session today? Yes, this session is being recorded and just like my first suggestion for getting a copy of the PowerPoint. If you want a copy of the recording we're happy to send you that link just again hit Reply to your GoToWebinar invitation for today and we would be happy to send you a link to the recording. Thank you good question.

OK, here's a really good question, folks. This is very thoughtful and I appreciate these. What do you recommend for the staff member whose boundaries are so tight it's impossible to know if there is a personal issue happening or if their stress is over the top?

That's a great question. Because there are some people that-- you are right. That real tight boundaries or really kind guarded. Would be another way of putting that right where they don't seem real interested in talking about anything but work. They're not real open about their personal life and that kind of stuff.

And so with folks like that one of the suggestions I'd like to make is during-- if you're not having one on one meetings I would recommend you start having one on one meetings. That's the best way to regularly have more informal conversations with the staff member. It helps you get to them better. It helps them get to you better.

Some people get real uptight around their boss and it may not be a reflection on you as their supervisor at all. It may just be that they're uncomfortable around authority figures for whatever reason. And that's not uncommon.

And so a lot of times if you have regular one on one meetings with staff and you start every one of those meetings with five minutes of just kind of visiting together. Catching up with them, what's going on in their world. How's their family? Did you see the game this weekend? You just getting to them.

That a lot of times people who are a little bit more uptight around their boss a little bit more guarded or have those tighter boundaries that you mentioned. They'll loosen up a little bit over time. I've seen that happen, but if the only time you're talking to a staff member is when you're dealing with an issue, it's a more reactive management approach. That's why I'm really a big advocate of proactively having those scheduled one-on-one meetings so that you can have regular meetings in a more relaxed atmosphere that give you a chance to bond with people from week to week. Thank you for that.

Our next question. There are some really well thought out questions here, folks thank you. Here's a really good one as well. How do you maintain a personal relationship with employees without making them feel too comfortable with you?

I've had trouble with disrespect when people I'm paraphrasing have disliked decisions I've made in the past. Yeah I can relate to that totally. And I had a hard time with the balance of that early on.

So I went and talked to a guy I worked for he was our CEO at the time. This I've been with Deer Oaks for 10 years but this was back when I was working for a psychiatric hospital. And I asked him I said, "How do you balance getting to people without getting too close?''

And he gave me a great answer. He says, "I will be friendly with everyone who works for me.'' He says. "But I will not be their best friend.'' He says that's the line you don't want to cross.

He said, but friendly he says you want to be friendly. You want to get to them, and let them get to you a little bit as a person but you don't want to become their best friend, which means you can't go out to lunch with them every day, you can't get too personal about what you share. But just general stuff that you would with an acquaintance standing in line at Starbucks, "Hey do you have kids?''

That kind of stuff. He was talking about just be friendly, but just make sure you're not getting too close because that's when you lose objectivity. And that's when people will feel like they might lose a little respect, they might lose the respect of the fact that you're the authority figure in your relationship with them, but so to try to keep in a balance you want to be friendly enough so people care and that you're taking an interest in their lives but not be too friendly that people would feel too comfortable with you and lose that respect and so.

And it's a balance, we have to walk, but I think as long as you're in general just showing that you care I think that part is important. And because you do want people to feel cared about. Because again, that's a major driver of employee engagement.

But again, you don't to get too close. And too close happens when you start talking about too many personal things. Like talking about something-- like talking about, yeah I have two children and yes one of them plays baseball is not too personal would be an example.

But I have two children and one of my children has a very specific problem. And this is what we're doing about that problem. That can start to get into too personal. And so that would be an example of-- you want to have those general conversations to share with each other you and the employee about your lives, and what's important to you, but you don't want to drill down into too-- you don't want to start confiding in people and personal things that you would share with a close friend that's when those boundary lines can get crossed. I think that was a great question. Here's another good question.

I'm trying to find forgive me folks for the pause. I'm trying to find-- we're getting a lot of questions. We've had-- we had almost 150 people on the call today. So I'm getting a lot of questions but I am trying to get to as many as I can. And I'm trying to get to the ones that I think we have the widest audience appeal.

OK. Here's a really good one. What do you do-- what do you suggest to keep staff motivated after a disgruntled staff member has left or moved on to another unit and the staff is now dealing with negativity in the workplace? That's a great question. And that's a really good question. And that happens folks.

I think we all know there are some people that tend to be pretty negative. And that can bring down people around them you're right. Now, this person has moved on. So that's probably a positive thing for the rest of the team I would guess right? Is that person was pretty negative and so, but now you're right when that person leaves there may be some residual negativity because when that person was there other people probably-- because when one person is negative, negativity is contagious and I know we've all seen that others can jump on the bandwagon and get negative as well.

And so even though the one maybe main negative person moved to another unit you may still have a couple of people on that team that still are carrying on that negativity. And so I think it's important to do two things. One is one on one meetings with your staff members. And then one is-- and then number two is team meetings with your staff and set the tone in both the one on one meetings and in the team meetings that you want to create that your goal as the leader of the team you want to create the most positive supportive environment for everybody possible.

So I wouldn't focus on the negative like we shouldn't be so negative. I would focus on here-- I would talk about enhancing the positive. And I would say to each individual and I'd say it in team meetings we could brainstorm as a team moving forward I want to make this the most comfortable positive supportive work environment we can have for our team.

And so what are your thoughts? What do you think we should be doing both in our department day to day and how we interact with each other, what do you think we should be doing to keep the environment more positive or to make the environment more positive? And give people an opportunity to weigh in on what they could be doing to make things more positive. So I'd rather take the build from let's move-- make it more positive approach rather than trying to critique the negative like we shouldn't be so negative.

But with that being said, if you do have an individual staff member that continues to be negative complaining a lot in team meetings, being negative around others and bringing people down and your observing or hearing about that. Bring them in and say, "Hey, I've noticed in team meetings that you've continued to be negative as we're going through our agenda together and did you realize that? Can I ask why? Why you tend to take a negative approach to weighing in on what we're talking about?''

Because like I've been sharing with you, and then you give me a chance to answer then you say, "Well, I like I've been sharing with you, I'm trying to make our team meetings more positive and make our environment here more positive and so I'd like to just sort of brainstorm together and you're an important part of our team. What could you do moving forward to be a little bit more positive in our team meetings?''

Take that kind of an approach. That's kind of a good way to coach someone, point out gently that they tend to be negative and ask them what they could do to be a little bit more positive to help you meet your goal of having a more positive environment. So that would be a suggestion that would make. First got time for a couple more questions today.

I've got some good questions coming in folks. Here's a good one. My staff likes to work alone, but this is due to our program personnel do not have a lot of backup and they like to be left alone to do their work. That's a good observation.

And so I'm not seeing a question in that, but there's nothing wrong with people working alone. There really isn't. And I guess the one thing that I would share if you've got a team that's really independent and they like to work alone to give them their space, but still have regular team meetings and you may already be doing this. Your colleague here that pointed out that the staff likes to work alone.

You may already have regular team meetings, but I think it's really important even when people work alone. It's really important to have a team identity. To help give people an environment where they feel like they're part of something.

Everyone has social needs. Even people who are more introverted have social needs, right? And many of us get a lot of our social needs met at work. And I think we're missing an opportunity when we don't-- even if people have work responsibilities that are not interdependent on others or they just identify that they like to work alone and be left alone. It's important to bring the team together periodically even once every couple of weeks. Just to keep people connected.

And there's a lot of research that says, "When team building is done proactively like that and people can start to identify with kind of a work family, that we're part of something here, even though day to day we're mostly working on our own. It does-- it enhances a morale and it leads to higher productivity.'' And it also helps reduce turnover because people are less likely to leave a place where they feel a part of something. All right, time for one last question folks.

Here's another really, really good one. Since the last question we will take for today, but I appreciate everyone not just about everyone stayed on through the whole Q&A. This is a good one.

Is your colleague is saying, I have one on ones with the folks I manage and I have an employee who will open up with me and is friendly with me but will not open up to the rest of the team to their coworkers. And then the second part of her question here is let's see- do you have any additional strategies I could try to help them bond with the rest of the team? That's a really good point.

And so there are some-- I want to share this just about people in general folks. So I'm glad the last couple of questions have been about team building because this is important. There's just so much research about when a supervisor proactively works on team building and creates more of a work family environment where people feel connected to each other.

And they don't have to all become best friends right? But just to feel connected, feel like they're part of a team and get to each other. And so the suggestions I would make is have regular team meetings first and foremost.